Lorence Hud - Lorence Hud

If you mention the song "Sign of the Gypsy Queen" you'll get a flash of devil horns and a comment about April Wine. Okay, maybe not the devil horns, but most of us remember when we heard April Wine launch into the opening notes of the song. It was awesome, and it was written by Lorence Hud. When it was first released it was a regional hit in Canada, but I have no recollection of the song at the time. I was ten, so it's not like I'm going to be reliable regardless... although some of those early memories are indelibly stamped into my brain.

I always knew there was another version, and over time had read enough on the song to assume April Wine had taken some bare bones and reconstructed the song we know and love. That's partly true. There's more than enough in Lorence's version, including a section with dual lead guitars that gives the song a little more bite than expected, and it's a really good song - but not the great song April Wine released. Still, give credit where credit is due.

Signed to A&M, his debut came out in 1972, and it must have done enough to warrant a follow-up. Sure enough, he released Dancin' In My Head in 1973, and after that went dark. He'd resurface in '82 with a four-song EP on Quality Records, and that's all I could find on Discogs. AllMusic was even thinner.

What I know for sure is the debut exists because I'm playing it. Lorence had taken a page out of Mike Oldfield's bag of tricks, and on this he's credited with just about everything on the album. It's pretty impressive to be honest, and he's a really good musician. His voice is especially good - he has a really great timbre.

The music mostly stays in a soft rock, almost folk vein. It's a little hard to nail down to a specific genre, but it's a very organic-feeling album, and for something recorded in 1972, it sounds remarkably crisp and clean. "Grab Hold & Hang On" is stunning. It's almost a hymn - a simple piano ballad, but my goodness the emotion he conveys is heart-wrenching. It calls to mind Trooper's 1977 song "Oh, Pretty Lady" in a way, but obviously Lorence's song came first. Who knows, maybe the guys in Trooper heard this album. It is possible.

This is one of those albums that, with a few spins, gets a little better each time. Oh, make no mistake, I'm not making a case that this is a classic album, but it is an enjoyable listen. And I suppose in a world where there is so much enjoyable music, what is it that makes this worth hearing? That's harder to argue.

But I will say: so many of the artists we consider classic had more than a little luck, benefited from time and place, and over time familiarity has given them the added element of nostalgia. Coming into something old as a new experience represents a completely different listening experience. We already know the end of the story - we've heard all the music that came after.

Whether or not I think this is a lost classic or a collection of mediocre folk-flavoured pop songs won't move the needle one way or the other. Listening to this, and hearing a collection of really enjoyable songs, it does make me wonder what would have happened with a little luck and different circumstances. There are a couple of songs here that could have pushed this over the top if they'd had the chance. There's a melancholy in this kind of experience.

I'm actually a little surprised that there isn't more out there on his music. He does have an official web page, and it's a strange and perplexing read. I remember seeing the movie Lenny in the early '80s, and it was a riveting and devastating movie that captured the spiral into oblivion Lenny Bruce went through... at least as the movie portrayed it. Reading through Mr. Hud's page reminds me of the scene in the movie where Dustin Hoffman is standing on stage reading his court transcripts, expecting his audience to hang on his words and be on his side.

I don't have the wherewithal to make any judgments on his story, so I'll just stick to what I know, which is music. And based on his debut, it was an enjoyable album. History has already mostly erased his contributions, as his two albums on A&M aren't on any of the streaming platforms, and without digital representation it's just a matter of time until he's forgotten entirely. Which is a shame. If for nothing other than hearing his original version of "Sign of the Gypsy Queen," his music is worth preserving.

Lorence penned a short poem on the back of the jacket:

 

A play is but a script until it has had
an audience.
Art does not exist without appreciation.
And so this album is dedicated to
the listener,

for music cannot play without your ears.

 

Well, Mr. Hud, I heard, and I listened - and I really appreciated the album and am glad it exists. There's something a little melancholy about knowing that, unless you're holding the record in your hands, this music cannot reach anyone else's ears.