Wednesday, April 15, 2009

roast fish and cornbread



with the almost complete disappearance of the snow and ice, i've been playing some old favourites. rootin' through some reggae chestnuts that have emerged from the darker dustier regions of the golden fish music treasure trove and storage boxes of wonder and amazement, i came across a long time favourite by lee scratch perry.

perry was a mystery to me - a legend to those who know - but i never really got drawn into the mystique of him other than to admire and wonder at some of his use of technology in what for me seemed like a very non-technological environment - reggae at its most elemental struck me as something raw and real and from the city and then also from the hills and yet lee painted with technology and through his heart and spirit made it very human. something of his thinking about this is captured in this extraordinary interview.

roast fish and cornbread first appeared on the album roast fish collie weed and corn bread. a very experimental album for perry, it was the first to consist entirely of songs sung by himself.

No comments: