Track Listing

1. The Upsetter
2. Kimble
3. People Funny Boy
4. Uncle Desmond
5. You Crummy
6. What A Botheration
7. Yakety Yak
8. Cow Thief Skank
9. Bathroom Skank
10. Justice To The People
11. Kentucky Skank
12. Cold Weather
13. Public Jestering
14. Fist of Fury
15. Stay Dread
16. White Belly Rat
17. City Too Hot
18. Bionic Rats

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37608 in Music
• Released on: 2000-03-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

An excellent introduction to the Upsetter.
Are you looking for an introduction to Jamaican producer, vocalist and all-round nutter Lee 'Scratch' Perry, but found yourself drowning in the choice of albums that the extremely prolific dub/reggae-meister has released?

Well, struggle no further, you have found a flawless selection of some of his greatest achievements. Whereas on some other compilations, Perry is the common denominator as a producer, on 'Upsetter: Essential Madness From The Scratch Files', he takes centre stage where he belongs, producing, mixing and vocalizing. OK, there are a few guests on this album, but Perry naturally dominates every track from start to finish.

'The Upsetter' and 'Kimble' act as an introduction to the album and to the madman himself, enjoying tough vocal posturing as he showcases his legendary sense of humour (Perry boasts of being 'Kimble the Nimble', to the sound effect of a glass being knocked over). The Jamaican hit 'People Funny Boy' is an irresistibly catchy tune, even below the sample of a wailing baby, which although bizarre, lends the track a certain charm.

'Cow Thief Skank' is the hilarious tale of a cow purloined in the night. Perry and his vocal accomplice are not amused, dishing out threats to the thief and producing their own cow sound effects!

Perhaps a personal favourite would have to be 'Public Jestering'. Beneath the courtroom antics and skylarking, there's a huge bassline and heavy drum, illustrating Perry's mastery of the mixing desk. Listen to this track on headphones, and you can almost feel his fingers on the controls.

'Stay Dread' is yet another highlight, infectious vocals, and an absolutely huge bass thumping out the tune. I could go on, but since every track is perfectly selected, I would have to credit every track to do the album justice. Needless to say, when I bought the album it didn't leave my CD player for weeks. I am still listening to it now, months later, and it sounds as joyous to my ears as ever.

This album is an essential choice for a Lee 'Scratch' Perry newcomer, because it is simply an album with a selection of his best reggae tracks, with no obscure mixes or dubs (which are fine but perhaps better suited to those accustomed to his style). Even though it is a compilation, the tracks are so well picked that it runs like a planned album.

Highly Recommended.

It is worth noting that the sleeve notes are very informative, and give a brief description and history of each track on the collection.

Everything starts from Scratch...
Having been listening to various reggae artists for the last 15 odd years, no CD has stunned me by its brilliance as much as this. In fact I bought it on the off chance as I had heard that LSP was worth a listen...but after listening to it twice I went out and bought two more copies to give to friends as I felt it would be an injustice if this music went unnoticed! Something I've not done before and probably won't do again! I have since bought more LSP but none are as good as this (Earthman Skanking is a close second).
So why is it so good? Well not only is it original (from the mix of the baby crying in 'People Funny Boy' which incidentally really does work), to the catchy 'Uncle Desmond' and then on to the witty 'Bathroom skank' ('you have to be clean..to be on the scene..'), before more subtle special effects in 'Cold weather' (rain this time, again - it works - so good in fact that he uses it in 'Kentucky Skank'). All this and I haven't even mentioned my favourite 'White Belly Rat' a reflection on his falling out with Bob Marley which could go on for an hour and I wouldn't get bored of it.

So there you have it! Give it a go - you won't be disappointed, trust me!

Each to their own, BUT
Everyone has their own opinion and dont let me put you off buying this album, as there are some good songs on it, but this is far cry from albums such as 'Arkology' (which is a must for any Perry fan), 'Open the Gate', 'Build the Ark'. Go straight to the good stuff and buy 'Arkology' and go from there (save yourself a small fortune too).

There is of course classic albums such as Police and Thieves (Junior Murvin) , Party Time (The Heptones) which are superb albums produced by Perry.