Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry met artist and musician Peter Harris while the latter was making a philosophical film about death called Higher Powers back in 2006, prompted by his sister’s then recent cancer diagnosis. Despite the heavy subject matter, the forty-minute film is a surprisingly entertaining look at what happens to us when we pass to the other side, from the perspectives of some of Britain’s best known rogues and charlatans including Ken Russell, Uri Geller, David Icke and Boris Johnson. The Upsetter makes a brief appearance at Hyde Park’s Speaker’s Corner and then again for the title sequence at the end of the documentary.
This establishment of a connection between the makers of Mercy is important, given the proliferation of collaborations with Perry that have appeared since his death in 2021, as well as numerous subpar projects that surfaced in the 90s. When I spoke to Alex Paterson of The Orb for Electronic Sound in 2020, he spoke of attaching a mic to Perry at all times in the week they had recording together, with the Jamaican ad libbing throughout the day over reggae songs playing in the background, providing enough material for two albums in the end (The Orbserver in the Star House and More Tales From The Orbservatory). Nevertheless, Paterson was very conscious not to exploit the situation: “We cleared it all with him because I’m very much aware that in the 90s, this was what would happen with Lee,” he told me. “They’d get him wasted and put him on the mic and you’d get three albums in two days and not tell him, and then you’ve got these half-arsed reggae tunes credited to Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry that he’s got no real dealings with. We didn’t want to be like that.”
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Guide to the Universe with New Age Doom was billed as his final album in 2021, though there have been a plethora since, including the good (Spaceship to Mars with Youth), the bad (King Perry, produced by Daniel Boyle) and the ugly (Destiny with Bob Riddim), and that’s only the half of it. Which brings us to Mercy, a record I’m pleased to report doesn’t feel like exploitation or a posthumous, cynical cash in.
Harris and Perry apparently reconvened in 2015 to start working on a soundtrack connected to Higher Powers, which garnered three songs almost immediately: ‘Crutch’, ‘Promised Land’ and ‘This Is Hell’. All have undergone plenty of application in the meantime, with Harris seeing the process of making this album as synonymous with painting, overlaying sonic brushstrokes and bringing in Fritz Catlin of 23 Skidoo to contribute another layer of rhythm to many of the tracks. The construction of the album often appears counterintuitive, helping to crystallize Mercy’s uniqueness. It’s a dub album but it doesn’t really sound like other dub albums.
Perry preaches and prognosticates throughout, adding commentary to Harris’ bars, though the overall effect of delay on Perry’s voice often makes it difficult to figure out what he’s saying. Instead you can make out the odd word: “Ethiopia”, “Small axe”, “government”… like he’s some cosmic spiritual warrior trying to transmit good vibes from the other side. It’s certainly no Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread, but then what is? Crucially, David Katz, Perry’s intrepid biographer, has given his approval, saying it is “one of the most compelling and complex releases of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s post-Black Ark canon… Mercy’s experimental sonic occupies its own space.” And if it’s good enough for Katz then it’s good enough for the post-Perry era.
