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I think this track is only available on the (rare) original LP (none of the LP/CD reissues), and not even deemed a tracklisting
# Real shame...beautiful music...as deep as it gets. Would love a copy ... and to hear another version - one cut isnt enough!

If anyone is interested, found this:
* NEEDS A PROPER REISSUE *, September 5, 2005
By
Jasper (New England)

This review is from: Love Thy Neighbor (Audio CD)
We've seen a lot of classic Jamaican music being released over the last few years. Great labels like Heartbeat, Blood & Fire, Pressure Sounds, Trojan (since it's been owned by Sanctuary), and many others have put out some wonderful stuff. We've come to expect at least decent remastering, if not excellent remastering and great extras and packaging. Many rare and wonderful works have been dug up, particularly from the great era of the 1970s. So what about "Love Thy Neighbour?"

Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus were at a 1978 Bob Marley recording session at Lee "Scratch" Perry's legendary Black Ark studio when Scratch proposed that they record an album there, to which Ras Michael agreed. Scratch recorded a number of tracks and gave them the full blown Black Ark treatment, piling on loads of reverb and delay, guiding the musicians to create a brilliant mind-expanding stew of percolating Niyabinghi rhythms and spaced-out textures, and mixing the album himself. Perry's biographer, David Katz, described the results of these sessions as "a definite high point in (Ras Michael's) career," "among the most powerful works Ras Michael has ever recorded." and one of the "last great recordings to emerge from the Ark..," boasting "an awesome sound," and "one of the more succesful blends of Niyabingi drums and electric studio instruments." Sidney Wolfe, member of The Suns Of Negus confirmed "That album was done by Lee Perry. It's a funny thing, an adventure." For more, check out Katz's great Perry biography, "People Funny Boy."

So why is a definitive version of "Love Thy Neighbour" impossible to get? Well, first we need to figure out just what a definitive version would be. Every major issue, from vinyl to cd, has been at least slightly different:

THE FIRST LP, released in 1979 on the "Jah Life" label had all of the songs listed for this CD issue, except "Perfect Love" and "London Bridge Has Fallen." In place of those tracks, the 1979 LP featured three unlisted tracks, "Long Time Ago," "Do You Know," and "Jesus Christus Is The King" (all from the same Perry sessions). This issue was mono.

THE SECOND LP was released in 1982 on "Live And Learn." This version of "Love Thy Neighbour" featured the exact track listing that you see for the CD advertised on this page, adding two songs to the original LP, and removing three. This release was a stereo mix.

THE FIRST CD release, the one advertised here, features the same track listing as the 1982 LP issue. The sound quality is lacking, and we are missing songs from the first LP issue.

Finally, TWO MORE SONGS from the Black Ark sessions, "Stop Pay For The Price Of Sin" and "Unity," finally came out on the 1982 Ras Michael LP "Disarmament," on Trojan Records.

SO, the track listing for a definitive "Love Thy Neighbour" would look something like this:

01. Don't Sell Daddy No Whiskey
02. Long Time Ago
03. Times Is Drawing Nigh
04. Do You Know
05. Hear River Jordan Roll
06. Wicked Got To Go
07. Little David
08. Jesus Christus Is The King
09. Perfect Love
10. London Bridge Has Fallen
11. Stop Pay For The Price Of Sin
12. Unity

All in all we have TWELVE songs out there from the Black Ark sessions, and they are all essentially impossible to get. Why should this be so? We all know that publishing/ownership/royalty payment issues with regards to just about any music recorded in Jamaica in the 60s and 70s are a major mess. However, the aforementioned issues have not prevented many exceptional recordings from seeing the light of day as contemporary reissues. Look at the great treatment that Blood & Fire records gave to another (admittedly superior) Lee "Scratch" Perry production, "The Heart Of The Congos." Trojan recdords, if you own this stuff, then release it properly with (at least) the twelve tracks mentioned above. This is a project whose time is nigh.
 
So the big news is that after some 30+ years those three missing tracks (post #35) are going to get a release later this year on a Jah Life 10" - well Im excited anyway!

getting away from the deep and mystical, heres a classic Ark sounding stepper

a Bob Dylan cover
 
Lee Perrys birthday today (20th March) - happy birthday SCratch! The big 75


Some possibly exciting news for Lee Perry fans:
Lee Perry is back at the controls in an intriguing new project with London-based producer Daniel Boyle.

"I met Scratch last year and he came to my studio – the Rolling Lion," says Daniel. "These days I divide my time between London and Jamaica producing old style roots reggae with artists like Max Romeo, Winston McAnuff and others. Scratch asked me to produce his next album, and it's a pretty fantastic project."

Daniel has been working with music since he left school in the 1990s. He has recorded and produced everything from rock to opera but always wanted to record reggae. After a five year break from music, Daniel set up a new studio and started producing again.

"I have been a fan of Lee Perry as long as I can remember and have tried many times to link up with him. Adrian Sherwood provided me with some contact information, but with Scratch, it's always a 'when he's ready' scenario! Three years later I got a call out of the blue. He'd remembered my attempts at reggae, liked my riddims and was coming to the UK! We did one session and it worked very well, that's when we discussed and decided on the new album – Black Ark style!"
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"We have re-built the Black Ark studio in my studio", explains Daniel. "Under Scratch's guidance, we collected all of the same equipment he had in the Black Ark. It's set up in my studio and we are producing a brand new album with many mighty roots players. The best bit is that Scratch himself is back on the desk doing the dubbing and effects!"

