Appearing a year after
Lee "Scratch" Perry's death at the age of 85,
King Scratch is the late musician's first posthumous anthology, though far from his first compilation issued by
Trojan Records. The collection mainly focuses on
Perry's work from the '60s and '70s, from early rocksteady singles (like his own "People Funny Boy," a vicious putdown of former employer
Joe Gibbs, and
Upsetters tracks like "Return of Django") to productions from his legendary Black Ark studio, with only a taste of his later output at the end of the set. For the most part, the compilation concentrates on songs
Perry produced for other artists rather than dub versions and experiments, with a large percentage being concise 7" single mixes, and only a handful constituting extended 12" versions or album cuts. A considerable amount of
Perry's best-known productions is on here, with many of them included in rare or previously unreleased mixes largely unheard outside of Jamaica. These include undisputed timeless classics like
Susan Cadogan's "Hurt So Good" (a Top Five hit in the U.K.) and
Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves" appearing in a 12" mix accompanied by DJ
Jah Lion. Similarly,
Max Romeo's "Chase the Devil" (known to ravers for being sampled by
the Prodigy on the 1992 single "Out of Space") leads into
Perry's truly wild "Disco Devil," which dunks the same rhythm in a vat of acidic distortion and echo. The two songs included by
the Congos originate from the same time period as the 1977 opus
Heart of the Congos, a truly visionary fusion of Rastafarian roots lyrics and
Perry's otherworldly sonics, though neither track appeared on the original album. The final stretch of the compilation concentrates on solo
Scratch, including late-era Black Ark recordings like "Bafflin' Smoke Signal," then ending with two cuts that appeared on
Trojan-issued albums from the early 2000s. A warped take on
Bob Marley's "Exodus," here included in a rare 7" mix, and the title track to the Grammy-winning
Jamaican E.T. demonstrate the hallmarks of
Scratch's later work, from his inimitable creaky vocals and free-associative wordplay to his still-unconventional approach to production, with multiple voices and strange, ear-catching noises layered in the mix. It would be nearly impossible to compile a truly definitive anthology of
Perry's daunting body of work -- even an exhaustive dozen-disc box would likely miss some essentials and leave several corners of his discography untouched. That said,
King Scratch's format, focusing mostly on singles while including numerous rare and alternate versions, makes it both an ideal starting point for novices as well as a must for longtime fans, not unlike 1997's vital
Arkology. [In addition to the standard double-CD and streaming edition and a truncated double LP,
King Scratch was also issued as a massive box set consisting of four LPs and four CDs, with no overlapping material, and a 50-page book.] ~ Paul Simpson
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