Re: Lee "Scratch" Perry and the good stuff

[Kevin Cheli-Colando <kevin@minds-eye.org>]

I was in the same boat about a year and a half ago and now vintage
reggae (and dub of course) is about all I'm buying these days.  

First off, you can buy bad Augustus Pablo.  Okay, not bad, but not as
good as it could be.  But its easier to list good titles.  The Great
Pablo, East of the River Nile, and Dubbing with the Don are all good.

Basically just about anything on the Blood and Fire (King Tubby's
Prophecy of Dub, Heart of the Congoes, Dub Gone Crazy) and Pressure
Sounds (Voodooism, Roots Techniques, Techniques in Dub, Cry Tuff Dub
Encounter Chapter 1) labels are going to be good (with the caveat that
Dub Like Dirt is supposedly only so so).  However, beware of anything
recorded after 1979.  Not saying its not good, but its a safer bet to
stay in the 70's with this stuff.

As for Lee Perry, Son of Thunder is an excellent 2 disc set that should
run you about $16.  Also exceptional is Voodooism on Pressure Sounds. 
You could also do worse than Arkology (3 disc set).  From there you
could literally buy a hundred records and still not have it all (only 50
or so of which would really be top shelf stuff :-)  Lee Perry has done
some amazing music (speaking once again only to the 70's--don't know the
rest.

That's all for the top of my head.  If you need more pointers, ask.

Vibrate on

Kevin

> 
> my searches have led me to just a few records...starting slow and
> don't want to experiment with my money in that genre...it's chock
> full of artists i don't know anything about.  it's like if you were a
> newbie to Jazz, had some inkling of the sound you liked and didn't
> have anybody to resource for information...where would you start?
> whew...
> 
> that's me with dub for the last year.  itchin' to listen/buy da
> really good stuff and skip some of the crap.
> 
> recent purchases...
> 
> King Tubby and Errol Thompson - The Black Foundation in
> DUB....fantastic, i LOVE this record.
> 
> King Tubby meets uptown Rockers - considered a classic, from what
> i've heard.  like this one very much, too!
> 
> also bought a Lee Perry album, forgot the title...him playing with a
> couple o' white guys... crappy, imho.
> 
> anybody have suggestions?  i'm more familiar with the new school dub
> stuffs, ala kruder/dorfmeister, thievery, etc... so any help with old
> school jamaican stuff would be tops!
> 
> thanks in advance,
> 
> rich
> 
>