The Sound Doctor

This is about 78 minutes of Sufferers music-a combination of spirituality, oppression, and a message to the people. All these tracks (made up of Singles and Dub Plates) have that Lee Perry magic, and were recorded at Dynamic Sounds, Randy's, and The Black Ark Studio, with "Scratch" at the controls. The sound is definitely from that period-the 1970's. Several of these tracks aren't what you'd call high fidelity. There's some slight sonic distortion here and there, but the music takes precedence over recording issues.Perry was known for using the best musicians he could find, and this collection is no different. Musicians include Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar, Willie Lindy, Ernest Raglin, Augustus Pablo, Winston Wright, Sticky Thompson, Bobby Ellis, and a few others.The first track, "Oppression", by Delroy Butler sets the tone for this set. It's aimed directly to those suffering in the ghetto or just plain down and out. But there's up-lifting tunes as well, like "Do Good", by Al Maytone. A number of these songs are fairly rare or by little heard singers. Bobby Floyd's "Sound Doctor", Dillinger's "Wam-Pam-Pa-Do", "Grandfather Land", by Jah T (with great piano chords and percussion), and a few others. Tinga Stewart does a great version of The Temptations' "Smiling Faces", along with it's counterpart "Smiling Version", by the Hux Brown Group.Speaking of versions, there's a couple more here, including The Upsetters' "Dub Message", from Tony Fearon's "Message To The Nation", "King Of Kings Version" by The Upsetters, from "King Of Kings", by Pat Francis. Also worth mentioning is "Be Prepared", by Keith Poppin, with a good rhythm and great vocals. And U Roy does a good "006", with Augustus Pablo. This is the original Jamaican mix, without the cluttered overdubs.The Ethiopians turn in a wonderfully soulful "It's Impossible", with it's loping organ led rhythm. And "Water Your Garden", by The Flames, is great-and pretty rare today. "Standing On The Hill", by Chenley Duffus (sic), has a great rhythm along with some soulful background vocals. And check out "Horny Train", from The Upsetters, which is actually the classic "Roots Train No. 1", found on several collections.This is yet another good collection of Lee Perry's music from the 70's, when he was (arguably) at his best at The Black Ark. The 7 page booklet contains concise notes on the music, plus a couple of b & w photos of Perry and Bob Marley, along with some record labels from the period. If you liked the previous Perry collections from Pressure Sounds, chances are you'll like this too. It's yet more evidence as to Lee Perry's genius in the studio.

A number of collections of ordinary Black Ark singles have been released over the last twenty years--Heartbeat's Cutting Razor collection and the numerous collections listed under Lee Perry and friends. I would not include Sipple Out There--a greatest hits collections--as a collection of ordinary singles.The Sound Doctor is a collection of ordinary Black Ark singles. The quality between the different songs is uneven--Lee Perry recorded anyone he thought had potential. Not all the songs are great. However, the musicianship maintains a high level.Perry used a studio band of revolving musicians whose ability matches the Motown band from Detroit, the Stax band or the Meters; such luminaries as Sly and Robbie, Augustus Pablo, Skully Sims, Chinna Smith and Geoffrey Chung laid down the riddim tracks; and so the riddim tracks are terrific.Pressure Sounds has included the A and B sides for some singles. I would have preferred all the tracks would have been presented this way, since it lets you hear the singles the way a buyer would have originally listened to it. Apparently, a Jamaican would buy an inferior song if it had a great B-side dub or toast--something I totally understand.This collection only includes one dubplate (major disappointment--I want more!)--a terrific version of Roots Train called Horny Train. Four songs, in my opinion, are absolute stand outs--Do Good, Key Card, Start Over and Its Impossible. The dub for Key Card Domino Game is also amazing. That must have been one incredible single.Pressure Sounds has done a great job of mastering these singles and also has packed the CD to the max with songs. These songs are also all unavailable on other CDs. These factors made me rate this collection 5 stars--even though individual songs did not appeal to me.Unfortunately there are not very many dubs on this CD. Besides the two I mentioned, the others are readily identified in the song list by the term version or dub. I don't know how to advise a dub fanatic--the dubs are available only here, quite good (both Domino Game and Horny Train are essential to my ear), yet not very numerous. You might just download the MP3s--however, I don't like downloaded dub (I think the bass response is inadequate) so you might be better off just ponying up the 20 bucks for the CD.This is a nice collection. I hope Pressure Sounds releases more old Black Ark singles collections--and I hope they choose to include both the A sides (the vocal) AND the B side (the dub) on future releases. Many lovers of Lee Perry (myself included) like the dubs as much--if not more--than the songs.

An enjoyable taste of Scratch, but there are more essential works out there.

Superb Dub collection from Lee Scratch Perry. A must have for a fan of his...

Great compilation of some heavy tunes by lesser known artists to come out of the Black Ark during its heyday (and before Lee burned it to the ground). Highly recommended for any serious fan of the genius that is Lee Perry.

Très bon packaging du CD dans sa pochette cartonnée. Les morceaux de choix sont à la hauteur de mes espérences. Merci LSP et merci pour l'envoi du colis. tout est parfait.

There are 3 periods of Mr Perry,pre Black Ark(work he done for other producers or at other studios),the Black Ark years(70's),and post Black Ark(80's till now).This cd is the Black Ark years and is pure gold,there isn't a bad track. My only negative point is why not two cds at that price,and so that's why it gets a 4.