The 1st producer to use drum machines; the creator of dub; artist/producer/writer/musical pioneer – Perry's vision almost single-handedly shaped the sound of modern reggae. The work of this seminal Jamaican producer is celebrated in this 52-track collection of productions/recordings from 1975-'79, the golden era of his Black Ark studios. The beautifully packaged 3-CD set contains 2 unreleased songs by the Congo's and the Heptones, many alternate mixes, alternate takes and extended mixes, plus a 52-page booklet.
The nearly four hours of astounding music encoded on these three discs merely scratch the surface of the highly personal sonic universe created by this legendarily eccentric, yet ridiculously prolific, dub-reggae producer. It's still the best source of entry into Lee “Scratch” Perry's world, though, a place defined by homemade avant-garde production techniques applied to the wittiest, angriest, sexiest, and most soulful reggae tunes ever written. Perry was born in 1936, and his career spans the history of Jamaican music. These 52 tracks, however, derive mainly from the late 1970s, when he was at the height of his considerable powers and recording hits like Max Romeo's “War in a Babylon” and Junior Murvin's “Police and Thieves” for Island. Helpfully annotated, with a healthy handful of unreleased tracks, Arkology is a beginner's banquet of tracks that sound increasingly deep, daring, and downright frightening as the depth of Perry's talent is plumbed. –Richard Gehr