Pop Music Review : Bootsy Collins Throws a Wild Party Full of Vintage Funk

From the planet Funkatron, his otherworldliness . . . Bootsy Collins!

That would have been the perfect intro for funk master Collins, who looked as if he’d dropped in from another world to do his midnight show at the House of Blues on Tuesday. Everything on his outlandishly garish, high-tech suit was speckled and spangled, and he spouted funkisms--things like “Funk is its own reward”--as speedily and deftly as he strummed his bass.

Collins, who played with James Brown and George Clinton and was a solo star in the late ‘70s, is enjoying a resurgence now that a new generation has been turned on to funk, thanks to its prevalence in rap. But you forget what an urgent, powerhouse force true vintage funk can be until you hear it played live by a master like Collins.

With the scintillating support of his New Rubber Band--a merry group of funksters including keyboardist supreme Bernie Worrell--Collins swept the crowd into his frivolous, funkdafied world. Using songs anchored in steamy, bass-heavy rhythms and littered with nonsense lyrics and long, joyous jams, Collins presided over a wild, two-hour party. It helped that his musicians, who capably took over the show during his breaks, apparently come from the same planet as their leader.