'Scratch' makes Revelation

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Revelation, the new album from reggae legend Lee 'Scratch' Perry, will be released on August 10 in Europe and the United States. It features guest appearances from Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and funk pioneer George Clinton.

The set is the latest collaboration between Perry and Steve Marshall, a British musician who worked on Scratch Came, Scratch Saw, Scratch Conquered and The End of An American Dream, the singer/producer's previous albums.

John Saxon, another Brit, produced Revelation. He said working with Richards and Clinton brought a new dimension to Perry's sound.

"It is not just an album for the world/reggae chart but something that every music fan wants for their collection," Saxon said in a recent interview with the Seattlepi.com.

American writer David Katz, who wrote the acclaimed 2000 Perry biography, The Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry: People Funny Boy, agrees with Saxon.

"Keith Richards really does add something to the album, his playing is tasteful on the tracks he appears on," Katz told The Gleaner. "George Clinton is in the mix too ... adding something, if perhaps not so crucially."

Richards plays on the track, Book of Moses.

Now 74 years old, Perry has developed a massive international fan base which tunes into his groundbreaking work as a producer in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as to his music as an artiste.

All-round love for Perry

Katz says response to Perry's music usually depends on the age of his admirers.

"Fans of Perry's classic Black Ark works often dislike his post-Ark works. On the other hand, younger folks, who did not catch his great works the first time around, sometimes appreciate the new stuff," Katz explained.

Lee Perry was born in the district of Kendall, Hanover, in 1936. His music career started in the late 1950s when he worked as an 'apprentice' to producers such as Arthur 'Duke' Reid, Clement 'Coxson' Dodd and Prince Buster.

He branched out with his Upsetter label in the late 1960s, producing a series of cutting-edge songs by The Wailers (Duppy Conqueror, Small Axe), Junior Byles (Curly Locks, Beat Down Babylon), Max Romeo (War In A Babylon) and Junior Murvin (Police and Thieves).

Many of Perry's songs were recorded at his Black Ark studio in Duhaney Park. The eerie complex not only attracted the top names in reggae, but big British artistes such as Robert Palmer and The Clash.

The 'Ark' was destroyed by fire, allegedly by a mentally disturbed Perry, in 1979. He has lived in Europe since, recording and performing with a host of followers such as rap/rock act Beastie Boys and Guyana-born, London-based producer Neil 'Mad Professor' Frazer.

He won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2003 for Jamaican E.T.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry is scheduled to start promotion for Revelation with a performance on August 17 at the Highline Ballroom in New York.