January 1, 2005 by A.S. Van Dorston

In January 2005, John Corbett gave the first public screening at the Gene Siskel Center of excerpts from his 1990 interview with Lee Perry in Zurich, Switzerland. Parts of the interview were used for articles in his 1994 book, Extended Play. Corbett originally intended to make a full-length documentary, but Perry’s schizophrenia made it too difficult to get enough coherant interviews. Nevertheless it was amazing to see Perry at his home with his wife Mireille Campbell and new baby (who’s now a teenager!). It’s sad to see the extent of his condition of paranoid-schizophrenia, but comforting to know he’s being well taken care of. He seemed happy and relaxed, as the footage took an extended lakefront walk as Perry showed off his unique fashion style, cluttered with found fetish objects such as rocks, crosses, cards of saints, and toys glued to his coat, boots and homemade crown. He also clutched a large iron cross, a mirror which he would use to reflect light into the camera, and a Batman doll the entire time. His nonstop wordplay was often nonsensical, but would occasionally stumble into brilliantly profound nuggets of wisdom, followed by hearty (or maniacal) laughter.

While Perry occasionally tours and records, he doesn’t do a lot anymore. He hangs out at a state-of-the-art studio where they treat him like a king, but don’t let him touch the boards. Corbett preceded the viewing with a brief lecture on Perry’s history, and played a few tracks, including an early 1968 B-side that reversed the vocals, and the seminial Black Ark era “Bionic Rats.” Corbett recommended focusing on Perry’s Black Ark era as an introduction to his work.

Indeed, during Perry’s Black Ark period, he was on fire, coaxing sounds into a little Teac four-track that others couldn’t cram into sixteen tracks.

“It was only four tracks written on the machine, but I was picking up twenty from the extra terrestrial squad. I am the dub shepherd.”

There are tons of collections of Perry’s work, most notably the collected Black Ark studio works on the 3CD Arkology and the 2CD Open The Gate. But you don’t get a full picture without some of the seminal albums.

Lee Perry productions (most highly recommended are in bold):

The Upsetters * The Upsetter (Trojan) 69

The Upsetters * Return Of Django (Trojan) 69

The Upsetters * Clint Eastwood (Trojan) 69

The Upsetters * Many Moods Of the Upsetters (Upsetter) 70

The Upsetters * Scratch The Upsetter Again (Trojan) 70

The Upsetters * Eastwood Rides Again (Trojan) 70

The Upsetters * The Good, The Bad And The Upsetters (Upsetter) 70

There seems to be no end to the tracks with early Upsetters instrumentals. The Upsetters became a mixture of the J.B.’s, the M.G.’s and the Skatalites as one of Jamaica’s most versatile backing groups. Bob Marley would soon hijack some of them to become Wailers. On any given album you’ll find excellent soul covers and recurring themes from American television and Italian westerns. For some, one album is enough, others must have it all.

Bob Marley & the Wailers * Soul Rebels (Trojan) 70

One of Perry’s great achievements was taking Bob Marley under his wing, transforming him from an earnest soul crooner to a politically charged rastaman with a transformed voice, going on to become a worldwide cultural icon.

Dave Barker Meets the Upsetters * Prisoner Of Love (Trojan) 70

Dave Barker was a fairly minor figure in early reggae, styling himself after a number of American Southern soul-shouters, much like dozens of other reggae singers. The distinction here is that this singer gets the Lee Perry treatment, and though the peak, “Shocks Of Mighty” is available in many Perry collections, this album is a blast.

The Upsetters * Africa’s Blood (Trojan) 71

This is a nice bridge between Perry’s early Upsetter instrumental work, and his dub albums. It’s a nice mix of eerie, moody, soul-influenced instrumentals, vocal tracks and versions with toasting by Dr. Alimantado on Junior Byles’ “Place Called Africa.” It’s available in The Upsetter Compact Set, which nicely maps the evolution of pre-Black Ark Perry, including Rhythm Shower (1973) and Double Seven (1974).

Junior Byles * Beat Down Babylon (Trojan) 72

It’s amazing that more artists didn’t become superstars after getting the Lee Perry treatment. Giving voice to Perry’s radical roots visions years before Max Romeo, Beat Down Babylon is an early classic vocal album, surpassing anything by Bob Marley & the Wailers.

