California Dreamin

Eddie Hazel takes the Mamas & the Papas' sunshine-pop standard and drags it gloriously through the swamp of psychedelic funk, transforming a wistful folk tune into a sprawling guitar odyssey. As Funkadelic's lead guitarist — the man behind "Maggot Brain" — Hazel approaches "California Dreamin'" not as a cover to be respected but as a launching pad for extended, wah-soaked improvisation. The familiar melody surfaces and submerges beneath layers of fuzzed-out, vocal-like lead playing, his guitar bending and crying in that singular Hazel voice that owes as much to Hendrix as to gospel. The rhythm section locks into a loose, heavy P-Funk groove, giving him acres of space to roam. Where the original mourns a cold winter and a longing for warmth, Hazel's instrumental reading converts that yearning into something molten and physical — the dreaming becomes a trance, the wishing becomes a wail. It's the centerpiece of his under-appreciated solo record, a document of a phenomenally gifted musician finally stepping to the front. For funk and psych-rock heads it's a hidden treasure, proof that Hazel deserved a far larger spotlight than he got. Put it on late, lights low, and let the guitar do the kind of talking words can't manage — every phrase a small ache, every solo a slow, smoldering prayer.