CULTCHA Clash Outer National Record Review: Rainford

CULTCHA Clash Outer National Record Review

Lee "Scratch" Perry - Rainford (On-U Sound Records)

Reviewed by - Selecta J-Cut

(Photos taken at The Music Box, San Diego, CA, January, 2018 - Lee "Scratch" Perry performing with Subatomic Sound System)

Lee "Scratch" Perry - Rainford LP
Bandcamp



Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry) needs little introduction to anyone literate in Reggae music. Born in 1936 and still going strong, since 1959 he's been recording, playing an integral roll in the evolution of Ska to Rock-Steady to Reggae to Dub to Dancehall to beyond... Aside from his visionary genius, musically, he is also a remarkable, enigmatic personality and, in my opinion, if ANYONE walking on this planet today is genuinely spiritually enlightened, of an elevated consciousness or privy to some clandestine knowledge that only partially reveals itself in cryptic prose and mystic chants, illuminating life's path... if any person is truly magical... then it is, indeed Lee "Scratch" Perry. (see the documentary, The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee "Scratch" Perry for a more complete story). 

Never one to follow convention, his experimentation and ingenuity has been so far ahead of his time that his recordings from the Black Ark Studio era in the 1970's still sound fresh and unique when listened to today.  He has been massively influential, and sometimes that influence is reciprocated, like when the On-U Sound crew, Adrian Sherwood and Dub Syndicate, teamed up with Perry in 1987 to record Time Boom X De Devil Dead. That LP started a partnership and friendship that is still strong today, as is evident by any of the recordings that they make together.

The latest, Rainford, may be the best yet, of those collaborations. I've been listening to it for about 5 days now and have yet to dislike anything about it. I'll run through it track by track.


 "Cricket On The Moon" sets things off with a classic-style L.S.P. intro, the dense bass line from George Oban (formerly of Aswad, current African Head Charge and long time On-U collaborator who played on 7 tracks of this album) drives the tune, Sherwood deftly handles the dubbing duties as "Scratch" righteously chants his freestyle, train-of-thought wordplay which has wisdom deep beneath it's apparently frivolous surface. The sound is crisp, as expected, and top quality.



"Run Evil Spirit" is a bouncing, steppers track with killer sax from Paul Booth, definitely a Black Ark vibe on this one.

The following tune, "Let It Rain" kicks up the tempo with a Dancehall rhythm with a unique On-U Sound flavor, nicely accentuated by the strings of Ivan "Celloman" Hussey. Check out the video for this one below.







"House Of Angels" is very catchy and a bit of left-fielder, a little reminiscent of his work on The Observer In The Star House collaboration LP with The Orb. 

The last song on side one is the uptempo super-experimental jumper, "Makumba Rock" with world-class bassist, Doug Wimbish (TackHead / Living Colour) funking it up, the late Style Scott providing the rhythm and Perry performing his Obeah on the mic, at one point crying, at another making animal sounds. A slide whistle can be heard accentuating the driving beat. Enlightened madness that you can dance to, which goes hand in hand with the On-U mantra "Disturbing the comfortable, comforting the disturbed..."

on-usound.bandcamp.com

Side B starts off with "African Starship," which also appears on Pay It All Back, Volume 7 the recent On-U Sound compilation. This is one of the more experimental songs found here. Pilot Perry's space travels are set to a sparse backdrop with help from Oban on bass again, "Crucial" Tony (who plays guitar on most of the album) , Dave Fulwood on trumpet and keys by Gaudi.

"Kill Them Dreams Money Worshippers" is a more conventional, Dub Syndicate style tune, with drumming from Style Scott. A heavy rhythm phased, reverberated and delayed and treated to perfection and plenty of wisdom from Mr. Perry make this one a likely selection in my DJ sets, no doubt.

 "Children Of The Light" has a beautiful chorus, sung by Denise Sherwood & Emily Sherwood Hyman, Adrian's daughters, who sing together on four songs of the album.  

The final song is my favorite from the LP, "Autobiography Of The Upsetter" needless to say, finds Perry expounding his "Undead Biography, Prophecy." Sherwood has a history of releasing autobiographical tunes from the likes of Prince Far I and Mikey Dread, with this one he succeeded in conveying the essence of The Upsetter! Musically, this has a vibe, energy and originality on par with tunes from L.S.P.'s classic LP's, like Kung Fu Meets Dragon or Return of Wax. Leigh Stephen Kenny aka L.S.K.'s vintage-sounding backing vocals compliment the toasting perfectly. The whole album is great, and the L.S.P. artwork on the jacket is the icing on the cake! but is worth buying just to have this song and, without a doubt, his message, "I come to wipe out evilness. I come to wipe out racism and move ism and move schism" is fully endorsed by CULTCHA Clash Outer National.

Get Rainford from On-U Sound Records Bandcamp.

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