Lee "Scratch" Perry - The Mighty Upsetter

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 14 / 8 / 2010

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A living legend, a true genius, not just of reggae but of music in the 20th Century as a whole, whilst very much alive and kicking at the tender age of 75, Lee Perry returns and does so on Adrian Sherwood's On-U-Sound label. On-U-Sound went nearly down when German independent giant Efa went out of business - closing five offices in Germany alone. The build-up to this album was spectacular with dubstep 12 inches featuring the likes of Moody Boyz and Kode9 melting together dub reggae and dubstep. Five of the eleven tracks have released before, on limited editions, worth checking out as proof of Perry's cutting edge touch. 'The Mighty Upsetter', however, samples bits and pieces from his glorious Black Ark Studio classics. Vocal outfits like he Meditations though don't get credited on the sleeve. Two of Lee Perry's most talented followers carry the groove of this lovely album. They are Skip McDonald and Adrian Sherwood, smoothly crafting beats around Perry's zany raps. 'The Mighty Upsetter' captures nearly 40 years of Lee Perry's genial sounds. In his ramblings and on the press clippings, Perry alas lags way behind with mentions of Bush, Blair and Helmut Kohl and certainly makes no mention of how the political order looks slightly different with Obama today. He is very unlucky too with a Somali mention only days after the bombing of an Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala. Ethiopia being reggae's place of (Rastafari) worship. It is not the dubstep album I was counting on. Instead it is a return to the freeflowing, upliftingly atmospheric reggae he produced before setting alight his studio and moving out of Jamicia. Perry used the Scratch moniker decades before the art of scratching (records) came into fashion, but it is oddly only now that 'scratching' can be heard on this on a track with Roots Manuva. Side two of the LP brings together contemporary tracks, the wonderful 'Yellow Tongue' featuring Samia Farah for example. The losing track is 'Speak The Truth' where Samia Farah does an excellent job at recreating those absolutely magnificent vocals of The Congos - check 'Heart Of The Congos' one of the albums of all time. 'The Mighty Upsetter' might not be the right introduction to the mighty Lee Perry; find me another 75-year old though, capable of producing an album such as this one, and at this stage of a career.

Track Listing:-

1 Exercising
2 International Broadcaster
3 Kilimanjaro
4 Rockhead
5 Lucy Charm
6 Political Confusion
7 Yellow Tongue
8 Lees Garden
9 Everything Start From Scratch
10 God Smiled
11 Speak The Truth

Band Links:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_%22Scratch%22_Perry

Have a Listen:-

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