Bob Marley & the Wailers * African Herbsman (Trojan) 72

Ironically one of Marley’s greatest albums has gone largely unheard, though inferior (though slicker) versions of “Lively Up Yourself,” “Trenchtown Rock,” “400 Years,” “Kaya,” “Duppy Conquerer” and others were re-recorded for later albums. Perry’s creativity is more subtle than usual, with a spare sound, paying loving detail to rhythms and harmonies. It’s a testament to Perry’s genius that one of Marley’s best albums is not even close to Perry’s greatest work.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Cloak & Dagger (Trojan) 72

Dub-Triptych (Trojan), a double CD set, consists of Cloak & Dagger (1972), Blackboard Jungle Dub (1973) and Revolution Dub (1975). Cloak & Dagger is a proto-dub album that was a very important step towards dub, featuring the brilliant saxophonist, The Skatalites’ Tommy McCook. Check out “Caveman Skank,” in which Perry introduces sampling by opening with a Native American Chief reading from the Bible in Cherokee on top of sounds of running water, crashing cars and voices from a sound effects LP. In Lloyd Bradley’s Bass Culture, he wrote:

If your mum had been driving you to school in 1972 in the Port Antonio area on Jamaica’s north-east coast, the chances are that JBC’s breakfast show would have been on the car radio, an innocuous diet of country, calypso, R&B and a sprinkling of highly polished reggae. Or it would be until another signal cut in, jamming the frequency to replace such easy listening with Lee Perry’s Cloak & Dagger album, an abrasively typical Scatch instrumental set. One side would play after the other, with not a word said over the airwaves. If you were a pupil at Tichfield High School, Port Antonio, then you’d be in on the joke, for it was two Tichfield pupils who, most mornings, would retune the school’s licensed radio transmitter to illegally override the larger station within a five-mile radius of the town.

Apart from simply amusing their mates, and royally pissing off a great deal of upwardly mobile parents, this was a comment on the fact that official Jamaican radio (there were by now more than a few small-scale pirate operations) wasn’t catering for a younger generation to whom sound systems and representative music had always been a part of their lives. And it wasn’t by chance that Cloak & Dagger was the soundtrack chosen to make such a protest – the adolescent airwave hijackers had to play an album because it could be left to roll, and that was the most obnoxious, radical LP available on the island. Although this 1972 set cannot be accurately be termed a dub album, a full twelve months before Perry’s Tubby-mixed Blackboard Jungle Dub it was the nearest thing to it. Making its musical statements through clever arrangements, instrumentation and elementary mixing technique, it attempted to create, at the recording stage, the vibe King Tubby would achieve on Scratch’s B-sides after the event. It was the most tangible link between the instrumental style and the truly dubwise occurrences of a year or two later. But, most crucially, it formed a template for Scratch’s later efforts, which would be some of the best dub music ever committed to disc.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Rhythm Shower (Trojan) 72

Like Cloak & Dagger, Rhythm Shower was recorded in 1972 and released in a limited Jamaican pressing the next year, and is an important document of Perry’s evolution of his dub science. Notable tracks include a dub cut of George Faith’s classic “To Be A Lover,” and a trippy treatment of Augustus Pablo’s melodica on “Kuchy Skank.” Voices drop in and out on “Uncle Charlie,” and Dillinger toasts on several cuts.

Lee Perry & Upsetters * Blackboard Jungle Dub (Upsetter/Trojan) 73

This groundbreaking album of early dub has a confusing release history. It was originally pressed in a blank sleeve with the label titled, Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle. Only 200 copies were pressed, and Perry brought 100 to the UK and sold them to those ‘in the know’ for about £20 each (a lot of money, equivalent to about $300 today). I’ve owned it since the 90s as part of Scratch Attack, with very poor sound quality and incorrect songtitles. Trojan finally set it right in 2004 in full sonic glory. No other album at the time could compare to Perry’s wildly imaginative transformations of ordinary rhythm tracks into what’s really crazy psychedelia.

