KEITH HUDSON - Torch Of Freedom - Atra Recordings 1975

	£		26
	$		34

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ORIGINAL ATRA  RECORDS 1975 VINYL

IN EXCELLENT CONDITION!

COVER SHOWING SLIGHT WEAR 

Record date : 1975

Playlist :

SIDE 1

Lost All Sense Of Direction
Jah Jah
Don't Look At Me So
Look At Me
Don't Let The Teardrops Fool You
Teardrops
Like I'm Dying

SIDE 2

Turn The Heater On
So Cold Without You
Five More Minutes Of Your Time
My Time
Torch Of Freedom
Freedom Movements

Mixing Engineer : Sid Bucknor
Engineer : Neil Richardson

Producer : Keith Hudson

Backing Band : The Soul Syndicate
Drums : Carlton Barrett & Santa Davis
Bass : Robbie Shakespeare & Family Man & Fully Fullwood
Guitar : Chinna
Lead Guitar : Buster Pearson
Synthesiser : Ken Elliot
Harmonica : William Brown
Percussions : William Brown

Studios :
Recording : Dynamic Sounds (Kingston, JA)
Remixing : Chalk Farm (London, UK) & Morgan (London, UK)

Keith Hudson has long been regarded as one of the key innovators of Jamaican music of the 70's, belonging to that rarified group of producer/artists that includes Lee Perry, Niney the Observer, Yabby You and Augustus Pablo. Blessed with the ability to draw the very strongest recordings from the island's top talent, Hudson's music remains largely elusive and is highly sought after. Like those mentioned above, Hudson is an enigmatic figure capable of producing musical extremes that by turns infuriate, intimidate and inspire - his legacy is still largely undiscovered...

Shooters Hill, Jamaica, 1947. Producer, writer, arranger and singer Keith Hudson is born into a musical family, his grandfather a noted musician with Cuban bands. Keith nonetheless pursues a career as a dental technician. Inspired however by Sir Coxsone's Downbeat sound system - "I used to hold Don Drummond's trombone for him so I can be in the studio" - he determines to make music.

Hudson produces a number one hit in Jamaica in 1968 with his first outing, Old Fashioned Way, a timeless rhythm and melody vocalised upon by veteran Ken Boothe. Hits follow with other Jamaican popular vocalists of the time - Delroy Wilson and John Holt - and Hudson has the vision to recognise the soon-to-be DJ phenomenon by cutting U Roy's first tune Dynamic Fashion Way long before Duke Reid got the DJ daddy into the studio for Treasure Isle. (Check U Roy's immortal intro on the Trojan compilation 'Studio Kinda Cloudy' - "Now how wonderful it is to be surrounded by these brothers of talent... studio real kinda cloudy as I would say").

Talking with King Stitt in 1976, Hudson recounts his instinct for DJ:

"An de pace whey me did a set... no man woodn try fe come in between me and de deejay dem. Caw me bring U Roy an when me bring U Roy, U Roy go out deh wid Duke Reid an Duke Reid a mash it up wid him an me say 'A whey de blood claat me a gwaan wid'. An me go inna de Lane go find Dennis Al Capone an bring out Dennis Al Capone come gi U Roy a blood claat competition... An him switch an go to Duke... And me say a whey de blood claat do hoonoo, come Big Yout numba one S90. Me a tell yu man."

1972 is Hudson's watershed year with Big Youth's Ace 90 Skank the biggest ever hit for the DJ, placing the producer at the pinnacle of Jamaican popular music yet it also ushers in a darker shade to Hudson. The self-confessed "flash little yout" now comes with powerful tunes laced with menace such as Satan Side, Don't Think About Me and A Place In Africa; where Lee Perry's music is wacky, Hudson's is genuinely unnerving. However, such doom-laden, introspective music does not find an enthusiastic audience in Jamaica and, like so much of the enduring music produced on the island, is destined to be pressed locally in minute quantities or released overseas. Thus begins Hudson's musical exile.

Encouraged by the critics and perhaps through his musical and physical dislocation from Jamaica, Hudson concentrates on his own music rather than producing others. His vocals, variously described as "eerie", "awkward" and "discordant" sit perfectly in a dub setting. Maybe in recognition of this and the popularity of his dubs on UK sound systems such as Fatman, Keith takes the unusual step of releasing a dub set, 'Brand', a year or so before the accompanying vocal LP 'Rasta Communication'. Hudson again returns to DJ production duties, this time for his friend, Militant Barry, who utilises many of the rhythms from 'Brand' for his set 'Green Valley'.

In interview in 1981, Hudson - firmly ensconced in New York - expresses his craving for Jamaican acceptance and to be able to play there live for the first time. His next recordings fail to connect with a Jamaican public obssessed with Dancehall - the man's musical exile is complete when Hudson succumbs to lung cancer in 1984.

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