George Clinton’s second full-length album is an uninhibited, multi-genre exercise in creativity. While it lacks restraint, the musical juices were overflowing and the experiments of Osmium provide a fascinating contrast to the tight funk LPs Parliament would come to be known for.

By 1969 George Clinton had assembled The Parliaments, a crackpot R&B group with members that would become mainstays in both Parliament and Funkadelic. Facing copyright issues over the Parliaments name, Funkadelic’s self-titled record was recorded and subsequently released in 1970. Funkadelic may be my single favorite album out of the P-Funk camp, a monolithic slab of psych-rock imbued with early instances of the humor and creativity that make P-Funk so unique.

If Funkadelic is an alchemical funk and blues rock masterpiece, Osmium is a full-on carnival of pop styles by essentially the same group, released only 5 months later. Opener “I Call My Baby Pussycat” and bonus track “Red Hot Mama” would in fact become Funkadelic staples after being re-recorded and released on America Eats Its Young (1972) and Standing on the Verge of Getting It On (1974), respectively. But other cuts here bare little resemblance to later releases by Funkadelic or especially Parliament. Britisher producer/singer Ruth Copeland provides some of the biggest curveballs. “Little Ole Country Boy” is a cartoonish lament, and closer “The Silent Boatman” is a beautiful folk ballad, fitted with bagpipes, Tiki Fulwood’s trademark sticks, and Bernie Worrell’s organ. “Oh Lord, Why Lord” is pure gospel while “My Automobile” plays like a Zappa doo-wop track, including studio banter and tinkering as a protracted intro.

This variety of stylistic approaches implies that the group of young P-Funkers was lacking neither in ideas nor drugs, as Free Your Mind… (also 1970) would seemingly confirm. Sober or not, one palpable element throughout is the musical talent, even in the record’s silliest moments. “Put Love in Your Life”‘s multiple changes in rhythm require a deft approach, but the result is a seamless track that incorporates classic R&B and something akin to British go-go music. “Moonshine Heather” allows all-time great guitarist Eddie Hazel to work his muscle in a blues-rock fashion, and “Nothing Before Me But Thang” is red-hot rock.

Osmium was long missing from streaming services, but it is currently on Spotify in reissue form with several outstanding bonus tracks, such as the 10-minute jam “Loose Booty” (also significantly reworked for America Eats Its Young) and the 5-minute “Unfinished Instrumental” with proto-jam band flashes. It stands today as a great example of the talent and creativity the P-Funk company possessed from their inception.

Listen to Osmium here.