Judge Smith‘s oeuvre may not be exactly labyrinthine, but there are fairly famous works in his discography, such as 2000’s “Curly’s Airships” which featured a lot of luminaries, and rather obscure opuses too, including the brilliant "Mr. Mckilowatts Dances" from 2023. And then, there are things that fall between these two categories, things like “The Kibbo Kift” which the esteemed artist wrote with composer Maxwell Hutchinson fifty years ago but never moved past the pure stage phase, the musical’s riveting, and quite educational, libretto taking pride of place in the veteran’s lyrics anthology and whetting many of his fans’ appetite for hearing this opus. Soon, it will be possible, however.
There’s a great story behind “The Kibbo Kift” – and a great story concerning its influence, with Smith and his colleagues’ effort leading to further insight into the movement it’s dedicated too, and all of it is detailed in the booklet that accompanies the long-overdue official release, on May 1st, of what, until recently, was partially stored on Judge’s site. How did it come to this, though?
“These tracks, a demo that Maxwell and myself made in 1976,” explains the artist, “comprise studio recordings of perhaps a third of the show and feature almost all of the musical themes, done in Edinburgh with ‘Totem’, the theatre band put-together for the show at the Traverse, and with vocals provided by myself, and Robert Pettigrew, the band leader, with some additional female vocals from Christina Matthews, a friend of our publisher. The remainder of the songs, apart from several ‘reprises’ where tunes are repeated with different lyrics, were recorded by Maxwell and myself in his front room in London on an old two-track tape recorder, with my voice on one track, Max’s piano or guitar on the other. Originally we had to do the whole show like this and we called these recordings ‘the Teaching Tapes,’ as their purpose was to teach the music to the cast and the band. Now the Studio tapes have been remastered, and the Teaching Tape sections have been mixed from scratch; all carried out with great skill by Think Like A Key. A handsome and informative package has been designed and a release date has been set. I think the music still sounds fresh and exciting and surprising after half a century.”
The Kibbo Kift
1. Overture
2. Father Dear Father
3. Tunbridge Wells
4. An Empty Clearing
5. To Live in Civilization
6. And So We Joined
7. The Band Song
8. The Children’s Song
9. Five-Four
10. Harken Kindred of the Mark
11. The Leader Song
12. The Kibbo Kift Song
13. The Campfire Glow
14. Social Credit
15. Saying Goodbye
16. Only Fifteen
17. We’re the Green Shirts
18. How Many There
19. The Heckling Song
20. No Bloody Fear
21. The Street Fighting Song
22. And So We Joined – Reprise
23. Conclusion Song
24. Finale
