The Upsetters - Double Seven

Double Seven, released by Trojan in late 1973, was the last album Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry would release on the label for some considerable time, and it was essentially the final album project he put together before establishing his own Black Ark studio. Opening track Kentucky Skank sets the tone with a slow creeper whose frying sounds underscore its role as a praise song to the Colonel’s KFC recipes; the cosmic Moog blips come courtesy of Ken Elliott at Camden’s Chalk Farm studio, also prominently featured on U-Roy’s double-tracked, stereo-panned gambling ode Double Six.

David Isaacs’ Just Enough was cut a few years prior, which makes it slightly out of phase with the rest of the set, though the enigmatic In The Iaah sounds mightily fresh, with its uncredited chorus said to come courtesy of the Wailers. Perry’s own Jungle Lion has hilarious roars from the maestro at the start, strangely grafted atop a reggae re-make of Al Green’s Love and Happiness.

Limited silver vinyl pressing - 750 only