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Title Essential Lee Perry Subtitle The Ultimate Upsetter Artist Lee Perry & Others Format: Double CD Cat. No.: METRDCD562 Barcode: 698458706225 Playing Time: 61:58

We celebrate here, with a double album that takes a broad look at Perry’s career over the last 20 years, from his early work with Bob Marley and Junior Murvin, samples from the many productions from his Black Ark studio and a little taste of The Upsetters. See Reviews

Track List CD1 1 Clint Eastwood – The Upsetters 2 Return of Django – The Upsetters 3 A Live Injection – The Upsetters 4 Picture On The Wall – Ras Dawkins & Bob Marley & The Wailers 5 A Place Called Africa – Junior Byles 6 Africa Stand – Dennis Alcapone 7 Burning Wire – Jerry Lewis 8 You Can Run – The Hurricanes 9 Station Underground News – Lee Perry & The Upsetters 10 Rejoice Jah Jah Children -- Silvertones 11 Blackboard Jungle Dub – The Upsetters feat: Dillinger 12 Cloak & Dagger – Tommy McCook & The Upsetters 13 Dub Organiser – King Tubby & The Upsetters 14 Black Candle – Leo Graham 15 Keep On Skanking – Bob Marley CD2 1 Spiritual Whip – Jah Lloyd 2 Curly Locks – Junior Byles 3 Dreader Locks – Lee & Junior 4 Many A Call – Unforgettables 5 Doctor On the Go – Upsetters 6 Hurt So Good – Susan Cadogan 7 Mr Cop – Gregory Isaacs 8 Sexy Natty – Max Romeo 9 Bad Weed – Junior Murvin 10 Sons Of Slaves – Junior Delgado 11 Vampire – Devon Irons & Doctor Alimantado 12 Mystery Babylon – The Heptones 13 History – Carlton Jackson         Sleevenotes   Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that the funny little fella who walks the world’s festival stages adorned in trinkets and mirrors is the same person who once cut a swathe through the world’s roughest music industry. He had to earn everything he ever achieved the hard way. He had few allies other than Jamaica’s struggling singers, and his rivals often had an array of cut first, ask questions later, rude boys working for them – that’s not to mention the island’s gun culture. Yet somehow, through his iron will and sheer faith in his Jah-given talent, Lee “Scratch” Perry made it through 20 years in Jamaica’s music biz to pursue his own unique musical vision. It is that vision we choose to celebrate here. Lee Perry was born poor – about as poor as you can get. Yet he did not let his lack of privileges prevent him from shaping the entire genre he worked in. There really is nobody in reggae circles to draw a parallel with; in the wider music world, you might imagine comparisons with Phil Spector for his singleminded vision and mixing ability, but Lee Perry wasn’t interested in creating teen symphonies, he was desperate to express his artistry for deeper reasons. He saw it as a means to right the wrongs that he saw around him, firing musical bullets to the hearts of those who were keeping him down. By contrast, he was also far more humorous and lewd than you might expect from one so driven. That willingness to jest and outrage is a clue to the identity of an auteur in a different field of artistic endeavour who may reasonably be compared to Scratch. One of Lee Perry’s many pseudonyms is Pipecock Jackson. Maybe he should have chosen Hitchcock Jackson, because if there is a parallel between Lee Perry and any other genius, perhaps Alfred Hitchcock would be the closest. Like Hitchcock, Perry came from an unpromising background. He never forgot to entertain. He retained a sense of humour throughout his work. He stamped his personality on everything he did. He made guest appearances when you least expected it, just to remind you who was the driving force behind the pleasure his work was giving you. He has an enduring love of the surreal, horrific and the shocking. Above all else, like Hitch, his innovations have shifted an entire artform to his way of doing things to some degree. If neither ever represented the mainstream of their industry, what they did deeply affected the way the world has come to regard their chosen media. Lee Perry’s career path is fairly well known. At the start of the 60s he began working for Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label as a gofer, writer and eventually, a ska singer. In the mid-60s he had a freelance period before grafting as a producer-arranger for independent musical entrepreneur Joe Gibbs. In 1968 he struck out on his own with the vengeful hit “People Funny Boy” (featured on Metro’s “Lee Perry The Upsetter” CD, METRCD001), in 1969 he enjoyed his first UK chart action with “Return Of Django”, credited to his band The Upsetters. In the early 70s he recorded two albums with Bob Marley & The Wailers, redirecting their approach towards the style which would later make them global icons, and his love of a musical gimmick helped him kick-start the dub revolution with the innovative “Blackboard Jungle Dub” and a heap of outlandish 45s. Circa late 1973, he opened his own studio, the Black Ark, eventually discovering the delights of a phaser applied in tandem with an echo unit, resulting in a multi-layered dub sound that was somehow far more than the sum of its parts. By now, Perry had already owned a string of record labels, including Upsetter, Wizzdom, Black Art and Justice League, which, in response to his cinematic vision, bore the legend “Produced and Directed by Lee Perry. He scored pop hits with Susan Cadogan and Junior Murvin, became a sought-after soundscaper for talents as diverse as Linda McCartney, Robert Palmer and The Clash, and was virtually universally admired by his rivals if perhaps a little feared for his rampant eccentricity, which he used to put a distance between himself and those he didn’t want to do business with. But Scratch eventually tired of the hustle of Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, and closed his studio. He then spent most of the 80s travelling the world and becoming the peculiar, entertaining live act he is today. What that resume doesn’t tell you is the sheer level of innovation and artistry he put into his music. Lee Perry in the 1960s and 1970s was utterly determined to put his indelible stamp on Jamaica’s reggae scene and beyond. He wanted everyone to know what he could do, and although his audience is now bigger than ever before, still too few of those who see him live know why his reputation is so enormous that he can get away with practically anything he does on stage, no matter how daft. While no mere pair of CDs could really tell the entire story, this compilation goes some way to putting the flesh on the skeleton of Lee Perry’s legend. You’ll find the crazed late-60s spaghetti-western-obsessed instrumentals that his first UK audience loved. Early-70s vocal tunes, some of which are roots landmarks. His utterly peculiar sense of humour. Pioneering dub tunes, some recorded with King Tubby, who Scratch encouraged in the early stages of his career. Innovative examples of sampling, long before anyone thought of hip-hop. And the utterly mesmerising, never-bettered sound of his Black Ark studio at its peak, with a selection of discomixes that reveal just how much of a musical experience can be packed into 12 inches of recycled, pockmarked Jamaican plastic. This then, is the planet of Lee Perry – reggae’s original auteur. It’s not quite the same world as the one the rest of us live in, but that’s what makes it so special. Prepare to lose yourself in it – where Lee Perry walks, there are no maps, but somehow you still end up somewhere wonderful. Ian McCann