The sounds he shepherded across a lifetime behind the mixing board, though, were sophisticated and driven by a laser-like intent that helped change the course of popular music.Īlthough half a decade prior, George Martin and the Beatles had made grand, studio-built experiments in world-class rooms, Perry in the early 1970s constructed technological workarounds that multiplied the potential at a fraction of the price.
With his colorfully dyed hair, jangly jewelry, bedazzled hats and neon outfits, Perry, who died Sunday in Lucea, Jamaica, at age 85, presented himself as an eccentric island mystic. That said, King Scratch's format, focusing mostly on singles while including numerous rare and alternate versions, makes it both an ideal starting point for novices as well as a must for longtime fans, not unlike 1997's vital Arkology.Asked about the revolutionary rhythms and songs created at his Black Ark studios in Kingston, Jamaica, reggae producer, dub innovator and studio icon Lee “Scratch” Perry described a cosmic process occurring deep within his early four-track studio tape recorder.Īlthough the machine afforded only use of four tracks during production, “I was picking up 20 from the extraterrestrial squad,” he said, adding matter-of-factly, “I am the dub shepherd.” It would be nearly impossible to compile a truly definitive anthology of Perry's daunting body of work - even an exhaustive dozen-disc box would likely miss some essentials and leave several corners of his discography untouched. demonstrate the hallmarks of Scratch's later work, from his inimitable creaky vocals and free-associative wordplay to his still-unconventional approach to production, with multiple voices and strange, ear-catching noises layered in the mix. A warped take on Bob Marley's "Exodus," here included in a rare 7" mix, and the title track to the Grammy-winning Jamaican E.T. The final stretch of the compilation concentrates on solo Scratch, including late-era Black Ark recordings like "Bafflin' Smoke Signal," then ending with two cuts that appeared on Trojan-issued albums from the early 2000s. The two songs included by the Congos originate from the same time period as the 1977 opus Heart of the Congos, a truly visionary fusion of Rastafarian roots lyrics and Perry's otherworldly sonics, though neither track appeared on the original album. Similarly, Max Romeo's "Chase the Devil" (known to ravers for being sampled by the Prodigy on the 1992 single "Out of Space") leads into Perry's truly wild "Disco Devil," which dunks the same rhythm in a vat of acidic distortion and echo.
These include undisputed timeless classics like Susan Cadogan's "Hurt So Good" (a Top Five hit in the U.K.) and Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves" appearing in a 12" mix accompanied by DJ Jah Lion. A considerable amount of Perry's best-known productions is on here, with many of them included in rare or previously unreleased mixes largely unheard outside of Jamaica. For the most part, the compilation concentrates on songs Perry produced for other artists rather than dub versions and experiments, with a large percentage being concise 7" single mixes, and only a handful constituting extended 12" versions or album cuts. The collection mainly focuses on Perry's work from the '60s and '70s, from early rocksteady singles (like his own "People Funny Boy," a vicious putdown of former employer Joe Gibbs, and Upsetters tracks like "Return of Django") to productions from his legendary Black Ark studio, with only a taste of his later output at the end of the set. Appearing a year after Lee "Scratch" Perry's death at the age of 85, King Scratch is the late musician's first posthumous anthology, though far from his first compilation issued by Trojan Records.
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