East Of Handsworth

The late Humphrey “Linton” Haughton, loved making music, indeed he continued to record after retiring and relocating from Birmingham to Florida, but such were the struggles of British reggae artists that in all those decades of creating music he only managed to get three twelve inch singles released. Two of those singles were on the Birmingham based Shield label which, just to set the record straight, was categorically nothing to do with the other Birmingham based Shield reggae label that released Groundation’s “Juggernaut”. Those involved have confirmed that the identical label names during the same period were purely a coincidence with neither label being aware of the other. The two Shield singles “Hustling Man” and “East of Handsworth” are closely related with the latter being a dub version of the former. So this brace of twelve inches provides all three cuts of “Hustling Man”, the vocal and two dubs on new vinyl rather than trying to hunt down scarce originals and paying collectors prices. “Hustling Man” is an authentic heartfelt tale of the struggles so many faced living in Britain’s deprived inner cities during the uncertain times of the late seventies. We previously included “Hustling Man” on our compilation album “Midlands Roots Explosion Volume Two” which was released on both vinyl and CD. With the reissue market now increasingly about seven and twelve inch singles rather than albums, and catering to a new generation of vinyl only buyers, we thought it was time to give the two Linton Haughton twelve inches a new audience with their first proper reissue in nearly fifty years.