Fugi - Mary, Don't Take Me On No Bad Trip (1968)

"Fugi was born as Ellington Jordan in the Los Angeles suburb of South Central to a family with seven children. Not exactly the best conditions for a successful start to life. Fugi was, however, talented as a singer and songwriter and while pursuing this career he became best friends with the legendary Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations. This friendship enabled him to move to Detroit in 1968 - the most creative R&B city at that time. He started writing music for the famous Chess Records company and became well acquainted with stars such as Muddy Waters, Howlin´ Wolf, Etta James, Donny Hathaway and even Jimmy Hendrix. His greatest success was his composition of the song "I'd Rather Go Blind" for Etta James who had a worldwide hit with it, selling eight million records and reaching the number one chart position in most countries with the original version."

"Fuzzed out funk from the legendary Fugi. The groove is incredibly sinister -- a blend of Detroit funk (ala The Counts, Funkadelic, and others in the Westbound crew), and some of the more guitar-based influence from the Hendrix soul generation (especially the styles that were beginning to show up on the Bar-Kays albums at the time). Fugi have a groove that's gotta be heard to be believed -- hard, heavy, and filled with soul -- dipping down down down into the dirt on the bass, and riffing up to the top again on a wave of heavy guitars..." (Dustygroove)

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