“Like the epochal Police & Thieves by Junior Murvin, which also originated at Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry‘s Black Ark Studio and thus shares with this album Perry‘s trademark dark, swampy ambience, War ina Babylon is something of a mountain on the reggae landscape. But what makes it so remarkable is not just the consistently high quality of the music — indeed, by 1976 one had come to expect nothing but the finest and heaviest grooves from Perry and his studio band, the Upsetters — rather, it’s the fact that Max Romeo had proved to be such a convincing singer of cultural (or ‘conscious’) reggae after several years of raking it in as a purveyor of the most abject slackness. (His ‘Wet Dream’ had been a huge hit in England several years earlier, and had been followed by such other delicacies as ‘Wine Her Goosie’ and ‘Pussy Watch Man.’) But there’s no denying the authority of his admonishing voice here, and the title track (which describes the violent mood during Jamaica’s 1972 general election) has remained a standard for decades. Other highlights include ‘One Step Forward’ and ‘Smile Out a Style.’ Essential to any reggae collection.”
allmusic
W – War ina Babylon
Lee “Scratch” Perry and the Golden Age of Roots: ‘War Ina Babylon’
YouTube: Max Romeo – War Ina Babylon 37:52
Category: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
Roots Reggae Tape – Jamaica 1978 rare
“This is a real Roots Reggae mixtape with rare tracks from the golden era of Jamaican music. The Wailers & Johnny Lover – Sun is shining, The Righteous Flames – Must be a revolution, Maurice Wellington – Girl you’re so divine, Shenley Duffus – To be a lover, The Flames – Zion, Senya – Oh Jah come, Little Roy & Ian Rock – Christopher Columbus, Errol Dunkley – This train, Ronnie Davis – Money never build a mountain, The Ethiopians – The word is love, The Mighty Maytones – Ital queen, The Heptones – It’s like heaven, King Burnett & Lee Perry – I man free, Asher & Trimble – Humble yourself, Prince Alla – Bosrah, Morvin Brooks – Cheer up black man, The Royals – Make it believe, Gladstone Anderson – Rockers, Paul Freeman – Life is sweeter than money, Bob Marley – She used to call me data, Chenley Duffus – At the end.”
YouTube: Jamaica 1978 rare
Arkology – Lee “Scratch” Perry (1997)
“Purportedly the definitive Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry compilation, the three-CD set Arkology is loaded with good intentions and is carefully constructed, but with a back catalog like Perry‘s — where it’s nearly impossible to find out what’s what — definitive in this case is a dream. Still, the compilers have done a fine job of providing an overview of Perry‘s career that makes sense musically, historically, and culturally. For those who want to jump headlong into Perry‘s world, this is the way to go. (Otherwise, buying two to three individual releases would be recommended.) Arkology‘s foundation is the 1979 anthology Scratch on the Wire; the compilers took those tracks and added a significant number of remixes and a few previously unreleased dub tracks to give it some weight. And that is perhaps the set’s biggest drawback; it doesn’t cover quite enough of Perry‘s career. Remixes are nice, but a representative sampling of the early, mid-, and late periods at Black Ark would have been better, as well as a few of the early-’60s ska tracks that didn’t make it onto Heartbeat’s excellent Chicken Scratch compilation. There are also some irritating audio considerations here; sometimes reggae reissues lose that warm, extremely loud bass sound that is crucial to the riddims. That’s not always the case on this release, but there are some moments when you wish there was just a little more blood coming from the speakers. So, all that said, is Arkology worth it? Absolutely. Don’t think that this large purchase will give you all the crucial Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry recordings; it provides a good overview and is an excellent introduction, but consider it the start, rather than the completion, of your journey with Scratch and the Upsetters.”
allmusic (Audio)
Jungle psychedelia
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iTunes
YouTube: Arkology 33 video
Dub music
“Dub is a genre of music that grew out of reggae in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae. Music in this genre consists predominantly of instrumental remixes of existing recordings and is achieved by significantly manipulating and reshaping the recordings, usually by removing the vocals from an existing music piece, and emphasizing the drum and bass parts (this stripped-down track is sometimes referred to as a riddim). Other techniques include dynamically adding extensive echo, reverb, panoramic delay, and occasional dubbing of vocal or instrumental snippets from the original version or other works. It was an early form of popular electronic music. The Roland Space Echo was widely used by dub producers in the 1970s to produce echo and delay effects. Dub was pioneered by Osbourne ‘King Tubby’ Ruddock, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Errol Thompson and others in the late 1960s. Augustus Pablo is credited with bringing the melodica to dub, and is also among the pioneers and creators of the genre. Similar experiments with recordings at the mixing desk outside the dancehall environment were also done by producers Clive Chin and Herman Chin Loy. … Dub music is in conversation with the cultural aesthetic of Afrofuturism. Having emerged from Jamaica, this genre is regarded as the product of diaspora peoples, whose culture reflects the experience of dislocation, alienation and remembrance. Through the creation of space-filling soundscapes, faded echoes, and repetition within musical tracks, Dub artists are able to tap into such Afrofuturist concepts as the nonlinearity of time and the projection of past sounds into an unknown future space. …”
Wikipedia
Dubbing Is A Must: A Beginner’s Guide To Jamaica’s Most Influential Genre
In A Dub Style (All Vinyl Roots Reggae Dub Mix) (Audio)
Junior Byles – 129 Beat Street: Ja-Man Special 1975-1978
“A collection of four Junior Byles tracks from his post-Lee “Scratch” Perry era and seven tracks from lesser-known artists like Rupert Reid, Pablo Moses and others, 129 Beat Street highlights some of the best cuts from the little-known House of Music studio operated by Dudley ‘Manzie’ Swaby and Leroy ‘Bunny’ Hollett. In addition to that unifying theme, all the classic roots tracks are held together by thumping bass, exquisite singing and strongly conscious Rastafarian messages. While most of the reggae from the same era came from such big name studios as Black Ark and Studio One, this compilation demonstrates that the supply of talent in Jamaica was extremely pervasive, as is clearly evident on standout tracks like ‘Chant Down Babylon,’ ‘See the Dread Deh’ and ‘Remember Me.'”
allmusic
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Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Dave Robinson – My Homeland, Junior Byles & Rupert Reid + Ja-Man All Stars – Chant Down Babylon, Rupert Reid – See The Dread Deh, bim sherman – mighty ruler
Junior Murvin – Police & Thieves (1977)
“This is one of those albums that winds up on just about every list of essential reggae recordings, and with good reason. Like Max Romeo‘s War Ina Babylon (which is equally essential, and can be considered a companion to this one), it was recorded under the auspices of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry at his legendary Black Ark studio, and is saturated with Perry‘s trademark dense, murky sound. Junior Murvin sings in a fierce and beautiful falsetto, a voice which lends a unique weight to such dark masterpieces as ‘Lucifer,’ ‘Roots Train,’ and the title track (which was later recorded by the Clash). Perry surrounds Murvin‘s voice with great washes of echo and reverb and keeps the tempos slow and intense, giving the album an almost Biblical feel. Ignore the goofy album art on some issues — there is nothing lighthearted about any of these songs, nor is there a single wrong note or misplaced effect. There may be eight or ten perfect reggae albums in existence, and this is certainly one of them.”
allmusic (Audio)
W – Police and Thieves (album)
Guardian: Junior Murvin has died but the story of Police and Thieves lives on
Genius (Audio)
amazon
YouTube: Police & Thieves Full Album 38:57
Punk Scrawled Artist 