TOUCH and the Jerome Francique connection

by Cleve Scott

This article celebrates Jerome Francique who helped to shape the sound of the musical band TOUCH from 1988 to 1990. The tonal quality of its most recent recording, Cucumber in she salad, also reflects the Jerome Francique influence.

The first recordings by the band were done in 1986; these were Get Up and Party, sung by Godfrey Dublin, and Calypso Rock, sung by Lennox “Dinks” Johnson. In 1987 the band did its first album, Soca Epidemic. The 1986 and 1987 recordings were done in Barbados with the Caribbean music icon Norman Barrow of the Sand Pebbles band and A&B Music supplies fame.
In 1988, TOUCH switched from recording in Barbados to Trinidad and Tobago. The 1988 and 1989 recordings were done at Mark Fojo’s Star Sound Studios, Goodwood Park, Chaguanas. We are speaking mainly of Back Off (1988) and Jam Dem (1989). Star Sound was a small studio with limited equipment. It was here that the band met Jerome Francique, a Trinidadian trombonist, arranger and recording engineer who had worked in the Jamaica music industry in the 1970s.
Francique has an impressive discography featuring playing and engineering on reggae, calypso, soca and jazz. He played trombone on the 1976 Toots and the Maytals album. He was also a member of the production cohort at Federal Records. Among the mega hits he played on is Ernie Smith’s Duppy (or a) Gun-man (1974). You can hear his trombone alongside the iconic Dean Fraser’s saxophone on I’m in Love With You (1979) by Beres Hammond.
For many ethnomusicologists, the most important work Francique appears on is the original version of Satta Massagana (1976) by The Abyssinians. This song, with a trademark brass line, is now a reggae anthem and a hymn in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Most Vincys would know a cover of this song as the theme song to the Shake Up programme on WEFM 99.9 or as Raggy Road (1997) by Capleton – “trodding this road for the longest while” Capleton sings against this global reggae sound check option.
Francique worked as well on the 1978 Zap Pow production at Dynamic Sound Studio, Kingston, Jamaica, owned by the legendary Jamaican musician Byron Lee (of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires fame), and Treasure Isle Studio. The executive producer of this Zap Pow record was the legendary Chris Blackwell whose name is synonymous to the success of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Francique was the Recording engineer and the Overdubbing engineer on this album.

The relationship with TOUCH and Francique lasted several years. His signature in TOUCH music is a heavy kick drum and a deep bass line, as is associated with reggae. In TOUCH recordings there are also very well-defined instruments such as the brass line; there should be no surprise here because Francique was a trombonist. In fact, he was a well-rounded musician/engineer. I remember him commenting, “I am not hearing all six strings on the guitar”. The typical soca track in the 1980s carried light weight low end and TOUCH helped to baulk this trend.

In 1990 the band moved with Francique to Muzik Kraft Recording Studios at Maraval Road, Port-of-Spain. This was a much larger studio and was owned by Ottie Myers, who at the time was president of the Copyright Association of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT.) It was here the album True Colours was done, which features Ah Love me wife bad, Bad Girls (monkey say cool breeze) and Tamika. It was also here that Scrunter’s parang Anita and A piece of pork as well as David Rudder’s Carnival Ooman were recorded.

Francique assisted with recording the 1990 Starlift Steel Orchestra rendition of TOUCH’s Bad Girls. It was recorded at Douglas DeFreitas’ BDS studios at Dorsetshire Hill. He also assisted with a few tracks on the 1992 Flair album (which features Pussman) after the band had returned to recording in Barbados in 1991 this time at Blue Wave studios, owned by the Guyanese music magnate Dr. Eddy Grant.

It was in 1988 that TOUCH became atypical with a distinctive sound. Colin King, a former band member and at the time the most consistent critic of the band, wrote: “Roll out the red carpet of spicy vice and usher in Touch for 1988. Gone from the music are preoccupations with Venezuela and drugs or crossover that coloured last year’s Soca Epidemic. Instead, it’s uncompromisingly hot, well-arranged calypso music with deliciously ambiguous hooks – take for example Back Off [,] in some areas the Back being substituted for another four-letter word. The irresistible musical rhythms will undoubtedly urge a lot of people to Get It In for Carnival, but the only epidemic we want this year is a soca epidemic. The guys have a truly monstrous hit on their hands.”

About three months later, King produced a masterly analytical piece on the band’s soundscape. He wrote: “After four years, the TOUCH ‘sound’ has emerged; it is a clean, distinctive and highly professional sound.  Futuristic too – since the most advanced technology characterises the bands [sic] instrumentation. The keyboard section offers an unlimited variety of sound approaching a symphonic diversity.”

The year 1988, when TOUCH moved to Trinidad and Tobago, was indeed a watershed year for the band. It was when Ifil Shortte, Gideon James and Julius Williams joined Godfrey Dublin, Willis Williams and Bryan Alexander on a recording. It was also when Godfrey “Cherry” Ince gave his parting shots with Back Off shortly before he relocated to the US.