When was the last time you heard a record featuring just real musicians playing real instruments – no clicktracks, no laptops, recorded on quarter inch 8-track tape (or in this case 6-track) and mixed on to quarter inch stereo? Maybe you’re too young to even know what that means, and if you’re too old maybe you’ve forgotten what that means. Well, that record is here right now and it’s called “Dubs Unlimited” by The Breadwinners.

So who are “The Breadwinners”? The Breadwinners are Alan Redfern and anyone else he happens to work with. Al is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, recording / mixing engineer and producer.  Sometimes it seems it would be easier to list the instruments he doesn’t play – the album features him on drums, bass, keyboards, guitar, percussion and harp – that’s harp as in “harp” not “mouth harp”. Whilst he plays the majority of the instruments on the album he is also joined by several guest musicians, most notably the sax and flute player known only as “Stally” who features prominently throughout, weaving his magic with his languid, lyrical style – nothing flash, just pure niceness!

Alan Redfern was born in 1978 in a small village on the outskirts of Rochdale, a historic mill town itself on the outskirts of Manchester, England. He joined his first band around the age of nine while still at primary school, “just making noises” as he puts it. He soon moved on to his first proper band, playing bass in Stone Free, an outfit specializing in Jimi Hendrix covers. At the same time he was very much a part of Rochdale’s then thriving jam session scene. Jamming with other musicians for hour upon hour, day upon day, Al picked up the rudiments of the wide variety of instruments he plays today. But all the while his overriding passion was for recording, mixing and producing, and in 2006 when he acquired a Tascam 388 multitrack recorder he set up the all-analogue Bakery studio, equipping it with specific pieces of hardware associated with Lee “Scratch” Perry’s unique Black Ark sound, in particular the
Mu-Tron Bi-Phase and Roland Space Echo. Over the past 5 or 6 years he has produced hundreds of tracks, some of the best of which are presented here on the “Dubs Unlimited” album. Many distinguished guests have passed through the Bakery studio in that time including the renowned UK jazz musicians Matt Halsall (trumpet) and Nat Birchall (sax). He has also been approached to mix some of Gregory Isaacs’ very last recordings, produced by Sly & Robbie. None of these have yet been released but Al’s mixes certainly earned Sly & Robbie’s approval!

More recently in June 2012 the legendary Big Youth paid a visit to the Bakery to voice a couple of Al’s rhythms exclusively for King Spinna and the Breadwinners. One of these, “Joy” (a no-nonsense first take on a rhythm Big Youth had never heard before) is included in discomix style as a bonus track on the CD version and all download formats of “Dubs Unlimited”. We would have loved to include it on the vinyl edition as well but there simply wasn’t room for it. Nevertheless, the LP edition is a real treat for vinyl fans – it’s that rare beast, the Triple A “All Analogue Album”, recorded on analogue multitrack, mixed to quarter inch analogue tape and cut direct to the lathe – not a ProTool in sight!