The Upsetter Shop, Vol. 3: Baffling Smoke Signal

From the vaults of the legendary black ark comes an ultra-rare sampling of Lee Perry-produced masterpieces. Recorded from the mid to late seventies, this collection features previously unreleased gems from some of the “Upsetter´s” most militant and spiritually-motivated artists like the Congos, Brent Dowe and Devon Irons. All but three of these dozen 1976-1978 Lee Perry productions were either previously unreleased in any form, previously unreleased on CD, or are presented here in a previously unreleased extended mix or previously unreleased alternate version. Perry is the artist of record on just one of the songs, with the rest of the disc containing tracks by Junior Murvin, Leroy Sibbles, the Upsetters, the Congos, and others. For some artists, such a collection would be a scraping together of peripheral odds and ends, but this sounds up to scratch, to make a begged-for pun, with Perry's usual work of the era. Although not everything's incendiary, the presence of so many artists guarantees more variety than many reggae anthologies, and Perry's up to his usual tricks with his weird echoes and sound effects. It helps when the material's very good, as on Aura Lewis & Full Experience's "Full Experience," which has wailing harmonized female vocals, burning guitar work, and unclassifiable crisscrosses of gunshot-like electronic noises. Politics are heard on Devin Irons' "Ketch Vampire," which according to the liner notes is "one of the earliest anti-false Rasta tunes," and Perry's rare track "Baffling Smoke Signal," a critique of the Pope that is one of the more musically straightforward items. Actually, a bunch of these tunes are pretty song-oriented, with a Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions-like vocal arrangement for the Congos' "Feast of the Passover," though the Upsetters' instrumental "Lizard Stick" gives him the choice to go to town with odd burbling riffs. The liner notes, by Perry biographer David Katz, are pretty specific about what differentiates the alternate/extended versions from others in circulation, as well as providing a tidy overview of Perry's difficult-to-summarize early career. Playlist : Devon Irons - Ketch Vampire Aura Lewis & Full Experience - Full Experience Lee Perry - Baffling Smoke Signal Brent Dowe - Down Here In Babylon The Upsetters - Natty Take Over The Upsetters - Lizard Stick The Congos - Ark Of The Covenant The Upsetters - Set Up Yourself Leroy Sibbles - Garden Of Life The Congos - Feast Of The Passover Hugh Blackwood & Dr. Alimantado - Reggae Music Junior Murvin - I Was Appointed Producer : Lee Perry Engineer : Errol Thompson & Lee Perry Drums : Mikey Boo Richards & Ben Bow & Sly Dunbar Bass : Robbie Shakespeare & Boris Gardiner & Clive Hunt & Winston Wright Guitar : Geoffrey Chung & Ronnie Williams & Ernest Ranglin & Chinna & Willie Lindo & Billy Johnson Keyboards : Robert Lynn & Keith Sterling & Theo Beckford & Winston Wright Horns : Dirty Harry & Glen Da Costa & Bobby Ellis & David Madden & Vin Gordon Percussions : Scully Simms & Lee Perry & Sticky Melodica : Augustus Pablo Studios : Recording : Black Ark (Kingston, JA) & Randy's (Kingston, JA)