Lee Scratch Perry and Al Green: reggae meets soul
It is 4 o’clock in the morning here in italy, i just came home from a big reggae night and i’m the right mood to give you a taste of sweet reggae music.
The song i selected this night is a true banger for every party: “Jungle Lion” by Lee Scratch Perry. He was the man who took reggae music to another level, a master of dub also. He was one of the first to introduce sampling in music, by sampling a children voice ans using it in one of his earlier records, a deep innovation at the time. And we are talking bout 1968 man, long before rap music started!
He is an undisputed musical prophet, as we can see also by this pic.
For “Jungle Lion” Perry took inspiration from nother masterpiece, but this time the sorce is a soul music classic, “Love and happiness” by the great Al Green. His intensity in this song is astounding and the Memphis horns are dope as usual. This song had been sampled lots of times from then on. The style of Al Green as a performer also influenced many artists later. He became a preacher man, and nowadays Reverend Al Green still continues to tour, and to preach at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, Tennessee.
Listen Lee Scratch Perry’s jungle Lion!
Listen Al Green’s Love And Happiness!
..which version do you prefer? Both are beautiful, but if i have to choose i go with Al Green.
May 27, 2008 at 12:57 pm
aaah thank you soooooo much, ive been trawling the internet all morning trying to work out where ive heard that horn riff in al green’s love and happiness, as im more familiar with reggae music, but couldnt find the answer anywhere even though i knew i was very familiar with the tune! i didnt fancy searching through the hundreds of reggae albums i have, listening to snippets of every tune and trying to work out which one i am thinking of, so it was with great relief i found the answer here. thank you thank you thank you xxxx
jah bless
May 27, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Hey Graham, I’m glad your diffcult morning has come to an end!
Being in that situation like “Where did I hear that sound? WHERE?”, I can confirm it’s quite frustrating!
Thanx for visiting
peace
June 6, 2008 at 12:40 am
Nice!
February 18, 2009 at 12:52 am
I discovered Lee “Scratch” Perry by listening to this song only a few minutes ago. It was actually put in the background of a video of some guys skiing in Utah (odd i know). I recognized the Al Green vibes but had know idea who the song was by. Luckily I found it be stumbling onto this page with some searching and some luck! Great song, officially a fan of Scratch Perry now
February 18, 2009 at 12:53 am
The video where I heard the song:
http://vimeo.com/3155182
February 18, 2009 at 7:21 pm
hey J, glad you found it….odd really
maybe we’ll put on more soul-reggae covers in the future…
peace