I'd not heard any news on the latest Lee Perry Documentary 'The Upsetter' until recently and i decided to do some searching and found a few reviews from people who got to see it at film festivals, i thought some people may be interested in reading what they had to say...... (Please bare in mind this is just one long time reggae fans personal view)"Just back from seeing this documentary at the EIFF(Edinburgh Film Festival), and I’m quietly seething.
It’s presented as a chronology, but although his early years in Jamaica are dealt with (almost) adequately up until the torching of Black Ark, there’s way too much cutting away to Perry messing around in the snow in present-day Switzerland (archive footage rights expense perhaps?).
From 1980 onwards though, according to the documentary makers, Perry apparently fell into deep depression and drug addicted inactivity until seemingly being rescued from obscurity in 2000 by his appearance on a Beastie Boys album track, leading to him doing a Guiness ad in the USA and planning a 2007/2008 ‘comeback’ world tour.
Erm… I’ve more than 20 albums recorded by him during this allegedly ‘inactive’ period, and saw him several times on various tours in the 1990s.
No mention of Adrian Sherwood? Or even the Mad Professor? What were the makers thinking?
I’d advise any Perry fans to stay well away from this doc - what I’d consider to be very shoddy work (at best) and blatant revisionism of the lowest order (at worst).
A real opportunity missed, though perhaps folk who’ve never heard of him before might be drawn in.
Frankly, though, there’s better archive footage of him both performing and ranting away up on YouTube."
This entry was posted on June 23, 2008 at 11:41 pm
It’s presented as a chronology, but although his early years in Jamaica are dealt with (almost) adequately up until the torching of Black Ark, there’s way too much cutting away to Perry messing around in the snow in present-day Switzerland (archive footage rights expense perhaps?).
From 1980 onwards though, according to the documentary makers, Perry apparently fell into deep depression and drug addicted inactivity until seemingly being rescued from obscurity in 2000 by his appearance on a Beastie Boys album track, leading to him doing a Guiness ad in the USA and planning a 2007/2008 ‘comeback’ world tour.
Erm… I’ve more than 20 albums recorded by him during this allegedly ‘inactive’ period, and saw him several times on various tours in the 1990s.
No mention of Adrian Sherwood? Or even the Mad Professor? What were the makers thinking?
I’d advise any Perry fans to stay well away from this doc - what I’d consider to be very shoddy work (at best) and blatant revisionism of the lowest order (at worst).
A real opportunity missed, though perhaps folk who’ve never heard of him before might be drawn in.
Frankly, though, there’s better archive footage of him both performing and ranting away up on YouTube."
This entry was posted on June 23, 2008 at 11:41 pm
(Article taken from ayeball.wordpress.com)
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