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The Upsetter

This is the best book describing the JA gangs during that period and the rise of the cocaine trade, lots of links with reggae in it:

born-fi-dead.jpg


This one is written by a family member of the Shower Posse, which is nearly as illuminating as it is horrible in its agrandisement of violence:

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To tie this in with the theme of Lee Perry, I often wonder what his position was re Rastafari... My impression of it is that he wasn't a rasta but took what elements he liked from it and discarded the rest . IIRC his mother was into more African/voodoo type religion, which I think are a big influence on his mindset, and then if you look at his early pre-ark work, its often a bit kinky, as well spiritual, kind of getting on for a bit pagan! The Rasta era overlaps with the Black Ark days, and he was clearly down with the mystic side of things, but had his own increasingly out there ...searching for a word here...cosmology of it all... with influences from all religions and other ideas he came across...

...all of which i relate to, and i think is why he goes down well in europe (and the rest of the world), as its not a dogmatic religious position, more a freewheeling, mystic, high!, ever changing, personal 'philosophy' (if that's not too strong a word).

Its true with all religions, and maybe even more so with Rasta, that there's a whole spectrum of observance, maybe with Bobo Shanti at one extreme, and someone who quite likes and can identify with reggae and wants to see peace and love in the world at the other - certainly there are atheist Christians out there for whom Christianity means they just want to be nice people. (northern europe especially)

If you can have that kind of spectrum its no wonder that singers also take different positions, and some maybe aren't really feeling it wholeheartedly and that comes across, and others still are out and out fakers...
 
dont think he loved rasta cos of the number of chancer he faced - he could not have lashed the care he did over the Congos if he did not have some kind of respect for their truth, but he obv had a prob with the poseur element......
 
ska invita said:
To tie this in with the theme of Lee Perry, I often wonder what his position was re Rastafari... My impression of it is that he wasn't a rasta but took what elements he liked from it and discarded the rest . IIRC his mother was into more African/voodoo type religion, which I think are a big influence on his mindset...
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Yes, I thought it was Kumina, but in a David Katz interview for Mojo, he said:

Q "Your mother practised Ettu, a form of African ritual dance. What does it involve?"

A "It is an African chant that have to do with spirits, and it pass along the family line. Them dance barefoot to make connection with the earth, dancing to the drum and connecting the soul, which is your foot bottom - beat them foot on the earth, making sound and communication, like telepathic sound to the earth."
He's always had an odd relationship with Voodoo and Obeah - sometimes lambasting and chanting them down (which is the usual Rasta take, e.g. Ethiopians' "Obeah Book"), but at other times he styles himself as an Obeah man or Voodoo man...ambivalent.

Plus remember Scratch's own story about the inspiration for "People Funny Boy" (and therefore , arguably,for reggae itself!) - walking around at night, going past a Pocomania church when a service was in progress: (this is from the David Katz biog): "
At them time, me used to go out town and stay late, drink one or two little beer, thing like that. And one night me walking past a Pocomania church and hear the people inside a wail. And me catch the vibration and say boy! Let's make a sound fe catch the vibration of them people! Them was in spirit and them tune me in spiritually. That's where the whole thing come from, 'cause them Poco people getting sweet."

ska invita said:
and then if you look at his early pre-ark work, its often a bit kinky, as well spiritual, kind of getting on for a bit pagan! ...he was clearly down with the mystic side of things, but had his own increasingly out there ...cosmology of it all... with influences from all religions and other ideas he came across...
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His Mrs, Mireille, is or was I believe a Krishna Consciousness person and into UFOs and other New Age-y interests - I'm sure that's another influence...tunes like "Baby Krishna"...

ska invita said:
..all of which i relate to, and i think is why he goes down well in europe (and the rest of the world), as its not a dogmatic religious position, more a freewheeling, mystic, high!, ever changing, personal 'philosophy' (if that's not too strong a word).
...
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I'd never thought about that before but, yes, I think you're dead right - it makes him accessible to all kinds of people, not just the hardcore reggae heads.

Great post ska.
 
scalyboy said:
I'd never thought about that before but, yes, I think you're dead right - it makes him accessible to all kinds of people, not just the hardcore reggae heads.
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...also from what i gather his standing in JA was never that great - of the 1000s of 7s he put out few were hits, and I don't think most people back home (where i'd imagine religious thinking was more entrenched) got where he was coming from
 
ska invita said:
...also from what i gather his standing in JA was never that great - of the 1000s of 7s he put out few were hits, and I don't think most people back home (where i'd imagine religious thinking was more entrenched) got where he was coming from
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Yes, is our view a bit skewed, on the basis of his stature here in the UK/Europe...? There's plenty of JA artists who testify to what a great man he was to work for - innovative producer, helpful, perfectionist - whether that status amongst musicians was also mirrored by JA chart hits, I don''t know...Ringo? Any ideas?
 
ska invita said:
...also from what i gather his standing in JA was never that great
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He also deliberately alienated Rasta, and others he felt were giving him unwelcome attention, when he attached a lump of pork to his car, and a sign reading "I AM A BATTYMAN" :D :D
Apocryphal? Sounds a bit too good to be true, but you never know with him :)
 
having a flick through now...nothing too exciting...i think MP3 only says a lot about it... still, always nice to hear 'new' perry productions ;)
 
Went to see LSP at the electric in Brixton on Friday night... pretty disappointing really, he was just kind of rambling around and the backing band were having to work very hard to prop him up. The venue wasn't anywhere near full either which I was a bit surprised about.

