Search - Perry Lee & Friends :: Voodooism

Attention Black Ark Devotees!

James N. Kraut | Coral Springs, FL United States | 10/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pressure Sounds, apparently a spin off (or close relative) of the British label On U Sounds, has released three CDs, beginning in the late 90s, that comprise some of Scratch's most brilliant work. And the thing is, ALMOST ALL OF IT HAS NEVER BEEN COMPILED BEFORE. Lee Perry released 7" singles almost daily in the hey day of his production career. Each one of these records was dumped into the marketplace, stayed there for about 20 minutes and quickly disappeared into high-priced personal record collections. Numerous labels have been exploiting Scratch since the early 80s when he crossed over into legend status, repeatedly reissuing his more common works for more than 25 years, sifting through the same readily available tracks time and time again, the result of which is our opportunity to purchase Police & Thieves, War Inna Babylon, Return of Django, Bucky Skank, etc., on about 50 different anthologies. "Voodooism," "Divine Madness...Definitely," and "Produced & Directed by the Upsetter" each present a collection of magnificent rarities from Scratchy's Ark days and a bit before, and most of them are pure classics. Unfortunately, Perry's post-Ark material has been, with few exceptions (e.g. From My Secret Laboratory and other collaborations with Adrian Sherwood) ungrounded stream of consciousness and/or overly verbose odes to himself. It's hard to put in the required hour to get through one of his more recent CDs in its entirety. And perhaps even more significant is the fact (IMHO) that the production, compared to his earlier material, is ordinary. There are always at least occasional glimmers and reflections of his former glory, but predominantly disappointment. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten why I loved him so much when I was discovering and learning to play reggae in the 70s. But one listen to James Boom's dreader-than-dread "Psalm 20," Zap Pow's gorgeously fluid "River" or Leo Graham's blistering "Voodooism" and you know you're back in the presence of real genius - reggae's most creative producer ever. The production on this work is right up there with the very best of the endlessly recycled Black Ark stuff, but it's FRESH! All true lovers of Lee Scratch Perry's 70s work will be blown away. It leaves Arkology in the Weeds."

Heavy Black Ark Roots music

James N. Kraut | 07/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A collection of Mid-seventies Black Ark singles w/dubsides from Leo Graham, Zap Pow, Earl 16 and others. If you like roots music then you will not be disappointed by these rarities."