PERRY, LEE

By 1976 Lee Perry already had a decade of experience behind him as a performer and a producer. He had built his own studio, the now fabled Black Ark, in his back garden, and his releases had secured him a deal with the UK's Island Records. 'Scratch The Super Ape' was his first solo release for the label. Perry always hired top quality session musicians for his recordings, but it's his own vision fused with technical skill that shines through on the set, building a multi-textured music and creating a whole new sound. By 1978 his relationship with Island had broken down and his next two albums (both from that year), 'Roast Fish, Collie Weed and Corn Bread' and 'Return Of The Super Ape' came out on his own Lion Of Judah label only in Jamaica. The latter was so far off the mainstream and as much influenced by jazz as reggae that it has only come to be really appreciated over the last decade or so, showing what a real genius Scratch was in the studio.