Saturday, January 16, 2016

STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Lee "Scratch" Perry will be eighty years old in March. By every indication he's still very much a spring chicken. There's no disputing that he's a freak of nature, some sort of mad genius. With rather primitive equipment, he produced a good sized hunk of classic seventies reggae, behind the board for everyone from Bob Marley down to the bottom feeders. He did his own stuff too, backed by his studio band the Upsetters. Then at the peak of his popularity, he burned his studio down.



He's collaborated with everyone and their mother, even outside of reggae circles. He produced the Clash, worked with Adrian Sherwood, recorded with the Beastie Boys, had Andrew WK co-produce one of his albums (that had Ari Up, Moby and Don Fleming guesting), and so on. Dude is a machine. These days in full on Technicolor.



There's a new documentary about him (yes, another), the trailer of which shows him as lively as ever. Lee Scratch Perry's Vision Of Paradise follows him for fifteen years, including a trip back to Jamaica, which ought to be interesting just by itself. If you've watched his trajectory of the past decade or so, you can well imagine. That's gotta be like a martian landing in Kingston.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Lee Perry - Roast Fish and Cornbread mp3
at Passion of the Weiss
Lee Perry - Jungle Lion mp3
at Stop Smiling
Lee Perry - Panta Rock mp3
at KUCI

Lee Perry - White Belly Rat mp3 at Pixie Radio
Lee Perry vs King Tubby - Africa mp3 at Nintendo Planet Video (?)
Lee Perry and Scientist - Fall In Love With Dub mp3 at Pixie Radio
Lee Perry and Mad Professor -  Cheerful Dub mp3 at Pixie Radio
Lee Perry and the Experience - Disco Devil mp3
at Evil Vince 8 minutes
The Upsetters - Exit the Dragon mp3
at Slutty Fringe
Of historical note:
Lee Perry - People Funny Boy
(streaming) at YouTube The Joe Gibbs putdown
Lee Perry - Run For Cover
(streaming) at YouTube The Coxsone Dodd putdown
Video:

Lee Scratch Perry's Vision of Paradise trailer at YouTube 2015
The Upsetter - Documentary trailer
at YouTube 2011
Lee Perry, Guiness commercials
(?!?) at YouTube
Visit:
Lee Perry - Official site
Lee Perry
at Wikipedia

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