Well this certainly adds to the late sixties psychedelic soul clusterfuck. Fuji, whose real name was Ellington Jordan, was the guy who wrote "I'd Rather Go Blind", a hit for Etta James (right after being released from jail, so the story goes). He was pals with the Temptations' Eddie Kendricks, who introduced him to a band called Black Merda. Together, Fuji and Black Merda recorded an album that wasn't heavily promoted, and went nowhere. Everyone who writes about it online seems to revere like it's some sort of psychedelic soul godhead. I've only heard a portion of it, and a handful of Black Merda's things without Fugi, so I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's overrated, or that a lack of promotion didn't sink it. But, I'll tell you what, it made me want to lose myself in some psychedelic soul stuff from the A-listers. The Temptations cuts below were produced by Norman Whitfield, with guitar by Dennis Coffey. That's a killer combination right there. Hard to beat. Chess/Cadet, the label that released the Fugi LP, were probably throwing up there hands. "Aw fuck. We can't compete with that."
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Fugi - Mary, Don’t You Take Me On No Bad Trip mp3 at Brobots
Black Merda - Ashamed mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Black Merda - Long Burn the Fire mp3 at Hard Raw Deep Funk
The Tempations - Ball of Confusion mp3 at LZ Center
The Temptations - Papa Was a Rolling Stone mp3 at Radio George
Dennis Coffey - Scorpio mp3 at EricMGrant.EJFlavors
Full LPs:
Black Merda - Three full albums (via Diveshare) at Hard Raw Deep Funk
The Temptations - Cloud Nine (streaming) at YouTube Put this one on, turn it up, and go about your business for 35 minutes. It's perfect for that.
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