Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow

The album was recorded at United Sound Studios, Audio Graphic Services, and G-M Recording Studios in Detroit.[6] The inspiration for this album was, according to George Clinton, an attempt to "see if we can cut a whole album while we're all tripping on acid."[5]

The album's gatefold cover forms something of a visual pun, echoing the sentiments of the album title. The woman holding her arms towards heaven in an ecstatic pose is found to be nude upon opening the sleeve.

The original 1970 issue's artwork featured the woman facing downward, and the "Free Your Mind..." title in brown. Reissues beginning in 1990 reversed the woman's direction (substituting an alternate photograph where her head is more inclined and her fingers are more widely fanned), and have varied the placement and color of text elements.

The album and its title track, a feedback-drenched number taking a third of the album's length, introduces the subversion of Christian themes explored on later songs, describing a mystical approach to salvation in which "the Kingdom of Heaven is within" and achievable through freeing one's mind, after which one's ass will follow. Many of the songs (such as the title track and "Eulogy and Light") subvert Christian themes, including the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm.[5]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Blender	[8]
Christgau's Record Guide	B–[9]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[10]
Pitchfork	8.8/10[11]
Record Collector	[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[12]

On the Billboard Music Charts (North America), Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow peaked at #11 on the Black Albums Chart and #92 on the Pop Albums chart.[5] The album and eponymous song influenced the band En Vogue, leading to the title of their hit song "Free Your Mind".[13]

In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said this promising but ultimately confusing album has contradictory messages that might either promote "escapist idealism or psychic liberation", and a disorienting aesthetic that is most successful on "Funky Dollar Bill".[9] He later wrote that it is not surprising that the album became "a cult fave in slackerland. Not only is the shit weird, the weirdness signifies."[14] In a retrospective review for Blender, Christgau said that the album's uninhibited guitar exercises were expanded by spoken-word elements and Worrell's classically trained keyboards, which he felt did not live up to the title credo.[8]

In a positive review, AllMusic's Ned Raggett felt that both the album and title track are worthy of the credo and that the other songs range from "the good to astoundingly great."[7] Record Collector magazine's Paul Rigby observed clearly written lyrics and interesting space rock-like funk on what he called a "superb" album.[1]

Notes

• Track 9 is a mono recording.

Credits are adapted from Muze.[6]

Funkadelic

• George Clinton – lead vocals (tracks 1, 5, 6)
• Ray Davis – vocals
• Fuzzy Haskins – vocals, lead vocals (track 7)
• Calvin Simon – vocals
• Grady Thomas – vocals
• Eddie Hazel – guitar, lead vocals (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7), backward vocal (track 6)
• Tawl Ross – guitar, lead vocals (tracks 3)
• Bernie Worrell – Hammond organ, Vox organ, piano
• Billy Nelson – bass guitar, lead vocals (tracks 2, 4)
• Tiki Fulwood – drums

Martha Reeves appeared on this project but wasn't credited. Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent, the singers to be known as Dawn, appear on "Friday Night, August 14th."

Production

• Produced by George Clinton
• Engineering by Ed Wolfrum, Milan Bogdan
• Art direction by David Krieger
• Photography by Joel Brodsky
• Album design – The Graffiteria, Stanley Hochstadt
• Album co-ordination – Dorothy Schwartz
• Production supervision – Bob Scerbo
• Executive producer – Armen Boladian
• Orga Dorga Services – Bernie Mendelson

• Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow at Discogs (list of releases)