The December Record of the Month Club pick rocks. It rocks hard.
ROTM Club members will be getting a copy of Black Merda’s debut, self-titled album pressed on limited “clear beer” colored vinyl. The album was originally released in 1970 on Chess Records and has been long out of print.
Three of the four original members of Black Merda were born in Mississippi before moving to Detroit at early ages, where Black Merda was formed.
Hailing from late-’60s Detroit, Black Merda were both aesthetically and musically way ahead of their time. When most black groups (including Parliament/ Funkadelic) were still sporting suits, singing about love and using a horn section, Black Merda had already become a tight guitar-heavy freak-funk four-piece. By weaving guitar rock and psychedelia into soul and R&B they were the gods of the underground “black rock” movement which fell somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Parliament and MC5. But it wasn’t just about the music, the message was just as important.
The band’s debut album was chosen as one of “Detroit’s greatest hits that should have been” by the Detroit Metro Times in 2010.