In order to get an authentic sound for Rolling Lion studio, Daniel spent years trawling the Internet and auctions to find the exact kit Lee Perry had at the Black Ark and was lucky enough to find most of it. "Scratch certainly had some interesting and rare effects from equipment like the Mutron Bi-Phase and used them in a certain order, so we're doing the same on our mixes. I had access to the same desk Scratch had via my friend Dubmatix, but I chose to run everything through a Toft ATB board instead – I really like the sound of them and it worked with the other vintage units."

Unlike other Lee Perry projects where Scratch often phones in his vocals to a project, Daniel insists that Scratch is very hands on with the material they're recording. "Oh yes! Scratch is mashing up the effects: pressing the buttons, turning the knobs, and hitting the desk! It's a treat to watch him in action!"

but teaser clips of the session are no black ark: http://soundcloud.com/rolling-lion-studio ...wait and see when its done though.
 
Like this little 2 track version excursion...backings sound similiar to some tracks on the Enter the Dragon album



 
In case you missed it Orangutan posted a mix with this Terence Trent D´Arby Sign your name (Lee Scratch Perry remix) tune in the mixes thread...never heard of it before...seems like an official thing, issued by CBS/Columbia... im pretty curious about it as I thought Lee never got behind a desk after Black Ark...I wonder if he really did it - seems like lots of Perry tropes (crying baby, cow horn, scratchy percussion) thrown in on top of an occasionally dubbed track...anyhow, it works well I think

 
He's produced a lot of music since, he even won a reggae Grammy for some uninspired pile of shite I was stupid enough to buy. Never heard of this either before, I wish it had stayed that way. Quite possibly the most insipid, lacklustre, run of the mill weakheart dub lite I've ever had the misfortune to hear.
 
From the Grammy award winning Jamaica E.T. album.

Play an old rhythm, multi layer with rum soaked ramblings, hope the kids fall for it. Repeat for 20 years.

 
He's produced a lot of music since, he even won a reggae Grammy for some uninspired pile of shite I was stupid enough to buy. Never heard of this either before, I wish it had stayed that way. Quite possibly the most insipid, lacklustre, run of the mill weakheart dub lite I've ever had the misfortune to hear.
try coming at it a different way - dont think of it as a lee perry record, and definitely dont think of it as a dub record, but imagine you have, say, the misfortune of djing at a wedding - its a more interesting version than the original to play out in a context where terence trent darby might drop.

I heard Kode 9 do a four hour set once, and the first hour was all 80s 12' bsides and the like, weird cuts of Cameo and that kind of thing...it was great...i could imagine this in a set of that kind of thing

He won a grammy for ET? :D :D :D :D

the thing about ET and other material from the period is I thought he just did vocals and didnt go near the board? Someone had to be on the desk for this TTD thing... I doubt very much Lee Perry was involved very much if at all...
 
Teen just pointed me to this



to be honest a lot of the footage there is of lee at the ark is from the last days, where he is at his most 'extrovert', if not out right ill. The recent upsetter movie is full of this period of footage. I dont know him, nor was i around throughout his life to know to truth of it all, but I find that era of footage fairly depressing and a mischaracterisation of his overall personality (pre-1978 say), IYNWIM
 
From the Grammy award winning Jamaica E.T. album.

Play an old rhythm, multi layer with rum soaked ramblings, hope the kids fall for it. Repeat for 20 years.


I like loads of perrys' earlier stuff(mainly).There is a personality cult around him though,in no small way fostered by the man himself.In northern europe,if he took a shit on stage someone'd try and put it out on a record...
 
to be honest a lot of the footage there is of lee at the ark is from the last days, where he is at his most 'extrovert', if not out right ill. The recent upsetter movie is full of this period of footage. I dont know him, nor was i around throughout his life to know to truth of it all, but I find that era of footage fairly depressing and a mischaracterisation of his overall personality (pre-1978 say), IYNWIM

I get you completely, that period was obviously a bit fucked up.
 
to be honest a lot of the footage there is of lee at the ark is from the last days, where he is at his most 'extrovert', if not out right ill. The recent upsetter movie is full of this period of footage. I dont know him, nor was i around throughout his life to know to truth of it all, but I find that era of footage fairly depressing and a mischaracterisation of his overall personality (pre-1978 say), IYNWIM

Good post! I, too, get a bit tired of "oh Lee Perry he's completely mad innit" - yes, almost certainly, he has been mentally unstable at some points in his life, plus IMHO he has sometimes put on an act and played up this 'mad' side of his personality (sadly but probably accurately, he realises that this is what lazy journalists expect, so he gives it to em). Reading the David Katz biog, you see that he must have been giving coherent responses to Katz's questions e.g. about his early years, family background. Probably because he knows Katz, trusted him, and they collaborated on the biog project over some time.

One of the reasons why I get pissed off with the 'crazy genius' schtick is that it detracts from the hard work he put in to create so much high quality music from the mid-60s through to the burning of the Black Ark studio. You couldn't be an totally undisciplined lunatic and have created that many innovative, exciting and generally first-rate tunes. Recall the stories of him staying up 16-18 hours a day during recording sessions - now, that could be read either as the 'manic' phase of bipolar disorder, or - as I prefer to see it - as the behaviour of a perfectionist!

All this isn't to dispute that he is certainly eccentric, and that his eccentric behaviour has *at times* looped over into what appears to have been psychosis. But he wasn't always like that and - from what I can tell - he isn't like that now.
 
Yeah that's a good find. Have you got it on vinyl?
no, saw it posted in the Record Collector list (see JA50 thread) - they had it listed at £200 - dont think its had a repress, and havent seen it on any compilations, but havent had a good look yet (only read about it yesterday ;)) ...has that classic bluesy 70 sound
 
I just listened to the dub side. Liking how the bass is foregrounded in the mix; I always tell people who say dub bores them, cos it has no vocal melody line - "listen to the bass - that's your melody". And sometimes it's the drums an all!
 
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