Category Archives: Lee Perry

Byron Lee (1935 – 2008)

Byron Lee Wine Miss Tiny

Soca Bacchanal

Byron Lee (27 June 1935,  – 4 November 2008) was a Jamaican musician, record producer, and entrepreneur, best known for his work as leader of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, who recorded “Jump Up” for the first James Bond film Dr. No, and as the owner of the Dynamic Sounds recording studios.

Along with Randy’s Studio 17, Dynamic Sounds was the recording studio used by Lee Perry for such recordings as Soul Rebels. An interesting selection can be heard on Early Shots At Randy’s & Dynamic Sounds (1968-1972).

I Am a Madman and WCC #66

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaWOTEkExIk&]

“I Am a Madman” by Lee Perry in a dub version remixed by Mad Professor, YouTube bricolage by cinemakramp. The regular version of this song can be found on Perry’s album The Battle of Armagideon.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip23Z0zKrP0]

The film used in the Perry clip is Fists of the Double K by John Woo 1973, his first feature film.

What makes Cinekramp’s choice of footage particularly appropriate is Lee Perry’s fascination with spaghetti westerns.

Speaking of martial arts film, Can dialectics break bricks? is WCC #66

P.S. I’ve recently been celebrating my lifelong love affair with Lee Perry’s work. On a general note on his work, it does not take much imagination to view his work as a strain of black surrealism or even surrealism tout court.

Reggae mythology

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeYfF9EuFOo&]

“Prophecy” by Fabian

Today is an important day in reggae mythology. Haile Selassie was crowned today 80 years ago. Unlike P-Funk mythology, reggae mythology does not have a Wikipedia page. Its nearest equivalent page is Rastafari movement.

As a term, reggae mythology has the advantage of being a subcategory of black science fiction (mainly because of the Lee Perry link). The introduction of the concept will also allow easier understanding of terms such as 400 Years.

Speaking of Perry, I found compositions off “Revolution Dub” at YouTube, notably Woman’s Dub[1] and the original of “Doctor on the Go” by Junior Byles [2].

“Doctor on the Go” and “Woman’s Dub” are WMCs, I’ve added the 174th entry for what will become a 1001-piece series.

Not fluffy clouds

DSC01318DSC01316DSC01317

From left to right: 16:58, 16:58, 16:59.

Antwerp, from South to North

Totally unrelated, outside of a storm cloud soundbite on the same record this track came from (actually I meant the Party Time album by The Heptones) is “To Be a Lover” by George Faith,

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7rgNM0IwzI]

in a Lee Perry production but a cover of William Bell‘s U.S. hit record …

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkHO7OngDiY]

..”I Forgot To Be Your Lover“[1] (1968).

Perry’s version was probably recorded on a TEAC 3340[2] in the Black Ark studio.

George Faith’s album seems to have been different from the contemporary Perry productions: no broken glass, ghastly sighs and screeches, crying babies, and mooing cows here.