The Mothership’s conceptual freakouts hit a new depth with an Atlantis-raising underwater getdown, the psychedelic cartoon answer to previous voyages by Hendrix and the Isleys. Only this one’s got everything from the gleefully profane (motorized, dynamite-laden saboteur asses in “Rumpofsteelskin”) to the slyly political (class war, racism, and the justice system prodded at in “Deep”). All that, plus some of the finest horn charts and basslines ever laid down.

Parliament’s superb, surreal sub-aqua-themed funk concept album is, aside from a single dense, baroque take on the soul ballad template, all dance floor targeted material. The P-Funkers were in top form in 1978 and Motor Booty is track after track of oozing, liquid funk and slick, streamlined discoid grooves, peppered with futurist synths, sound effects, puns, and multi-layered vocals. There are moments of musical chaos nudging up against one of the tightest rhythm sections in the business; an accomplished, swaggering epic.