R.I.P. RAY MANZAREK - A QUICK TRIBUTE

Artist: THE DOORS; Title: LIGHT MY FIRE (Short Mono Version); Label: ELEKTRA; Format:7"; Cat. No.: EKSN 45014; Year: 1967; Country:UK.

Seeing as the man responsible to a large of extent of what made this seminal track from The Doors so distinctive died yesterday.  Here's a quick appreciation of what for many is their most recognizable track - namely "Light My Fire" released in 1967 and carried by the distinctive Vox organ sound of Ray Manzarek - which was borrowed from a certain Johann Sebastian Bach.  I'm discusssing the UK issued version of the 7" - which is the short version which doesn't have the showcase solos of Robby Krieger's flamenco inspired stylings (which was supposed to be feature of the track) or Ray Manzarek's  extended solo.  However unlike the US short version and subsequent UK reissues of the early and mid 70's there's no audible edit and it sounds like the groups playing the shorter cut all the way through - plus there's a bit of different in sound and playing - so I'm thinking towards this being the mono single mix.  The flip side is the sublime "The Crystal Ship" - which shows that Jim Morrison could do subtle after all!  

SOME PSYCHEDELIC FUNK/SOUL - CHESS CURIO CORNER

Artist: FUJI; Title: REVELATIONS (Pts. 1&2); Label: CADET; Format: 7"; Cat. No.: 5665; Year: 1969; Country: US.

Today's post - 1st in a while as I'm in the process of selling my house and moving down the West Country - is this curio released on Cadet in 1969 by "Revelations" by Fuji.  Which can be best described Pyschedelic Funk - and a bloody good example it is of it too.

Fuji - real name Ellington Jordan - released this gem in '69 backed by one of the 1st black rock band Black Merda - from Hendrix's hometown Seattle and songwise pretty much reflects the state of things in the States in the late 60's in cities like Detroit, which weren't great - especially so if you happened to be black.  It was planned to be part of an album but - as with a lot of these type of projects the album with the great title of 'Mary Don't Take Me On No Bad Trip' was shelved and finally saw the light of day as recently as 2005! Whether this was down to Chess' worries about alienating their traditional fan-base after the realease of Muddy Waters 'Electric Mud' I'm not sure - but it wouldn't surprise me. 

Music-wise does sound a lot like Hendrix then the fact that Fuji was friends with him certainly played a part and showed how much an influence he was having on black music in the late 60's - even influencing the likes of The Temptations and Chess label-mates Rotary Connection.

One other bit of info I did find on Fuji was that he co-wrote Etta James' anthem "I'd Rather Go Blind" - which you'd like to hope is a nice pension plan for him.

Bought this for £8 about 7 years ago - and seen it selling on Discogs for £22, and a DJ Promo copy on Popsike that went for $64.  And having played it again for the first time ages I can see why people'd want to pay that much for it - and it's a great example of that type cross-genre type of music which I'm a bit of a fan of. And as an example of Pyschedelic Funk - then look no further!

Quick thanks to whoever posted the biog info on Fuji on Discogs and Allhiphop.com - as it's always to have an idea of who these poeple are.