Bootsy Collins

Crashing waves of freaky funk from the king of star-shaped sunglasses, fat bass playing, and untrammeled fabulousness. George Clinton had a hand in most of these cuts, and you can feel the influence. All the greats are here: "Bootzilla," "Hollywood Squares," and "The Pinocchio Theory," among others.

"I've got a cartoon mind," he brags, and in the Toony Tune world of P-Funk spinoffs, rivals, and flat-out fakes, this was a virtue to make the most of. It helped that he worked for George, a doowop veteran whose instinct for the hook is everywhere in this music. Because for all Bootsy's deep bass and uncut funk--a legend perpetuated here by a raw live "Psychoticbumpschool"--what makes the Rubber Band so much more consistent than the Gap Band, whose new best-of stops dead every time it trots out a ballad, is the funny, kooky, kind slow ones. (Grade - A)