pampelmoose Dave Allen of Gang of Four’s Music and Media Blog

February is the month 49 years ago when Island Records began and in 2009 Island Records will be 50 years old. Unfortunately Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who started the label in Jamaica in 1959 sold the storied company to Polygram/Universal Records in 1999 and it has become a shell of its former self under its corporate owners. For reggae lovers worldwide Island Records’ history will always be synonymous with two people - Chris Blackwell and the artist who brought the label to prominence, Bob Marley.
Although Blackwell was responsible for exposing audiences worldwide to reggae music and had a strong hand in building Bob Marley’s international career, there was a maverick producer in Island’s camp - Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry aka The Upsetter. While Blackwell was responsible for bringing Ska to the table, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry arguably created the musical form we know as reggae.
In the early 1970s, Perry’s mixing board experiments as a producer resulted in the creation of dub. Perry built a studio in his back yard in 1973, naming it The Black Ark. He was determined to have more control over his productions and his signature style of recording, all purely analog of course, resulted in fascinating almost otherworldly musical soundscapes. In 1978 he released what I consider to be his finest work, Return Of The Superape an amazing reggae/dub excursion that was released just as Gang of Four was recording their debut album, ‘Entertainment!’ I urge you to buy it. Perry also had an amazing skill in finding and developing vocal groups and one of my other favorite Perry productions is his work with the vocal group The Congos. He turned their album, Heart of The Congos, into a reggae masterpiece.
His massive use of ganja which he smoked religiously (literally) often gave him an air of madness and he fell out with Chris Blackwell many times after drug-fueled rages especially over the ownership of his master recordings. Without Perry though there may never have been breakthrough in reggae and Marley may have taken longer to break out internationally. Blackwell was lucky to have his court jester working hard in the studio in his back yard.
Let’s hope the owners of Island Records realize the vast repository of music and cultural history they are sitting on in time for the label’s 50th anniversary. As The Congos song ‘La La Bam Bam’ goes -
“For thirty pieces of silver
They sold Jah Rasta
And why did they do that?
Joseph with his coat of many colours
Was cast in the pit
By his own brothers.”

The Congos - La La Bam Bam
The Congos - Fisherman
Frederico Aubele - Un Lugar