Is he known not to be up to much live any more? A couple of people had told me they'd seen him in the last few years and he had been good.
 
i saw him about...7? years ago now at Ocean in Hackney...I think Iration Steppas were on the bill...thing was at that point he hadnt been gigging much, so there was a novelty factor...since then hes been playing dates non-stop across Europe, and any novelty has worn off I think.

When I went it wasnt a great show, but there was good music before and after and he was lively and good natured, so it was all good, but that was enough for me to think i'll never pay to see him again. Hes a producer really, and he stopped producing by the end of the 70s. Everything else is what it is...

Sorry you didnt have the best night. Im pretty amazed the Electric are keeping open... Channel One were on the bill last night weren't they? Did they bring the sound out? Was it the house rig? what was the sound like?
 
Hm, well, we got there around 11ish (a bit early I know), the place was still pretty empty, and there was no-one on stage. There was music playing but it would have been nice to have a DJ on the stage to get things warmed up a bit. Channel One came on around midnight, and they were good, but not amazing. I think it was just the house rig. The sound was OK but no more than that and I would have appreciated a larger stack of speakers. Then LSP was on, and towards the end I was actually just wanting him to get off so we could have some proper tunes (he did have a good hat though).

Then when he finished, a DJ came on but I thought he completely missed the mark with what he was playing, seemed like some kind of mix of reggaeton and house at some points. I just wanted some decent dub (too much to ask for at a LSP night?) but there wasn't any on offer. The dancefloor partly emptied and we left before the end (fairly unusual for me).

So it was a bit of a disappointing night really.

Shame because I think the Electric is a fairly decent venue.
 
ska invita said:
i saw him about...7? years ago now at Ocean in Hackney...I think Iration Steppas were on the bill...thing was at that point he hadnt been gigging much, so there was a novelty factor...since then hes been playing dates non-stop across Europe, and any novelty has worn off I think.
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Yeah I was at that night as well. Iration and Zion train doing a good natured warm up clash. Followed by Mad Professor and Scientist taking turns on the mixing desk, doing live dub. Then Lee Perry, who was rubbish. :)

But like you I was glad to have seen him in the flesh and ticked him off my "Reggae I-Spy" book...
 
Fozzie Bear said:
Yeah I was at that night as well. Iration and Zion train doing a good natured warm up clash. Followed by Mad Professor and Scientist taking turns on the mixing desk, doing live dub. Then Lee Perry, who was rubbish. :)

But like you I was glad to have seen him in the flesh and ticked him off my "Reggae I-Spy" book...
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Am i right in thinking this was his first public appearance in London in a long time?
My memory of the night is a bit...haazy...I remember my mate getting up on stage at one point :D and then getting kicked off it!

There's a thread about the Electric which includes pics of the venue and I moaned about what appeared to be a pretty modest PA in such a nice new venue...The Fridge in its last incarnation had a wonderful rig - one of the best in London
 
ska invita said:
Am i right in thinking this was his first public appearance in London in a long time?
My memory of the night is a bit...haazy...I remember my mate getting up on stage at one point :D and then getting kicked off it!
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Yes I think so. He'd been at one of the Essential Festivals a few years previously but I think apart from that it had been many years since he'd played.

I was fairly out of it as well, which means it must have been remarkably awful for me not to enjoy it. :D

There was some babbling about George Bush I think. And how he was a white man because all his fans were white. And an awful keyboard sound. And his wife drinking champagne at the edge of the stage.
 
:D its all coming back to me now!! I enjoyed it in a slam poetry kind of way....and as teuchter says, he did have a good hat
 
teuchter said:
Went to see LSP at the electric in Brixton on Friday night... pretty disappointing really, he was just kind of rambling around and the backing band were having to work very hard to prop him up. The venue wasn't anywhere near full either which I was a bit surprised about.

Is he known not to be up to much live any more? A couple of people had told me they'd seen him in the last few years and he had been good.
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I saw him at the Hackney Empire, around 1986.

He was pissed out of his mind, and just kept rambling about "mi wan' mi teddy bear." He was escorted off the stage after about 10 minutes. A rip-off, and a pathetic spectacle to boot.
 
phildwyer said:
He was pissed out of his mind, and just kept rambling about "mi wan' mi teddy bear." He was escorted off the stage after about 10 minutes. A rip-off, and a pathetic spectacle to boot.
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tbf he wasnt well. and may not be that great now either, i couldn't say.
 
ringo said:
This is the general impression most come away with. Best to just listen to the great records he produced years ago and leave it at that.
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Aye. After all it was the same genius that made the great records that caused the onstage meltdowns.
 
I saw him at the Forum 3 or so years ago, it was great to see the man in the flesh, and I was quite close up to the stage, but it couldn't compare to the Black Ark sound - how could it? He was fairly pleasant and lucid as I recall, at the time he was off the weed, maybe he's back on it?

It's a little like Mark E. Smith at a Fall gig, you don't know what you are going to get in terms of value for money. I'm glad I've seen both of them live, but I'm not urgently desirous of repeating the experience, not like those people who spend their free time following Dylan round on his neverending world tour.
 
...rumour has it that the 3 "lost" Ras Michael at the Black Ark tracks will be released this month on a 10inch
gets no deeper than this



3rd track is Jesus Christus Is The King...

the other tracks from this session can be found on

ras-michael-the-sons-of-negus-love-thy-neighbour-live-learn-us-lp-21041-p[ekm]300x300[ekm].jpg


and also 2 tracks on the Disarmament LP
this favourite

and



Recorded in 1979 this is the sound of the end of the Black Ark.....never sounded heavier i think
 
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