George Clinton [ tickets ], the man who first landed on the charts in 1967 with his doo-wop group The Parliaments' "I Wanna Testify," is back with a new offering from the P-Funk Allstars, "How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent?"

The double-disc is what you'd expect from the prime minister of funk, and includes a host of special guests, including Bobby Womack, Joi, Jazze Pha and Prince. Musically, Clinton conjures up memories of the hip-hop blueprint "Atomic Dog" with "Something Stank," tackles gospel with "More Than Words Can Say," and dishes vintage booty-shaking funk like only he can on "Bounce 2 This."

In the middle of his recent performances for the Carson Daly Show, BET's 25th Anniversary, the Vibe Awards and Jay Leno, Clinton spoke with liveDaily about the new album, the "Uncut Series" of live recordings and studio outtakes, and that mystery CMJ band he can't remember the name of.

liveDaily: "Absent" is the first studio album you've done in six years, since "The Awesome Power of A Fully Operational Mothership." Why the long period of time between albums?

George Clinton: It's been the court thing, you know. We've been trying to get the catalog back, so I had to do one thing at a time. We got "One Nation Under A Groove" and "(Not Just) Knee Deep," we got those back, but we've got a few more to get. And we were touring.

With that much space in between, how did the material for the new album come together? Was there a lot of stuff in the can?

We got together whenever we could, and just took our time. About four or five of the songs were done in 1995 or somewhere around in there, then we did one or two songs at a time. We always have a lot more songs than get on the records; we just keep them to the side. We must have another three albums in the can, that we haven't used. I had to put this album out to let people know that Parliament Funkadelic is still intact, plus we had to introduce the different members of the group: my granddaughter Sativa, Belita Woods, Kendra Foster.

Now with your label, C Kunspyruhzy, how many projects do you have going on?

Everybody on my record has got albums coming out. That was the confirmation that ["Absent"] is; it's a taste of different people that have records that are already finished, that are coming out. From my granddaughter Sativa Diva with her group The Divadelics, to Funkadelic. So you'll be hearing a whole lot from us, like we did before in the '70s.

And with the "Uncut Series," you're releasing board-quality shows, and not just recent shows--you're going way back.

Oh yeah, we're releasing shows from the board, and outtakes of stuff we did in the studio that didn't come out, and different versions of things that didn't come out. We've got tons and tons of cuts. "Maggot Brain" played by different guitar players, from Eddie Hazel, Michael [Hampton], to violin player Lili Hayden.

What are the touring plans right now?

We're planning on going out on tour with Public Enemy in the beginning of next year. Then we'll plan on having the mothership out in the big theaters after that, after more of [the bandmembers'] records come out.

How big is the touring group?

Clinton: Twenty-seven. You have to have that many, because if the shows get too long, people can take a break and go take a shower and come back out on stage. [laughs]

Anything nowadays catching your ear?

I went to the CMJ [in September], and I saw some bands there--there was one that sounded like a punk band, but they were playing fusion, like a jazz-punk band. Everybody that was there had a punk edge on them, but that one band played like a jazz group. They had their own songs. Straight-up punk, but the techniques were jazz. I have to go back and check them out. They were ridiculous.

Do you remember their name?

No. [asks publicist for help] They play at CBGBs a lot.

Will you be stealing their members?

Oh, I sure will. I'm going to bite so much they're going to need a tetanus shot.