I woke the other night to the strangest sight and sound. The Lord has come in judgement to see if I go up or down.
Chain’s second single, following on from the highly successful Black and Blue (which was the first and last blues tune to top an Australian chart) was Judgement released after the band had split, who knows where it might have ended on the charts with band promotion. I fell in love with the song and harp riff when I first heard it blasted over loudspeakers at a carnival sideshow attraction. It was one of my first ever purchases of vinyl.
In the second half of 1971 I purchased Eagle Rock (Daddy Cool) and by the end of the year I had six more singles in my collection, Sweet Hitch Hiker (Creedence), Albert Flasher (Guess Who), Golden Miles (Healing Force), Peace Train (Cat Stevens), Mamy Blue (Joel Dayde) and Judgement. Blessed be the paper round.
Nearly cracked the Top 30 of the National Charts, but it did climb to number two on Melbourne’s 3XY radio charts. Harmonica in the key of ‘D’ by Matt Taylor?
Hears the riff.
Later on in the eighties Matt did a version of Judgement in the key of ‘C’ which can be heard on the 1987 Australian Rhythm & Blues album by Chain. At one time in his solo act he played a low harp version in the key of ‘A’. You can read more on the band and the tune in a previous article Smoked Some Dope.
Ch EssDawg
Please check home page for copyright details!
Here’s a link to a little instrumental Shep mix of Matt’s Judgement over on my Soundcloud.
Harmonica Riff Raff 