This article was prepared by Chemicals & Chemistry editors from staff and
other reports. Copyright 2010, Chemicals & Chemistry via
VerticalNews.com.JUST BEFORE DAWN, IN THE GARAGE OF HIS MANSION, SET HIGH above
a medieval village in the Swiss Alps, Lee "Scratch" Perry balances precariously
on the top step of a ladder and spray paints an abstract self-portrait. Dozens
of medals and pendants hang from his army jacket and jangle as one of reggae's
founding fathers stretches his wiry frame to reach the canvas. His foot taps to
the beat ^ of a dark dub track he created more than 30 tiffany earrings
on sale years ago. His black biker boots are covered with a mosaic of
shattered mirror pieces that he has glued to the leather. His mohawk and beard
are painted cardinal red.
"Being a madman is good thing!" Perry shouts
over the music. "It keeps people away. When they think you are crazy, they don't
come around and tiffany
necklaces on sale take your energy, making you weak. I am the Upsetter!
Suffer, you were born to suffer! I am the Upsetter!" * It is a title Perry
conferred on himself with his 1968 Jamaican single "I Am the Upsetter." It is
also a perfect description of Perry's historic, confrontational impact as a
record producer, in the late Sixties and Seventies, on reggae and beyond. Perry
cannot read or write music, but with his intuitive ear for the natural
complexities of reggae rhythms and the spiritual rebellion in RScB voices, Perry
produced Bob Marley and the Wallers' best early recordings - Seventies sessions
including the righteous anthems "Soul Rebel," "Small Axe" and "Duppy Conqueror"
- and the midSeventies Rasta-protest classics War Ina Babylon by Max Romeo and
Police and Thieves by Junior Murvin. Meanwhile, Perry's pursuit of extremes on
his seminal dub releases - mesmeric rhythm tracks chopped and rebuilt with
primitive electronics and confounding logic - laid the foundations for hip-hop,
electronica and the entire remix industry.
"You could never put your
finger on Lee Perry - he's the Salvador Dalí of music," says Keith Richards, who
has been working on some recordings with Perry. "He's a mystery. The tiffany rings on
sale world is his instrument. You just have to listen. More than a producer,
he knows how to inspire the artist's soul. Like Phil Spector, he has a gift of
not only hearing sounds that come from nowhere else, but also translating those
sounds to the musicians. Scratch is a shaman."
