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Lee "Scratch" Perry
The Upsetter Collection: A Lee Perry Jukebox
(Trojan)
First Appeared in The Music Box, May 2007, Volume 14, #5
Written by Douglas Heselgrave
In the perspective of many, Lee "Scratch" Perry is as famous for his
larger-than-life persona and antics as he is for his music. The Upsetter
Collection: A Lee Perry Jukebox, an excellent new compilation from the
revitalized Trojan Records label, ought to go a long way toward remedying this.
Simply put, the set is the best compilation of Perry’s classic reggae songs to
be released in quite awhile. Following in the footsteps of the superb sampler Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller
as well as Bill Laswell’s two Trojan dub remix packages, The Upsetter Collection: A Lee Perry Jukebox
represents a further mining of Trojan’s seemingly inexhaustible vault of reggae
singles and dub 45s.
It may be hard for the uninitiated to understand the importance and impact
that Lee Perry has had on reggae and, by extension, on pop music. Perry began
his career in the early 1960s with a limited budget and primitive equipment, and
he went on to create some of the most innovative and groundbreaking work that
anyone will ever hear. He singlehandedly invented the concept of taking samples
from his environment and embedding them in his songs. Before either The Beatles
or Pink Floyd incorporated "found sounds" into their greatest endeavors, Perry
was recording animals, garden tools, and sirens of various sorts, which he then
inserted into his rhythm tracks. Like Frank Zappa, Perry’s compositions often
have been undervalued because of his humorous and irreverent lyrics, but setting
aside his bizarre persona, his work has a level of depth and creativity that
rarely has been rivaled — in any age or genre.
Hand-selected by Perry himself, the songs that are featured on the two-disc
The Upsetter Collection: A Lee Perry Jukebox by no means form an
exhaustive overview of his canon. For one thing, Perry recorded for so many
labels — from Island Records to his own Black Ark outfit, with many other stops
in between — that these selections represent only a sampling of the hundreds of
tunes that he pressed with Trojan. It is a sad fact that a definitive
compilation may never be possible without the benevolent permission of many
different entities.
Some of Perry’s greatest hits, such as Junior Murvin’s Police and Thieves
— which famously was covered by The Clash on its debut — and Roast Fish and
Cornbread are noticeably absent from The Upsetter Collection: A Lee Perry
Jukebox, but there are enough rarities here to please even the most ardent
reggae fans. For new listeners, the inclusion of original versions of some
classic Bob Marley cuts such as My Cup and Soul Rebel — which are
presented here in their primitive, psychedelic glory — may be worth the price of
admission. For more diehard fans, early Heptones tracks like I Do Love You
as well as Perry’s bizarre Clint Eastwood and Enter the Dragon
may be more inviting. Most of the material on the set is taken from the period
of Perry’s peak during the 1960s and 1970s, but two excellent latter-day
selections — I Am a Madman (from his 1986 effort Battle of
Armagideon) and Jamaican ET (the title track from Grammy-winning
album in 2001) — are included, and they provide a sense of continuity to the
proceedings. Wherever one’s pleasure lies, it is truly hard to imagine a more
interesting overview of Perry’s groundbreaking work, and because they reveal as
much as anyone could possibly want to know about these songs, the excellent
liner notes by David Katz — author of People Funny Boy, the definitive
biography of Perry — make for great reading while listening to these discs.
Just in time for summer, The Upsetter Collection: A Lee Perry Jukebox
is a wonderful compilation, and it provides further evidence that — after years
of floundering — Trojan Records is back on the right track. Lee Perry’s music
truly is a gift to the world. More fun than a barrel full of monkeys, these
songs will bring a smile to your face, and they are guaranteed to get you moving
and bending in ways that you didn’t think you still could. At birth, everyone
ought to be issued one of his albums, but lacking such enlightenment from the
world’s leaders, Perry’s music, with any luck, will be pumping from the sound
system at a barbecue or a beach party near you some time soon. It will certainly
be blaring out of mine. 
The Upsetter Collection: A Lee Perry Jukebox is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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