Return of the Super Ape - Deluxe 2008 Edition

Return of the Super Ape is a dense, murky set of heavily altered rhythms, standing as one of Perry’s strangest and most fascinating releases. Perry was in the process of ending his long and fruitful relationship with Island Records, and he was starting to alienate longtime musical allies with his increasingly erratic behavior. The dark, dread-choked sound of the 10 visionary tracks that make up the original Return of the Super Ape bear musical witness to this turmoil. The wonders on offer here range from dense, bizarre spoken-word offerings like “Jah Jah Is a Natty Dread" to the truly transcendent “Bird in Hand,” a haunting cover of an obscurity plucked from the soundtrack of the Indian film Babul. Sam Carty delivers the song’s Hindi lyrics in a shaky but gorgeous high tenor, making for one of Return of the Super Ape’s most memorable moments. This deluxe reissue includes nine bonus tracks. Roughly half of these are drawn from 1978’s Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread, but the remainder, such as U Roy’s fiery deejay cut “Stick Together” date to the earliest days of the Black Ark.