[Music] RIP Lee Perry

[Gwylan]

Scratch the Upsetter is no more. What a genius; the man who shaped reggae. So much music in my collection bears his touch. If you saw him live, you were never quite sure what you going to get but that was part of his charm,


The world is much emptier tonight

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Oh shit. Utter genius of a man, and superbly eccentric.

Sad, sad news.

 

[redoubtable seagull]

Noooo. Sad news.

 

[SuperFurrySeagull]

So sad, a unique character.

 

[zefarelly]

I read an article in the Grauniad recently about him, got the impression he wasn't well. RIP, a legend of Reggae

https://youtu.be/JE4ja5oErfA

https://youtu.be/ax5phXqMjCU

 

[daveinprague]

Last time I saw him was Amsterdam sunsplash, sporting a purple beard and chasing a female friend around her merchandise stall A big loss for the reggae world.
A genius really

 

[studio150]

The King Of Dub

RIP

 

[Bob!]

Saw him just a couple of years ago.

Mad Genius!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Damn that's bad news. Strictly stoner bonkers. Felt GOOD to see him at Concorde 2. Felt even better to NOT see him at Concorde 1 when he was billed to appear alongside The Mad Professor. LSP bless him never showed, Mad Prof did double his normal set - and daft bugger promoter charged us half-price on the door, bless 'em

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Lee Perry, Nanci Griffith, Charlie Watts, Brian Travers (UB40) Don Everley, Tom T Hall, Sean Lock, Una Stubbs and Dee Tee Thomas (Kool and the Gang). All gone in August. September can't come too soon.

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

Lucky to have seen him, complete fruit loop, but also a genius. I had a conversation about him last week wondering how he had lasted so long.

Maybe I he is on the wire with Bob Marley, he appeared a bit miffed that he didn’t get the credit he deserved for his part in Marley’s success.

RIP

 

[Guinness Boy]

An absolute genius. Gutted he's gone, yet amazed he lasted this long. RIP sir.

 

[Moaty]

One of the best Producers ever to have walked the planet.So many artists owe him big time.Not only Reggae stars,lumineries such as the Clash,Jagger, and Tom Tom Club headed to the Black Ark trying to catch some of that genius.RIP.

 

[Gwylan]

Lucky to have seen him, complete fruit loop, but also a genius. I had a conversation about him last week wondering how he had lasted so long.

I saw him three times: first two times, he was out of this world - phenomenal gigs.

The last time, he pottered around the stage looking totally out of it. He seemed like some old man who'd smoked too much collie and scrambled his brains ... which is not far from the truth.

But when he was on fire, he was on fire. What a legacy to leave

 

[1066familyman]

I saw him live a few times. Always eccentric but brilliant. Luckily these were all a good few years ago though.

Of course all his early Black Ark stuff is classic: From that period, Curly Locks and all it's dub versions is probably my favourite track. But funnily enough, the album he did with Adrian Sherwood....Time Boom..... is one of my favourite reggae albums of all time. It just works so well as an album. Brilliant from start to finish!

Also remember recording this on video as a kid, and then watching it back over and over again. Seems as good a place as any to remember him by for me.



This is the full Tube film btw:

 

[Comrade Sam]

Responsible for pinnacles in human achievement when he worked with the Wailers.
https://youtu.be/p5_e2FtMxHs

And whilst a king of reggae and dub, he was a genius for ska as well.
https://youtu.be/-HEP7yamY2o

 

[Jack Straw]

Weirdly, I'm listening to some Bob Marley, produced by Lee Perry whilst looking at NSC, and then saw this thread. Another shock as yet another Reggae legend leaves us. Not many artists left now from the late '60s, those who got a lot of us hooked on the heartbeat of bass and rhythmic drumming when it really hit British shores back then. I'm as in to this genre of music as I was when I first discovered it during the first generation skinhead days. I was lucky enough to see him at the Essential Music Festival at Stanmer Park years' ago.
Lee Perry will be blasting out of my hi-fi this evening for a while.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I saw him live a few times. Always eccentric but brilliant. Luckily these were all a good few years ago though.

Of course all his early Black Ark stuff is classic: From that period, Curly Locks and all it's dub versions is probably my favourite track. But funnily enough, the album he did with Adrian Sherwood....Time Boom..... is one of my favourite reggae albums of all time. It just works so well as an album. Brilliant from start to finish!

Also remember recording this on video as a kid, and then watching it back over and over again. Seems as good a place as any to remember him by for me.



This is the full Tube film btw:

Brilliant clip. Thanks for posting that

At times I felt the madness was a nice convenient image, much as gimlet eyed Ed Sheeran has to protest about about what a nice bloke he is all the effing time.

And then you see the toaster or the wrap of tape round the bicep, totally unexplained, and understand that was Lee and don't try and make sense of it. And then you hear the last few sentences on that video and realise he understood the whole world and was repulsed by a good lot of it.

Tremendous.

Edit - I'm referring to the first Jools interview here, not the one labelled The Tube.

 

[Jack Straw]

For those not very familiar with Lee Perry's work, please give this a go, from 1969. There is no better piece of instrumental Reggae from it's time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQAyBK8OX48

 

[1066familyman]

For those not very familiar with Lee Perry's work, please give this a go, from 1969. There is no better piece of instrumental Reggae from it's time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8eZJGNLvp0

The organ on that is incredible!

Are we really sure Jackie Mittoo was the keyboard king after all?