I have a bad feeling about this album. It feels like a last will and testament from one of the last great dub-masters and the album is just so good too. Let me explain. I had a bad feeling about Gil Scott-Heron after 'I'm New Here' was released last year. It was his strongest album in years. I had only fairly recently got into G S-H but had greedily consumed his entire works to the point that I a) cursed my stupid ignorance in not finding out about him earlier and b) had become a bit of a G S-H anorak with regards to his music. The album also had an end of days feel to it. It was also deeply personal. I feel exactly like that with this album.
I do hope I'm wrong and I wish Perry many more years of happiness in his retirement in Switzerland. The first thing that struck me when listening to it is that he sounds very old now (he's well into his 70s) and that the more serious songs seem to be Perry imparting words of warning borne from years of seeing his fellow man fuck things up spectacularly. There's always a melancholic feel to dub reggae, something I find strangely reassuring but this seems particularly downbeat. There's an A list supporting cast including Bill Laswell who produced this album and plays bass, Dr Israel, Sly Dunbar and many more (let's not forget Laswell's Ethiopian wife, Gigi on backing vocals) so let's just take as read that the production is first rate.
It was never going to be as dub heavy as, say, a Mad Professor album and in fact it is quite poppy. Tracks such as African Revolution will go down a storm at most parties. It's a shame too that I can't find any lyrics to accompany the songs. I'd love to know what Perry was saying about Prince Charles in 'Scratch Message'. It's nice to see that there's room for humour with 'Dancehall Kung Fu'. It's a great track that sounds like they had a lot of fun making. Halfway through the song Perry announces "I'm Superman". That, you are sir.
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