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Gus Dudgeon is rated as one of the greatest British producers
of all time; his work is in millions of homes across the world.
• Starting out as an engineer, he got to produce the Zombies’
classic ‘She’s Not There’ in 1964 when the allotted producer
popped out for refreshments. There followed an eclectic ride
through the 60s as a fully-fledged producer working with acts
as diverse as John Mayall and Eric Clapton’s Blues Breakers,
the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Ralph McTell (he persuaded
Ralph to record the original ‘Streets Of London’ when it wasn’t
included in a forthcoming session), David Bowie’s first hit,
prog rockers Audience and psychedelic act the Locomotive.
• The big break was, of course, being chosen to produce new act
Elton John for DJM Records. The singer had recorded before
as Bluesology but took a new singer/songwriter direction with
his writing partner Bernie Taupin. Their first singles for Philips
failed to chart and their Debut DJM LP did not garner much
interest, so Gus was brought in with his production team,
including brilliant arranger Paul Buckmaster. That transformed
the Elton John sound and, starting with ‘Your Song’ in January
1971, began a string of hits and acclaimed albums that
continue to this day. Gus became such an integral part of the
creative recording process that Elton considered him to be one
of the band.
• In those momentous 70s, Kiki Dee also scored big spin-off hits
and Gus worked wonders for acts such as Joan Armatrading,
Lindisfarne, Chris Rea, as well as an intriguing one-off hit for
Voyager and new wave group XTC – plus an unlikely pair for
South African John Kongos. The ones that didn’t make it are
just as worthy, such as Paul Buckmaster’s group Sounds Nice
with influential keyboard player Tim Mycroft and the amazing
‘Boredom’ by Tea & Symphony, which predated the
Buzzcocks’ song of the same name by a decade.
• Respected music journalist Richie Unterberger has written an
8,000-word essay and there are four pages crammed with
tributes from musicians, singers, DJs and friends (including
Sir Elton John) in the CD booklet – along with photos and
scans over the course of Gus’ career. A percentage of the
profits from sales will go to the Gus Dudgeon Foundation and
the CD has been compiled with the full approval of them and
Gus’ brother Murray. (It is also only the second time John
Lennon has appeared on an Ace release.)