eMusic

Start Your Trial

Panic in Babylon

by

Lee Scratch Perry

 
Panic in Babylon
view larger image View Larger

Rate it!

Avg: 4.0 (13 ratings)

  • They Say...

    Yes, he's a genius, and yes, he's probably certifiably nuts, and yes, that combination of genius and insanity has now yielded several decades of absolutely brilliant (if notoriously inconsistent) music. And yes again, it's true that most of what has come out under his name in the last seven or eight years has been a big disappointment. But the latest album from Lee "Scratch" Perry is a brilliant return to form. On Panic in Babylon he's teamed up with the White Belly Rats, a Swiss reggae band with an uncommon ability to simultaneously stir up rich, dense reggae grooves and put the focus squarely on Perry and his sometimes incoherent, sometimes brilliant, sometimes hilarious ravings. Things come together in a perfect storm of reggae power on "Fight to the Finish," with its gorgeous chorus and stomach-churning dubwise groove, and on the ferocious "Baby Krishna," on which a swinging one-drop beat underpins Perry's invocations of Hindu deities, American presidents and Babylonian destruction. Not everything is equally brilliant -- "Pussy Man" is one of Perry's most threadbare conceits -- but when he invites you to "have a Perry salad/For this is Perry ballad" halfway through the album, you'll be more than willing to take him up on the offer.

  • You Say...

    Write a Review

    I would like to say...

    Artist: Lee Scratch Perry

    Album: Panic in Babylon

    Review Title: (maximum 50 characters)

    Your Review: (maximum 1,000 characters)

    Cancel

    Please keep your comments to the recordings themselves, and be courteous and respectful. Thanks! For further info, read our Community Guidelines.

The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

Recently Viewed

Back
Forward

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.