The stories of Lee “Scratch” Perry in the late ’70s amount to unseen levels of rock ‘n roll folklore, studio rat binge sessions in acid-driven mania that put Brian Wilson and Frank Zappa to collective shame. I say that because I do not recall any biographers denoting their shut-in behavior rose to the level of defecting in the studio. It was in those first three years after building his Black Ark studio in his back yard, Lee “Scratch” Perry recorded Super Ape (1976) with The Upsetters. Alive with Perry’s studio mastery, Super Ape reconstructs an alternate existence from his own catalog as tracks like Romeo’s “Chase The Devil” and Devon Iron’s “When Jah Comes” were still vibrant. Each rhythm reappears warped into Perry’s psyche and toasted anew by vocalists like Earl Morgan and Barry Lewellyn of the Heptones. Super Ape has been Trojan collected, Record Store Day reissued, resequenced, and even renamed, but the constant in this pillar of the dub genre are the drippy, posi, manipulations of Perry and his team of house players.
As part of the July package, Vinyl Me Please is offering a special edition of the dub classic on 150g translucent green vinyl, guaranteed to still “Dub It Up Blacker Than Dread” as the comic cover denotes. In addition to the kryptonite green vinyl, the package includes a custom Super Ape stencil (so you can graffiti a blunt smoking ape around the neighborhood) and a 12″ x 12″ original art print from renowned Nigerian artist and MoMA inductee, Lemi Ghariokwu.
Also not to be overlooked is the Vinyl Me Please insert, which features a “Super Ape” cocktail recipe created by a Sean Kenyon of Williams & Graham in Denver. I cannot reveal the full details of Kenyon’s cocktail, but it should be noted the Campari is representative of “Zion’s Blood”.
Sign up to Vinyl Me Please by July 17, 2015 to receive the special edition Super Ape package.
