Lee Perry - Scratch On The Wire (Island 1979) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

Island reputedly compiled this ten-song set of Black Ark productions in a tit-for-tat response to Lee "Scratch" Perry's licensing out tracks from the Heptones' Party Time album to another label (Black Starliner). Or so the Upsetter would later claim. The material dated from 1976 through 1978, and it was the last number, "War in a Babylon," the title track to Max Romeo's classic 1976 album, that was inevitably most British fans' point of entry. Most everything else on this set was of equally high calibre, "No Peace" was one of the Meditations' best, "In These Times" is a masterpiece of vocal performance and riddim, and the coursing "John Public" is just as good. Jah Lion's "Soldier and Police War" was just extraordinary, a powerful cultural toast over a sublime version of Junior Murvin's "Police & Thieves." But even that can't beat the mesmerizing "Vibrate On," one of Augustus Pablo's best performances for Perry. Perry himself features on three of the cuts, two – "Soul Fire" and "Big Neck Police Man" – appeared on his Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread album, the third was drawn from his Return of the Super Ape set. Both records were released in 1978, thus bringing this compilation right up to date. This trio of songs emphasize the diversity of Perry's influences and sounds, from the funk flecked, soul inspired but reggae speckled "Soul Fire," across the roots reggae "Big Neck" (a song written with Bob Marley in mind), and onto the blues-goes-jazz-turns-dub of "Bird": this was Scratch at his best. Jo-Ann Greene AMG

Track listing:

A1. Augustus Pablo Meets The Upsetter – Vibrate On
A2. Jah Lion – Soldier and Police War
A3. George Faith – Diana
A4. Errol Walker – John Public
A5. Lee Perry – Bird In Hand

B1. Lee Perry – Big Neck Police Man
B2. Errol Walker – In These Times
B3. Meditations – No Peace
B4. Lee Perry – Soul Fire
B5. Max Romeo – War In A Babylon

Produced by Lee Perry
Compilation Engineer: Paul Smykle
Mastered at The Sound Clinic by John Dent