by Cousin Geoff

 

Reissues are generally not my thing, I’d rather search for the original.  It kind of feels like cheating, and it’s nowhere near the thrill of playing the real deal.  That being said, there is no original album for Fugi’s Mary, Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip.  Tough City reissued this unreleased acid-funk record in 1996 from Detroiter Ellington Jordan, AKA Fugi, originally meant to be put out by Chess’s Cadet label in 1968, but deemed too trippy for them.  When I came across this, not only was I put off by the fact that it was a reissue, but the cover was terrible.  It looked like a late 1990s Cash Money rap album.  But the writing on the cover was more than enough to convice me:

“From The Vaults of CHESS RECORDS…The legendary unreleased album by the blackballed acid-funkateer.”  OK - sold.

When I put it on, I was absolutely floored.  This is exactly the type of music I seek out.  And this was, dare I say, better than the Detroit funk I had been listening to - early 70s Funkadelic and Temptations, even Dennis Coffee.  The genre of funk that is uniquely Detroit - psychadelic, rootsy, Hendrix-like, but funk at it’s core.  The first Funkadelic record can’t be touched, but this, if it had come out as planned, might be better.  The thing is, I don’t understand why Cadet didn’t release this in 1968.  Fugi was not some ordinary stoned funk musician trying to peddle an album to a top label.  He was an extremely talented song writer who was good friends with Temptation Eddie Kendrix.  In 1968, in addition to messing around with his own stuff while being backed by the band Black Merda, he wrote songs for Chess.  Fugi rubbed shoulders on a daily with Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Donny Hathaway, Jimmy Hendrix and Etta James.  In fact, Fugi wrote the song “I’d Rather Go Blind” (his own version is on this album) for Etta James who turned it into a worldwide hit number one hit, selling 8 million copies.

Fugi did release a few 45s, but it is still puzzling why this album was never put out.  I’m fully convinced that he could have become a star, with more albums following this one, plus tours and the whole shot.  As for the excuse that I’ve heard that it was too trippy, Detroit psych-soul-funk was what was hot a few years later, around 1969-1970, with the pair of Westbound Funkadelic albums, and The Temptations Psychedelic Shack album, among others.  And even if that was the case (which it’s not - it’s perfectly put together and more soul-based funk than psych-rock funk), what about the Cadet Concept label?  This was created and put together by Marshall Chess, son of Chess records co-founder Leonard Chess, for the sole purpose of “concept” albums.  Rotary Connection is maybe the closest and best known example, and they were way more out-there and, in my opinion, not nearly as good as Fugi.  This would have been the perfect album to put on this label, and they flat out blew it.

It’s a crying shame that I had never even heard of Fugi until I stumbled upon this album, although I’m sure the crowd of more seasoned deep funk and soul seekers have known about him even before this was released in ’96.  You can pick this up for like 8 bucks at Tuff City, in fact here is their ebay link for this album.  Tuff City has lots more reissues, they’re based out of New York and are definitely worth checking out.

As for the record, it’s just amazingly good.  I would say it’s worth it to invest the $8 to see for yourself.  I’m just sort of pissed that I won’t be able to search for the original, but as long as I have the music, that’s the most important thing!

listen to “Mary, Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip”:

listen to “I’d Rather Be a Blind Man”