Self Portrait

One of the poorest albums that George Clinton was ever involved with. Ruth Copeland couldn't decide whether she was a pop, folk, funk, or a soul singer. She was closer to folk than anything, but her weak voice even had trouble putting across material in that genre. Her songs bordered on the esoteric-absurd. Opinions differ, but some favorite tunes are "Gift of Me," done a capella; "Your Love Been So Good to Me," a rocker accented by Eddie Hazel's acid lead guitar; and "I Got a Thing for You Daddy," the closest thing to the Parliarment/Funkadelic sound here. "The Music Box" as a single release isn't bad, it's just boring, but others like "Thanks for the Birthday Card," "William in the Night" (ugh), and "Bel Di (One Fine Day)" will have you scratching your head and possibly breaking this record. ~ Andrew Hamilton