“Trip To Your Mind” by the Hudson People has been a true favorite among DJs and collectors for decades. From its creative inception by songwriter Reginald Hudson with the G.I. funk band Body Heat, to the original recording taking place in late 1976 in London, the song was initially shelved for several years before finally being released in 1979, when it immediately became a success on the UK scene.

It first came out on the small Hit House label, followed by a release on Ensign with an improved mix. Both versions have been reissued and compiled constantly over the years, yet for the most part without the knowledge or consent of the original composer.
Now, after five decades, the classic tune finally has its official music video.

LINK TO TEASER (COMING SOON)

Having songwriter and pianist Reginald Hudson himself starring in the video was a great honour. As “Trip To Your Mind” is an established dance classic and a favorite among B-boy circles as well as Northern Soul circuits, we also could not miss the opportunity to feature dancing in the video. With Jo “Poppahontas” Escobar, a successful popping and locking performer, we found the perfect match for our project.

The idea behind the video was to create a relatively authentic late-70s production. A vintage Jaguar was organised for the video. The video was shot mostly using Super 8 and Hi-8 video material to achieve a gritty, authentic look.

Additionally, Hudson allowed us to dig into his archive and supplied us with unseen images, backstage passes and other original material from his career, during which he shared stages and studios with some of the greatest artists in funk history, such as Earth, Wind & Fire, The Emotions and the Commodores.

The research also led to the rediscovery of Reginald Hudson’s original flight ticket, dated September 7, 1976, from Los Angeles to London. This provides further evidence that the recording sessions took place in late 1976.

Most scenes of the video were filmed in Berlin, while also incorporating a bit of material filmed in Reginald Hudson’s current hometown of Palma.

We hope the video will be appreciated by fans worldwide, especially those in the UK who still remember the track from its original release in 1979.

Fitzroy Facey of Soulsurvivors Magazine blessed us with extensive memories about the song:

Memories of literally taking a ‘Trip To Your Mind’ upon hearing the first Hudson People 12 inch back in the summer of 1979.

I was fifteen years old in my last high school year attending Ealing Green Boys High school in London W.5, and weekly on a Tuesday night with many of my class and school mates, we attended an under seventeens 7pm-10pm school night disco event, at Oscar’s nightclub in Greenford. We were well into our music, dancing and hanging with the young ladies who we know that went to a neighbouring girls school Ellen Wilkinson. 

Probably like Carlsberg the most memorable night for me was in the June/July summer of 1979, when the DJ played two records that literally blew my mind upon hearing them for the very first time. I can only describe the ‘eargasm’ excitement like I was experiencing an epiphany moment. Simultaneously I watched ten of best dancers take over the dance floor and tear it up, with everybody watching them in total amazement, and my mind was truly blown. 

The first record was Light Of The World ‘Midnight Groovin’’ which had this pulsating jazz funk disco rhythm and the ‘hustle chant’ ‘Don’t stop….keep oooooon”, that was instantaneously infectious. It was then followed by The Hudson People’s ‘Trip To Your Mind’ which contrastingly had a much calmer lead guitar and military brass horn intro, and this very transient, hypnotic and picturesque lyrical entrée, in the song’s first three minutes. 

However within the blink of an eye this rhythm transformed into a wanderlust of musical splendour that I had never anticipated or ever heard in my life. I remember hearing the lyrics ‘Just freak out your mind” whilst I’m simultaneously multitasking watching these dancers taking turns to cut their shapes individually, for what was maybe forty five second to a minute, and having the whole dance floor to themselves, until the next one jumps in. 

I distinctly remember my high school chum Michael Baugh, a light skinned bi racial guy with an afro called Rob Marks from Wembley, who could pirouette flawlessly and diagonally from one side of the dance floor to the other like a Battling Top(a kids toy spinning game). Plus it was the first time I saw Hammish Seelochan who seven years later would be dancing and singing in London soul group The Pasadenas, in his beanie hat. All of the afore mentioned danced in pure synergy to this journalistic piece of musical menagerie, that was ‘Trip To Your Mind’. I became a Hudson People’s fan buying ‘Boogie On Downtown’ on Virgin Records and ‘Boy Scout’ on United Artist Records.

