Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Black Ark genius gets posthumous
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- Lee "Scratch" Perry, who died five years ago, is the subject of a posthumous reappraisal wave including David Katz's book "Dub Revolution" (published 2 July), the illustrated "Black Ark: Lee 'Scratch' Perry," a Congos reissue of "Ark of the Covenant," and a "final" album "Spatial, No Problem" recorded with Mouse on Mars.
- The Black Ark studio in Kingston, completed in 1973, ran on a £35 London-bought mixing desk, a four-track Teac 3340, a Roland Space Echo, and reportedly Ringo Starr's drum kit, producing landmark dub records including "Super Ape" before Perry burned down the control room in 1982.
- Perry produced Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Soul Rebel" and "Soul Revolution" — before a violent bust-up over royalties ended the partnership.
- David Katz was initiated into Perry's world in 1987 when Perry demanded 13 Thames stones from him, then unscrewed a TV monitor, placed the rocks inside, and returned to work.
- The Beastie Boys, the Clash, Keith Richards, and reportedly John Lydon all sought Perry out for collaboration, with Lydon's representatives telling the Guardian the Sex Pistols-reworking story was apocryphal.
- Adrian Sherwood, Perry's longtime collaborator, defended the producer's legacy: "people saw a clown, when they should have seen someone who re-engineered music."
Why it matters: This wave of releases directly challenges Perry's reputation in Europe as "reggae's court jester," per collaborator Adrian Sherwood. The reappraisal reframes his burial of recordings and stone rituals as deliberate artistic practice rooted in the obeah tradition his mother practised, repositioning him as dub's "Black Emperor" rather than its eccentric.
