Reggae producer/auteur Lee "Scratch" Perry a/k/a The Upsetter is hailed as a genius and this is deserved. Not only has he been a prime architect of dub music but he created innovative, unique production techniques and brought the world some of the greatest works in reggae music (includind some of The Wailers' greatest works)--or any music (cf his work with The Clash and other rock/pop groups). That said, he has often diluted his greatness with a lot of not-so-great recordings as well his own eccentric, often downright crazy behavior over the years. As a result, not everything Scratch has done has been great, especially on his own solo recordings.
I thought of this yesterday when I was listening to "Vood-ism", a cd collection of some pretty obscure Perry productions from the 70's issued by Pressure Sounds out of the UK. There are quite a number atmospheric, vibey great tracks on it, most of them originally issued in very small quantities on 45 rpm vinyl in Jamaica. At the same time I was thumbing through David Katz's extremely informative biography of Scratch, entitled "People Funny Boy", after one of Scratch's solo recordings. And I reflected on the man I had the privilege of meeting and speaking with on a couple of occasions.
Scratch is now nearly 65 years old, and is in a pretty good place physically, emotionally and spiritually. First of all he is still here--a survivor when so many of his peers have died or been killed. This is testimony to his survival instincts. He lives in Swizterland with his Swiss wife of many years, still makes music (though he professes not to be interested in working with reggae artists these days--despite that I got him to do a dub mix of the Horace Andy track on A Reggae Tribute To The Police project I was over-seeing.). He still performs--but beware. A performance can range from an inspired, rootsy delight to an incoherent, off-putting disappointment, depending on his mood and the quality of musicians backing him.
I met him first in 1981 in a New York City apartment where he was staying for awhile. He had famously set fire to his Black Ark studio in Jamaica and was in the midst of one of most bizarre periods. I was supposedly there to interview him for my radio show but of course it wasn't exactly a normal interview. At that time he had the habit of writing slogans, philosophic statements and sometime spiritually-oriented gibberish anywhere and everywhere...he showed me the writing covering every blank spot on his sneakers as well as the walls of the apartment (he later was evicted from the apartment when he continued his wall-writing activities out into the hall). I was well aware that Scratch's "crazy" talk and behavior sometimes was just his fertile mind creating visions and situations that lesser minds didn't immediately understand...but which did make sense at some point. Lord knows he often did things in the studio that musicians thought couldn't possibly work but turned out to be brilliant in the end. Other times it was clearly a strategy to put off hangers on, would-be exploiters and others preying on them --and there were many of those, some of them dangerous, in Jamaica. But in our conversation I also got the impression that he started to lose track of the dividing line between "crazy like a fox" and just plain "crazy." Some of this was fueled by herb-smoking but also for his heavy consumption of white rum during certain periods.
But let's talk about the music. There's so much Lee Perry music on the market of varying quality I think it is worth pointing out some of the high points for those who'd like to really see his greatness. Regarding full album productions of other artists, obvious landmarks are his albums with The Wailers (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer) known as "Soul Rebels" and "Soul Revolution" a/k/a "African Herbsman. Some say this is their finest work and I wouldn't disagree. Then there are masterpiece albums by The Congoes (Heart Of The Congoes), Max Romeo (War Ina Babylon), Jr. Murvin (Police And Thieves),Jr. Byles (Beat Down Bablyon) and The Heptones (Party Time). Of his own many albums I'd recommend "Time Boom The Devil Dead", and "Battle Of Armegeddon". Of his instrumental and/or dub albums, whether under his own aegis or The Upsetters, I'd recommend "Super Ape", "Blackboard Jungle Dub" (one of the great dub classics), and any number of Upsetters collections on Trojan as well as "The Best Of The Upsetters" collections on Jetstar. But you have to check out some of the many compilations of his productions to really get to the nitty gritty--collections such as "Voodoo-ism", the "Arkology" multi-cd set put out by Island Records, Lee Perry & Friends "The Singles Collection Anthology 1968-1979), "Scratch On The Wire" and "Produced And Directed By The Upsetter." Put on any of these, sit back, fire up some herb (or not, as per your wont), and immerse yourself in another world, Scratch's world, a world of no boundaries, a world where the interchange between the physical world and the spirit world is free-flowing. The essence of Scratch's world is the human spirit, the struggling, joyous, uncompromising human spirit navigating this most challenging earthly reality. Scratch has been navigating earthly reality for 65 years now and his here to tell his tale. It is a tale that may make you laugh, may make you cry or may simply inspire you by showing you things you've never seen before--but in any case a tale very much worth hearing!
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