The Silvertones * Silver Bullets (Trojan) 73

Showing that Perry’s unhinged space madness on Blackboard Jungle Dub didn’t leave him permanently floaing in space (at least not yet), Silver Bullets is an early example of how well Perry can work with a more traditional vocal group, heavy with harmonies and American soul and R&B covers. An important precurser to his productions of The Heptones and The Congos, Perry lends a restrained touch to originals (“Soul Sister,” “Early in the Morning,” Perry’s “Rejoice Jah Jah Children”) and covers (Drifters’ “I’ll Take You Home,” Ben E. King’s “That’s When It Hurts,” Jerry Butler’s “He Will Break Your Heart”).

Dr. Alimantado * Best Dressed Chicken In Town 1973-74 (Greensleeves)

I’m usually not too into the early Toaster/DJs. People like U-Roy, Dillinger and Big Youth get on my nerves because after a while it’s just tuneless babbling over perfectly good music. But Dr. Alimantado’s won me over. Produced mainly by Lee Perry and King Tubby, this became a cult favorite among punkers in ’77 when John Lydon played this on the BBC when he was a guest DJ. Horace Andy’s haunting vocal adds resonance to “Poison Flour,” “I Killed The Barber” is a rasta revenge fantasy, “I Am The Greatest Says Muhammed Ali” is pure Scratch mixology at its best.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Double Seven (Trojan) 74

The last pre-Black Art Upsetters album, it’s a sort of fond farewell to overt soul & R&B influences, including a joyous cover of Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man.” Hints of creative madness enter the fray, including “Waap You Waa,” which sounds like a skanking version of early Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band, and “Kentucky Skank.”

Susan Cadogan * Hurt So Good (Trojan) 74

With an ear for vocal talent, Perry scooped up Alison Cadogan, renamed her Susan and produced a sublime series of singles, including a cover of Millie Jackson’s soul classic “Hurt So Good” which became a huge hit in the UK. The success enabled Perry to complete Black Ark, and get a deal with Island Records. Ironically, Chris Blackwell is the “devil” who Perry believed stole Bob Marley away. The seductive and haunting delivery on “Feeling Is Right,” “If You Need Me,” “Nice And Easy” and “Fever” were a precurser to lover’s rock.

Vin Gordon & the Upsetters* Musical Bones (DIP) 75

Raw, funky instrumentals cut at the Black Ark during the start of Perry’s most creative period. Vin Gordon’s trombone is featured prominently over basic dub tracks, leaving room for the heavy riddims to speak for themselves.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Kung Fu Meets The Dragon (DIP/Justice League) 75

One of the most sought after Upsetter sides, originally only issued in a small batch, and hopelessly hard to find for years. Moving on from outdated spaghetti western themes, Perry hones in on the newfound popularity of Kung Fu movies. Fittingly, he recruits Augustus Pablo to contribute melodica, to the vaguely Eastern-sounding strains of clavinets. This work is more spare, less crazed than Perry’s typcial Black Ark productions.

The Upsetters * Return Of Wax (DIP/Justice League) 75

An excellent lost session from the Black Ark! Tracked by Perry with Upsetters in 1975, these stripped down dubs feature some of the dopest, funky rhythms Scratch ever cut, while others have a super spare, loping Jamaican groove. The sound is crisp and tight, without the giant thunderclaps and echo drops you’d here in a Tubby mix, but chirping guitars and sublimely funky bass ducking in and out of the mix. From the same sessions that gave us the Kung Fu Meets the Dragon set, you know it’s right with titles like “Last Blood”, “Deathly Hands”, “Dragon Slayer”, “One Armed Boxer”, “Fists Of Vengeance”, “Samurai Swordsman” and “Final Weapon”,

Bunny Scott * To Love Somebody (Klik) 75

This obscure out-of-print album is well worth picking up if you spot it. I’ve done some research and have been able to find out next to nothing about Bunny Scott, other than To Love Somebody appears to be his only album under that name (there’s another obscure album called Bunny Rugs & The Upsetters) with a few stray tracks appearing on some Black Ark compilations. The contents are great fun, basically some originals and covers of soft rock classics such as Tim Moore’s “Second Avenue,” no less than two Neil Diamond tunes (“I Am I Said,” “Sweet Caroline”) and Barry and Robin Gibb’s title track. Backed by hot Upsetter riddims of course!

