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Lee "Scratch" Perry: Rise Again

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: M.O.D. Technologies
Released: 2011.05.09
Time:
 47:24
Category: Reggae, Dub
Producer(s): Bill Laswell, Josh Werner
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.upsetter.net/scratch/
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Higher Level (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 3:50
[2] Scratch Message (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 4:05
[3] Orthodox (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry / Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw) - 4:11
[4] Wake the Dead (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 5:08
[5] Rise Again (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 4:13
[6] African Revolution (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry / Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw) - 4:01
[7] Dancehall Kung Fu (W.S. Henry / Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 5:33
[8] E.T. (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 5:09
[9] House of God (W.S. Henry / Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 4:06
[10] Butterfly (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 3:53
[11] Inakaya [Japanese Food] (Bill Laswell / Lee "Scratch" Perry) - 3:15

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Lee "Scratch" Perry - Vocals

Bill Laswell - Arranger, Bass, Effects, Mixing, Producer
Josh Werner - Bass, Arranger, Producer

Tunde Adebimpe - Vocals
Jahdan Blakkamoore - Vocals
Hawkman - Vocals
Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw - Vocals
Dr. Israel - Effects, Background Vocals

Peter Apfelbaum - Flute, Tenor Saxophone
Steven Bernstein - Trumpet
Aïyb Dieng - Percussion
Hamid Drake - Congas, Drums
Aaron Dugan - Guitar
Sly Dunbar - Drums
Dominick James - Guitar
Gintas Janusonis - Drums
Borahm Lee - Keyboards
Guy Licata - Drums, Percussion
Wes Mingus - Guitar
Bernie Worrell - Keyboards

Giacomo Bruzzo - Executive Producer
Akira Koshi - Executive Producer
Yasufumi Higurashi - Executive Producer
Robert Musso - Engineer
James Dellatacoma - 2nd Engineer
Michael Fossenkemper - Mastering
John Brown - Package Design
Dave Pak - Technical Support
Steven Saporta - Coordination
Dave Brunelle - Digital Support
Yoko Yamabe - Technical Support
Dave Pak - Technical Support

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded and mixed at Orange Music Sound System, Orange NJ.



At 75 years of age, Lee “Scratch” Perry should be declared a living cultural treasure and receive the protection and reverence usually reserved artists only after they are long dead. The only other musician of his age that comes close to matching Scratch’s output and longevity is Willie Nelson.

Long considered one of the most innovative producers in popular music, Perry is perhaps best known for helping Bob Marley launch his career in the late ‘60s. He was also responsible for many stylistic breakthroughs in recording and is often credited with inventing dub music and pioneering the field of sound sampling. Over the past four decades, he has produced and played on literally thousands of records — each marked by Perry’s highly individualistic approach, characterized by his refusal to be held back by the technological limitations imposed by the primitive Jamaican recording studios of the day. Since he famously torched his Black Ark recording studio in a fit of pique in the ‘80s, Perry has changed his focus from production to performance and today is primarily known as a singer and songwriter whose surrealistic stream-of-consciousness rants have earned him flocks of admirers who wouldn’t usually give reggae music the time of day.

Perhaps Lee Perry — like Willie Nelson — has never heard of retirement as Rise Again, his long anticipated collaboration with Bill Laswell, the respected New York producer, is his sixth album of new material to be released in little more than three years. Such a prolific pace of releases might suggest that the material on Rise Again; would be subpar, bottom of the barrel songs left over from other sessions, but nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, Rise Again is the Lee Perry record that his fans have been waiting for, and much of the credit for this rests with Bill Laswell. Laswell, of course, is no stranger to dub as his catalogue of reggae-inspired releases attests, but for this outing he has wisely opted to tone down his own trademark sonic manipulations and has instead constructed a set of soundtracks that pay tribute to the style of music Perry produced in his late ‘70s heyday. Beautiful swooping horns, understated guitar and crunching drum and bass rise and fall from the speakers as the septuagenarian singer offers up some of his most inspired lyrics in years. Songs like “Higher Level” and “Wake the Dead” are every bit the equal of the best solo work he’s recorded and evidence a care and attention to song craft that has not always been present in his recent work. The dub-heavy “ET” and “Butterfly” are masterworks of the form, and more dancehall influenced numbers like “African Revolution” and “House of God” demonstrate how far ahead of his time Perry was when he began creating music so many years ago.

There’s not really a bum track on the whole record, so it’s difficult to pick a favorite, but for fans of both Perry and Laswell, “Orthodox” would surely be a contender. On that song, Laswell creates a soundtrack that expresses his love for Coptic music by bringing the famed Ethiopian singer Gigi Shibabaw onboard to duet with Perry on this soaring tribute to African theocracy. Other musical guests include P Funk’s Bernie Worrell on keyboards, the legendary Sly Dunbar on drums as well as TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe on vocals. Each of these studio veterans play and sing their hearts out to help make this the best new reggae record of the year so far. Rise Again is an indispensible recording from one of the world’s most important living artists.

Douglas Heselgrave - May 11, 2011
© 2015 Paste Media Group



Rise Again - the title speaks for itself. A clear and direct collaborative projection that transforms pop music production into an art form all its own. Like an ageless tribe of Lazarus, Lee ''Scratch'' Perry just keeps coming back. This time out, the Upsetter celebrates his 75th year on planet Earth with the release of Rise Again - a crucial set of eleven all-new songs, mixed and produced by Bill Laswell and featuring vocals by TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, Ethiopian chanteuse Gigi Shibabaw and Jamaican toaster Hawk(man).

Amazon.com



The most startling thing about this album is the fact that something like this hasn't been done before. How can it be that two of the foremost exponents of extraterrestrial bass-oriented music - reggae producer and inscrutable solo artist Lee "Scratch" Perry and ubiquitous producer and bassist Bill Laswell - have failed to collaborate on an album before now? This meeting brings out the best of them by, paradoxically, tempering both of their wildest tendencies. Perry's sing-song declamations are quirky as always, but not as flat-out crazy (not to mention childishly scatological) as they have been in other recent contexts; Laswell's bass is just as bottomless and as richly melodic as it usually is, but his tendency toward discursive improvisational chaos has been reined in for purposes of maximum groove production. On the other hand, Laswell has fully indulged his tendency to bring in lots of high-powered and voluptuously funky collaborators, with the result that he and Perry have help from the likes of Senegalese percussionist Aiyb Dieng, P-Funk founding father Bernie Worrell, Brooklyn dubmaster Dr. Israel, reggae legend Sly Dunbar, and the always alluring Ethiopian singer Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw (whose vocal performance on "Orthodox" is one of the album's highlights), among others. The results are just wonderful: while Perry discusses such favorite topics as his space-alien status ("E.T.") and his role as a divine messenger to the world ("Scratch Message"), Laswell and crew build earth-shaking grooves with a contrastingly soft, spacious dubwise ambience on such standout tracks as "Wake the Dead" (check out the great horn chart, courtesy of Steven Bernstein and Peter Apfelbaum), the soca-flavored "African Revolution," and the dancehall romp "Dancehall Kung Fu." Those who are missing Perry's more whimsical side should check out the crazily dubwise "Inakaya (Japanese Food)." And the program is rounded out by a digital-only remix of "House of God." Hardcore Perry fans will probably be divided on this one, but nevertheless, it's not difficult to conclude that Rise Again is one of his most satisfying releases of the past ten years.

Rick Anderson - All Music Guide
 

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