Roots Archives Forum

Does Anyone Else Think That Lee Perry Destroying Black Ark Was The Smartest Thing He Could Have Done? I believe So, I Think At One Point Lee Perry Was An Absolute Genius. He Was Doing Things No One Else Could Or Would Ever Do. Do You Think He Saw A Change In Roots Music And Knew It Wouldn't Work For The Black Ark? Also Not Wanting To "Flog A Dead Horse"... And!, Does Anyone Believe That There Are Secret Tapes Burried Some Where From Black Ark That Were Never Released, Like The True "ARK OF THE COVENANT" ?

He didn't burned it down. It caught fire in '83 when they tried to rebuild the studio which was abandoned at that time.
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And I don't think there are any tapes buried, if so, they would be long gone by now. I do know however that Aisha Morrison ( Perry's Ex wife ) still has lots of stuff that has never been released ( even complete finished albums )

Hopefully, Mrs. Morrison will release this stuff!

There are many stories about Black Ark. After Scratch freaked out the golden BA days were over. You can forget about most of his music after the breakdown.

But before that....right, he was a genius.

bonga wrote:He didn't burned it down. It caught fire in '83 when they tried to rebuild the studio which was abandoned at that time.

1983?

is there some stuff recorded at black ark in the very early 80's? could you name them?

someone wrote:1974 to 1979: Perry builds the Black Ark studio in the yard of his home in Washington Gardens, one of the most mythologized locations in popular music, variously attributed with X-Files powers, unusual smells, invisible engineering attributes, and a palm tree with an audible heartbeat. Amid controversy, most of the Ark burns down in 1979 while Perry grows increasingly paranoid.

I don't think that will happen in the near future.

If an album or whatever becomes a big-seller. What do you think will happen ? lawsuit after lawsuit will follow about who is the rightful owner, copyrights, royalties etc etc.

@ Oras
No, nothing has been recorded after '79. It was simply abandoned/closed after Perry left Jamaica.

Huh, that was my understanding, that it burned down in 79, and that he recorded Pipecock Jackxon in Jamaica with equipment his benefactors form Amsterdam leant him, until they got fed up, pulled the plug, and mastered the results themselves.
There's footage on YouTube of Perry showing people around the remains of the burnt out Ark. So that's from 83?

I picked up Heartbeats "Cutting Razor" recently and I was wondering where the master tapes for the Junior Murvin songs were hidden for 26 years. The liner notes don't say a thing about it. The two songs were supposedly from Juniors unreleased second Black Ark album. So where did the master tape turn up? And is the rest of the album on them?

@Mr Mountain

Do you think that Perry's post Black Ark work is superior to his previous work? Is that what you are saying?

Personally, I prefer his earlier work to his later productions. The Black Ark productions seem to me a little overrated, while the work he made prior to that point are supremely underappreciated. By that's me.

I don't think that he every again reached the same heights as he had with the recordings he made for the Wailers and Junior Byles.

The Black Ark Studio burned down in early summer 1983. Though it is not very clear that Perry burned it down in some interviews perry admitted that he was responsible for that fire..

On the Mystic Warrior Album recorded 1984 released 1989 you will find a song named "25 years ago". Listen to the words:

"This is Madman Scratchy
You better watch it, he draw matches and the place go boom"

To many critics it sounds like a confession about the fire.

In an interview he said: For Weeks and months the pressure had been building up,. I was getting no money, just pressure, pressure, pressure, I got up that morning with a turmoil in my heart and went to the bottom of my garden, the studio y'know. I love kid's rubber balls. They are air, trapped. I love that and I collected many of these balls. Anyway, I have one favourite, it came from America and I kept it on the mixing desk. Some one had taken it when I got to the studio and I was just filled with anger. First all the pressure, the thievery, and then this...I destroyed the studio. I smashed it up and the I burnt it down. Over!!"

Although some of his family members said that the fire was caused through an electrical fault and Lee Perry himself said in one interview: If the government or whosoever try to find out if it's me who try to burn out my studio, they'd make a big mistake, because it's not I who burn down my own studio.

But in May 1999 he confirmed: Of course it's me who burn it. Who else could burn it? I was just working morning noon and night for musicians and singers, and I did want to be a singer. And then that ball was ther for concentration, and nobody should go inside the studio when I leave there. somebody was messing with my energy, so it wouldn't be clean anymore, so I throw gas in there and light it. I didn't hold hold no insurance on my building. I only hold life insurance for me. I cannot get a money from it, so it was mine to do what i want to do. ...

Listening to City Too Hot, it sounded like he'd had enough by that point.

And I don't know the exact chronology, but I can believe that the Ras Michael tracks were the last things recorded at the Ark (as some people have said). Scratch seems to be losing the plot as a producer on those - some sound accidentally badly mixed rather than being the deliberate output of an eccentric mind.

As for what may remain unreleased, there may also be some stuff left in the Island vaults (though possibly just extended versions, dubs etc of what we already know about). I remember Steve Barrow saying that Island consulted him on the Arkology compilation, but rejected some of the hidden gems he uncovered in favour of the more commercial material. He either said, or at least suggested, that there was enough rare stuff in there for a second 3-CD set.

VC