PARLIAMENT - Osmium

Osmium, the 1970 debut recorded under the Parliament mantle, might be the ultimate example of '60s genre experimentation, as rock, soul, chamber pop and country all blend into one hazy, cross-colour audio rainbow. This shouldn't surprise listeners, considering that this band came off onstage like the Temptations backed by a wild, storming psych band. Starting out as a barbershop-born vocal soul group (the Parliaments), the group morphed into an even higher version of Sly & The Family Stone. After their first mind-blowing 1969 effort as Funkadelic, George Clinton and co. had something else up their sleeve. Alongside face-melting jams like "Funky Woman" and "Nothing Before Me But Thang", it's some of the other tunes here that challenge the listener with potentially unfamiliar sounds emanating from the session, such as "Little Ole Country Boy"'s tongue-in-cheek twang. On "My Automobile", you can almost imagine the band writing around a piano Brill Building-style, while album closer "The Silent Boatman" is as strong as any pop song of its time. This album is one of a kind, and, in this writer's opinion, very hard to top.