CD REVIEW: LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – Must Be Free

CD REVIEW: LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – Must Be Free
Megawave
September 2016
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7 1/2/10

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is as mad and bad a genius record producer as ever prowled the darkened halls of a recording studio – right up there with Phil Spector and George Clinton.

Full of spacey, dope smoke-haze, cosmic trance-like dub reggae, where often unintelligible rants drenched in echo float over beats, samples and all sorts of jazzy rock dissembled and reassembled elements, Must Be Free is obviously going to be an acquired taste.

As soon as we manage to turn off our mind, relax, and float downstream, it all starts to make sense – though no doubt that would have been easier had we been partakers of the herb, which we are not.

Everyone’ interpretation of such ambitious, esoteric, layered music will – like all the best art – be different, but the one thing that should be universal is that this is a riveting and fascinating piece of work.

What does it all mean, though? Perhaps only Scratch himself can guess at that – this is his world, we’re just privileged to be allowed a glimpse inside it.

Category: CD Reviews