Max Romeo * Revelation Time/Open The Iron Gate (Trojan/Blood & Fire) 75

Reissued with bonus tracks on Blood & Fire as Open The Iron Gate, this is probably the first reggae concept album. Max Romeo said, “It came from 1972, when we had a revolutionary movement, with Mr. Micahel Manley trying to change society from capitalism to socialism. At the time I was socialist-minded – beca’ it’s the only form of poor people government.”

Lee Perry & Upsetters * Revolution Dub (Cactus UK/Trojan) 75

While it’s a groundbreaker, its innovations are more baby steps, which include samples of UK TV sitcom Doctor In The House. Perry also pretends he’s Kojak and belches. Dubs of Junior Byles’ “The Long Way” and Ricky & Bunny’s “Bush Weed Corn Trash” pan wildly between channels with Perry’s ad-libbed rantings on top. Sounds great, but not as mindblowing as Blackboard Jungle.

Prince Jazzbo * Natty Passing Thru/Ital Corner (Black Wax/Clocktower) 76

Like Dr. Alimantado, Jah Lion and Dillinger, Perry gives Prince Jazzbo’s deejay deliveries a sympathetic backing to produce spliffed out career-defining tracks with consistently great backing by the Upsetters..

Jah Lion * Colombia Colly (Island) 76

Jah Lion (Jah Lloyd) is probably the least known of the deejays Perry worked with. This doesn’t mean that this is a lesser effort, however. The dubs are tip-top — in 1976, Lee Perry simply could do no wrong. These are virtually greatest-hits dubs for Perry, including Junior Byles’ “Fever,” cleverly titled “Hay Fever,” Max Romeo’s “War Ina Babylon” (“Dread Ina Jamdong”), Abyssinians’ immortal “Satta Massagana” (“Sata”), George Faith’s “To Be a Lover” (“Little Sally Dater”), and Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves” (“Soldier and Police War,”) rightly included in the mammoth Arkology set.

Max Romeo * War Ina Babylon (Island/Hip-O Select) 76

A classic example of Perry’s influence on artists, fine-tuning their songwriting and ideas. In this case, Max Romeo’s apocalyptic Rasta rage is sharpened like a samurai sword. In addition to the famous title track, there’s “One Step Forward” and “Smile Out a Style,” “Chase the Devil,” “Norman.” It sounds like a greatest hits collection.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Super Ape (Island/Hip-O Select) 76

Super Ape surpasses Blackboard Jungle Dub as Perry’s greatest dub achievement. It’s mindblowing the sounds that Perry squeezed onto a four-track. When Chris Blackwell came into Black Ark, he was shocked to see tape hanging an inch off the reel. “The album is Super Ape, so it got to have a super tape” was Perry’s reply. Giant spliff in one hand, tree in the other, roast fish, roots, cornbread and makka in its big belly, it’s Perry’s alter-ego come to stomp his competition into total awe and submission.

The Heptones * Party Time (Island) 77

After Max Romeo’s War Ina Babylon, Party Time was to be Perry’s next big crossover hit (at least in the UK). A venerable vocal group that had been kicking around over 15 years, The Heptones freshened up their sound with some lovely, slinky Black Ark rhythms. the result is a mammoth roots classic, with righteous lyrics hurled at corrupt politicians in “Mr. President” and “Storm Cloud,” while “Now Generation” is an optimistic look at the potential power of youth. Perry contributes a powerful social critique in “Sufferer’s Time,” and they cover Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” with so much reverence you’d think it was a gospel hymn .

Seke Molenga And Kalo Kawongolo * From The Heart of the Congo (SAF/Runn) 77

Not to be confused with the similarly titled Congos album, also recorded that year by Lee Perry, Kawongolo & Molenga were Zaireans lured to Jamaica by a would-be French manager and abandoned. Penniless and with no knowledge of English, they wandered the ghetto streets of Kingston. A rasta brought them to Black Ark, where Perry believed Jah brought them to him for a reason, and proceeded to record this groundbreaking album with members of the Upsetters. Sung mostly in their native Lingala, this fusion of African rhythms and a dubwise sensibility predates and transcends all the world fusion music that would become popular over a decade later. The sound is rough and trebly and could benefit from a Blood & Fire caliber remastering job.

