Lost In Tyme Blog

Freedom's Children - 1971 - Galactic Vibes

Tracks :
1. Sea Horses
2. Homecoming
3. That Did It
4. Fields & Me
5. Crazy World Of Pod
6. 1999
7. About The Dove & His King
8. Season (Bonus)
9. Judas Queen (Bonus)
10. Mrs Browning (Bonus)
11. Country Boy (Bonus)
12. Your Father's Eye (Bonus)
13. Ten Years Ago (Bonus)
14. Kafkasque (Bonus)
15. Boundsgreen Fair (Bonus)
16. Miss Wendy's Dancing Eyes (Bonus)

Biography:
Extracts from The Story of Freedom's Children by Tom Jasiukowicz (sleeve notes from Astra re-issue in 1997)

If ever there was a rock band around which a legend was created, then Freedom's Children were that band. Were they simply a broken-hearted horde writing psychedelic love songs? Were they galactic flyers in tune with astral days? Or were Freedom's Children just one of the best rock bands the world ever heard, or is it appropriate to say categorically that Freedom's Children were the best band the world never heard.

An ironic suggestion, perhaps, but one with a lot of truth in it. That the circumstances surrounding their existence played against them does not detract from the fact that the original group formed in the year and in the world of music, the ground was breaking.

In contrast to the hit parade sounds of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Monkees, groups like The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Pink Floyd were producing albums marked by their experimental creativity and music styles termed acid rock or astral music.

In 1966, Ramsay Mackay and Colin Pratley had teamed up in Durban to experiment with their music ideas. In Cape Town they met Kenny Henson, who had been playing blues with Leeman Ltd., and together with Jimmy Thompson, of the same band, they began to perform as Freedom's Children. Their sound was acid-astral rock.

South Africans had not been prepared for this group. The group created controversy and newspaper headlines, in every small South African town they performed at. Some towns banned them. But to those who understood quality rock, Freedom's Children provided their break with conventional thinking and music ideas.

Julian Laxton replaced Kenny Henson on guitar in 1968 and Harry Poulus joined on keyboards. The group travelled to England but, perhaps for the reason that the group was from South Africa, and the politics of apartheid swayed opinion, the musicians were refused work permits and so their dream of attracting world acclaim faded. While the group returned to South Africa disillusioned, began work on the recording of the 'Astra' album.

The album provided the magic of a classic rock album. There were dramatic climaxes, socio-philosophical lyrics, hard, pulsating rhythms, blistering lead guitar solos, sense-riveting sound-effects and soaring vocals.

Ramsay Mackay left the group after the recording of 'Astra' and it was Julian Laxton who drove the band on their last album, 'Galactic Vibes', and where the music on it was still devastatingly good, the aura of 'Astra' had dissipated.

Ramsay Mackay, Colin Pratley, Kenny Henson, Julian Laxton and Brian Davidson all carried on producing music in their respective forms and styles, through the Seventies and Eighties. But if the world of South Africa had been perfect, and had Freedom's Children achieved their breakthrough in England, one can only speculate how difficult the success of this group would have been. The world would have heard some good creative music.

Long live Freedom's Children