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The Review - MUSIC - grooves with CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 17 January 2008

Step Forward for Lee’s masterclass in lyricism

REVIEW
Lee Scratch Perry
Jazz Café

AT 70 years of age, Lee Scratch Perry deserves to rest on his laurels.
His career has spanned four decades and no one has produced and composed so many timeless reggae and ska records. But as this three-gig booking over last weekend at the Jazz Café proves, he is still coming up with new twists to old favourites, can still perform and still pull a sizeable crowd.
Bounding on to the stage with the energy of a teenager, dressed in a typically eccentric outfit – think Rasta meets New Rave – and backed by another incarnation of his backing band, The Upsetters, he didn’t muck about: renditions of such tunes as One Step Forward and Roast Fish gave the sell-out crowd what they were after.
Perry did not try to spin his time out with ridiculous jabbering between tunes, as has been the case in the past. One complaint that has often been shoved in his direction is that he talks complete nonsense between songs. On Saturday night he seemed happy to let his compositions do the talking, and his voice was superb: lyrical, deep and well honed. He raced through his back catalogue and it was all the crowd wanted. The only down point was one misogynistic introduction to a song which, to paraphrase, he described as being about the joys of female sexuality. However the crowd were in a good mood and as the bass line kicked in, quickly forgot and forgave.
Long may he continue putting on such enjoyable gigs. Perry proved again that when he is on form, no one can touch him for jump-up performances that have all singing along to his masterful lyricism.
DAN CARRIER

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