Saturday 3 November 2012

Saturday Scratch #15

By all accounts the Lee Perry/Bob Marley relationship was a stormy one, not helped by Scratch's licensing of early Wailers tracks without Marley's consent. In spite of this, the pair continued to collaborate sporadically after The Wailers signed to Island Records - in 1975 for the non-album single 'Jah Live' and in 1977 with 'Punky Reggae Party'.

When they reconvened in late 1978, Perry put forward his own 10 year-old song, 'Who Colt the Game?', for Marley's consideration. Bob was reluctant, but, after some lyrical tinkering, gave it a shot, however tensions between the pair rose to the surface once again and the track was never completed, languishing in the vaults for 20 years.

An import Bob Marley & the Wailers compilation of dubious origin arrived in my shop in the late 1990's, with all the tunes you would expect to find, present and correct. Additionally, and without fanfare, 'Who Colt the Game?' was was in the track- listing. There were no sleeve notes to indicate it's source and I presumed it to be an unreleased demo. It was only later, when Island Records added the song to one of their own, better annotated, compilations, that the Lee Perry connection became clear.

Enjoy your weekend.


Previously on Saturday Scratch.

4 comments:

flycasual said...

Another diamond!

Anonymous said...

Pretty fab, I say. I think the best things The Wailers ever did were recorded with Scratch.

The Swede said...

Cheers flycasual. I love the rawness that might well have been smoothed out if they'd continued work on the song - this is Kaya period Marley after all. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Swede said...

It's a tough call Mr Bear! That being said, if I had to rescue one Marley album from the flames it would probably have to be a Scratch production.

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