Initiation stones, buried recordings, and Ringo Starr’s drumkit: inside the visionary world of reggae master Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

The late production genius’s chaotic reputation has always preceded him. But could two new books, a posthumous album and a flurry of classic reissues change all that – and put the focus back on his music? David Katz’s introduction to the world of Lee “Scratch” Perry was bewildering. The Jamaican producer had been living in London for several years, and Katz, a Jewish reggae historian who had fallen in love with the music as a teenager in San Francisco, had moved to the UK capital in 1987 and ...

By Lanre Bakare