The first album from Parliament since their 1970 debut, ’74’s Up For The Downstroke dialled down the weirdness a little and dialled up the groove, adding jazzy horns and interlocking funk guitars, all held down by the heft of Bootsy’s insistent, fluid bass. Downstroke… was a further consolidation and streamlining of the P-Funk dance floor sound, with the rhythm section pushed high up in the mix and Bernie Worrell using lots of funky clavinet. It’s the classic P-Funk aesthetic in the raw, just waiting for the addition of synths to launch them into outer space. 

– Harold Heath