Junior Murvin * Police & Thieves (Island) 77

Nearly everything Perry recorded in 1976-77 was a contender for some of the greatest reggae albums ever. Police & Thieves is a particularly strong candidate due to Junior Murvin’s Curtis Mayfield-like, unearthly falsetto which is well-suited to the dark, ethereal backing tracks. The tempos are slow, the vocals treated with just the right reverb and echo, the background horn charts haunting, lending all the more power to “Lucifer,” “Roots Train” and of course “Police & Thieves,” covered that same year by The Clash. Every song is perfect, the biblical dread surpassed perhaps only by The Congos.

George Faith * To Be A Lover (Black Swan/Hip-O Select) 77

This and The Congos represent Perry at his peak. His production work has its signature quirkiness, but the execution is both subtle and sublime. Here Perry transforms ordinary lovers rock covers of mainly ballads into some of the best psychedelic soul you’ll ever hear in reggae. After being impossible to find for 25 years, Hip-O Select finally reissued it in a limited edition. Get it while you can.

The Congos * Heart Of The Congos (Black Art/Blood & Fire) 77

It’s ironic that Perry’s greatest achievement was the hardest to find for a while. Having fallen out with Chris Blackwell and Island, this was given an extremely limited release of about 500 copies. Over the years it was reissued half-assed with poor mixes. In 1996 Blood & Fire rescued it with a lovingly remastered and repackaged version, complete with bonus tracks. There’s a newer reissue available now, but this is the one to get. It’s simply the most intensely spiritual, hypnotic music Perry ever laid down on tape.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Roast Fish Collie Weed and Corn Bread (VP) 78

It’s difficult to comprehend how, after such a brilliant run of albums, peaking with Heart Of The Congos, Lee Perry’s reign would end so quickly. The reality is sad and complicated. Perry had most likely already been afflicted with paranoid-schizophrenia for years, and a set of external factors contributed to a breakdown that would culminate in Black Ark burning down. The paranoid rantings to “Evil Tongues” foreshadow these events all too clearly. Nontheless, Roast Fish Collie Weed & Cornbread was a fitting last hurrah, Perry’s first official solo vocal album. Not considered a great vocalist, Perry nonetheless understood what made great vocals, having coached Bob Marley and countless others. Aside from the strangely painful off-key butchering of Junior Byles’ “Curley Locks,” Perry’s vocals are indeed excellent. “Throw Some Water In” is a charming tutorial on good health via diet, exercise and hydration. “Big Neck Police” impressively enhances “Dreadlocks In Moonlight” with saxophones, percussion and choruses. “Free Up the Weed” matches Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It” in making a well-reasoned, impassionate argument for legalization. The sounds are like a survey of Perry’s entire career, with snippets of early rocksteady to soul, funk and, of course, moo cows and crying babies. The spooky, crawling title track is one of the darkest, dreadest anthems Perry has ever produced, and a spectacular cap to his last great album. It’s slightly muddy sound deserves the same loving remastering treatment as his other classics.

Lee Perry & The Upsetters * Return of the Super Ape (VP) 78

With the exceptions of “Psyche and Trim,” “Dyon-Anaswa,” “Tell Me Something Good,” this album would be more aptly titled Death of the Super Ape. While the production is often as densely detailed as his best work, the ideas are a cluttered mess resulting in a large part of the album sounding like meandering filler with nonsensical lyrics thrown in randomly here and there. For Perry completists only. While there are easily another twenty albums released after this album, it would be pointless to get any of them before checking out all of the above releases first.

Kiddus I * Rockers: Graduation In Zion 1978-1980 (Dub Store)

Aside from his brief time in the spotlight with his entry in the Rockers movie soundtrack, Kiddus I is one of a handful of artists Scratch worked with who did not get the proper acclaim in proportion to their talent. Thankfully Dub Store has finally assembled all his singles into one place so his aggressive, raw sound can be appreciated. The first three tracks, “Crying Wolf,” “Too Fat” and “Security In The Streets” were recorded at Black Ark during Perry’s peak in 1977. Nuff said.

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