CD: Lee 'Scratch' Perry: Alien Starman

(Secret)

On the inside of Alien Starman's CD booklet, venerable dub wizard Lee "Scratch" Perry kneels on a pebbly beach wearing a Mad Hatter topper and union flag socks. In each outstretched hand he holds a stone. Are these lucky stones? Are they perhaps the righteous stones of Haile Selassie? Or are they just a couple of rocks? Perhaps someone who knows the answer might be able to solve the equally vexing conundrum of why Alien Starman was made at all.

The bland, dated reggae, with its dribbly saxophone and corny synth chords, displays none of the studio alchemy with which Perry made his name. And the songs, such as they are, consist of vocalists Sharron and Michelle Naylor endlessly chanting the title while Perry mumbles self-parodic folderol about chicken blood and vampires.

A nadir of pointlessness is reached on a baffling cover of the Temptations' My Girl. Anybody intrigued by Perry's current role as Meltdown festival curator should head for his peerless Arkology collection and give this nonsense the widest possible berth.

Contributor

Dorian Lynskey

The GuardianTramp

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