Personnel: Lee "Scratch" Perry (vocals, drums); Bob Marley, Peter Tosh (vocals, guitar); The Wailers, The Heptones, The Congos, The Meditations, Max Romeo, Junior Murvin, Carlton Jackson, Junior Byles, Earl George Faith, Lester "Dillinger" Bullocks, Pat "Jah Lion" Francis, Watty "King" Burnett, Marcia Griffiths, Cynthia Scholas (vocals); Earl "Chinna" Smith, Geoffrey Chung, Willie Lindo, Ronny Williams, Ernest Ranglin, Robert "Billy Boy" Johnson, Michael Chung, Alva "Reggie" Lewis (guitar); Egbert Evans (flute); Herman Marquis, Val "Deadley Headley" Bennett (alto saxophone); Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall, Glen DaCosta, Tommy McCook (tenor saxophone); David Madden, Bobby Ellis (trumpet); Vin "Don D. Jr." Gordon (trombone); Augustus Pablo (melodica); Keith Stirling, Keith Stewart, Theophilus Beckford (piano); Winston "Brubeck" Wright (organ, bass); Robbie Lynn, Glen Adams, Tyrone Downie, Gladstone "Gladdy" Anderson (organ); Boris Gardiner, Robbie Shakespeare, Aston "Familyman" Barrett (bass); Mikey "Boo" Richards, Lowell "Sly" Dunbar, "Benbow" Creary, Carlton "Carly" Barrett (drums); Noel "Skully" Simms, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson (drums).
Producer: Lee "Scratch" Perry.
Compilation producer: Dana G. Smart.
Principally recorded at Black Ark, Kingston, Jamaica between 1970 and 1979. Includes liner notes by David Katz.
Digitally remastered by Erick Labson (MCA Media Studios, North Hollywood, California).
"This is Kung Fu--taking you on a musical review…Enter The Dragon!…braaap!!!" Yes, you guessed it--you're in Lee Perry's brain again--or he's in yours--and he's burping. He's primed with rum and some rather large cigarettes, and he's running down "Enter the Dragon," replete with the aforementioned burps, plus flying saucer sound effects, stinging hi-hats, and a tight, insistent bass and drum rhythm that takes no prisoners.
With production credits that run from the Clash to the Wailers and a brain that just runs and runs, Perry's a small, wiry wild man who's cast a giant shadow over both reggae and rock music. A compact sampler of the man's crazed genius, this collection involves the usual suspects--Max Romeo's "War in a Babylon," Junior Murvin's "Police & Thieves," and Junior Byles's "Curly Locks," together with cuts by the Upsetters from Perry's influential SUPER APE album. This, or any Lee Perry collection is a guaranteed wild ride--he doesn't so much produce a track as possess it, haunting it with growling vocals, mysterious gurgles and banshee-like guitar effects, always underpinning the whole with mighty, speaker-rattling rhythm. A good primer for the neophyte with excellent liner notes by David Katz.