Forty seven years later that seventeen to eighteen minutes of muscle memory is still etched in my brain. By eight thirty the next morning without hesitation both the twelve inches of ‘Midnight Groovin’’ and Trip To Your Mind’ were in my hand, purchased from the record department in WH Smiths on my way to school. It was ironic that both recordings were released on the Ensign Records label. I must have played ‘Trip To Your Mind’ to death and on repeat at my parents house when they were out, blasting it out loudly via the speakers and practising my dance moves.. I marvelled on how the song transitioned into this soulful, spiritually uplifting and organic piece of jazz funk, and quickly knew and understood every nuance of every note, instrument, drum rolls, chord changes as well as the lyrics.

I later picked up the Hit House version which intrigued me more so because the of the deep four floor dub intro that reminded me of the pre house Garage music championed extensively in the 1980s New York era, and the longer instrumental musicianship intricacies in that particular version.

My relationship with ‘Trip To Your Mind’ is deep. In my first DJ set at a house party locally to me in Perivale circa 1985, ‘Trip To Your Mind’ was one of the first two records I played. It was always a main go to classic in my early DJ career and I often tell the story of when I first ever heard ever heard it exactly the same way as I’m describing it now. I’ve only ever seen it outside of it’s 12 inch format on a Bobby & Steve BBE compilation ‘Stop Look & Listen Volume 3’ circa 1997, and recently it’s been reissued by Backatcha Records with both the Hit House and UK Ensign remixes. It’s been sampled by Chubby Chunks for ‘Testament Two’ 1993 on Cleveland City Records, The Groove Merchants ‘Sweetheart(Filter Dub Mix) 1998 and Master Dub ‘Disco Dance’ in 1999.

I was fortunate to interview a very humble Reg Hudson early November 2022 for The Soul Survivors Magazine, gaining an insight to his career before , during and after ‘Trip To Your Mind’. We’ve kept in touch and I recently shared with him a link to view the response from many fans sharing their treasured memories when I posted playing ‘Trip to Your Mind’ on my radio show on Facebook. I only just discovered through Gunter Stoppel that the record was recorded in 1976 and sat on the shelf for three years before it came out on vinyl. Prior to speaking with Reg I always though it was Brit Funk Record which it technically is having being recorded here albeit is USA musicians who were based for a while in Germany. I will never tire of hearing that song and I’ve never heard another record that sounds remotely like that anomaly of a production. 

Fitzroy Anthoney Facey(The Soul Survivors Magazine)

Info Joanna Mae:

Joanna Mae Escobar, also known by her nickname ‘Joe’ or her dancer alias ‘Poppahontas’, was born in Quezon City, Manila. In 2003 she moved to Germany with her parents and ended up in Mannheim. Here she got her first approach into hip hop and urban dance forms at the ‘Physical Funk’ dance school at the end of 2010 and discovered her love for the funk styles ‘Locking & Popping’. Since then she has been active in the scene, organizing events such as ‘Nothing but Funk’ and dancing numerous shows with the ‘Roulette Rangers’ and the ‘SunSouls’. In 2020 she moved her center of life to Essen in North Rhine-Westphalia and is now involved in the urban dance scene there. 

The Story Behind the Record

For decades, Trip To Your Mind was celebrated as a Brit Funk classic, although its true origins remained largely unknown. While the track was recorded at London’s Advision Studios, Hudson People were neither a British group nor a London-based project—a fact first brought to light through the official 2022 reissue on Backatcha Records.

In interviews with label owner DJ Scientist, songwriter and producer Reg Hudson revealed that the musicians behind the recording were actually members of Body Heat, a GI band based in Germany. Like Hudson himself, most of the musicians originally came from the Chicago area.

“The band included Tony Palmer on guitar, Herva Middleton on drums and lead vocals, Charles Walker on saxophone, Harvey Perry on trumpet and trombone, and Rickey on bass—a five-man lineup,” Hudson recalls.

Recorded in late 1976, the track remained unreleased for several years. By the time it finally appeared in 1979, Body Heat was already on the verge of breaking up, prompting the decision to release it under the Hudson People name.

Since the late 1990s, Trip To Your Mind has been heavily bootlegged, widely compiled, and continuously championed by DJs and collectors worldwide, cementing its reputation as one of the most enduring and in-demand Disco Funk records of its era