Lee "Scratch" Perry - Super Ape (1976, Island Records First Pressing)

Super Ape is the album that defined what dub could be. Recorded at Lee "Scratch" Perry's legendary Black Ark studio in Kingston, Jamaica, this 1976 masterpiece took the already radical concept of dub reggae and pushed it into territory that nobody, possibly including Perry himself, fully understood. The result is dense, hallucinatory, and absolutely foundational. Every serious dub collection begins here.

The original Island Records first pressing captures these mixes in their purest commercial form. For reggae vinyl collectors, it is a cornerstone.

The Black Ark Studio

To understand Super Ape, you must understand the Black Ark. Lee "Scratch" Perry built his home studio at 5 Cardiff Crescent in the Washington Gardens neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica in 1973. Working with a four-track (later upgraded) mixing console, Perry created a sonic environment unlike any other recording facility on Earth.

The Black Ark was small, cramped, and by mainstream studio standards, primitive. Perry compensated with inventiveness that bordered on sorcery. He buried microphones in the garden to capture ambient sounds. He incorporated household objects as percussion. He layered and processed tracks until the tape was saturated with sound, creating a murky, swirling sonic landscape that sounded like music heard through deep water.

Between 1973 and 1979, when Perry reportedly set fire to the studio, the Black Ark produced some of the most influential recordings in reggae history: Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon," Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves," The Congos' "Heart of the Congos," and, at the center of it all, Super Ape.

The Album

Super Ape was released under the credit "The Upsetters," Perry's house band name, though Perry himself served as producer, engineer, arranger, composer, and percussionist. The album was released in Jamaica in July 1976 on Perry's own Upsetter label under the title "Scratch the Super Ape," with a different track order than the international version.

The Island Records international release followed in August 1976, bringing Super Ape to a global audience. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell had signed a distribution deal with Perry following the commercial success of Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon," giving Perry international reach for the first time.

Track Listing (Island Records Version):

Side One: 1. Zion's Blood (4:37) 2. Croaking Lizard (3:24) 3. Black Vest (4:16) 4. Underground (3:47) 5. Curly Dub (3:58)

Side Two: 1. Dub Along (3:12) 2. Super Ape (4:49) 3. Three in One (5:05) 4. Patience (4:47)

The early Island pressing is notable for having distinctly different mixes from later reissues, with deeper bass, more spacious dub effects, and a murkier, more atmospheric overall sound. Collectors prize these original mixes for their raw, uncompressed quality.

The Music

Describing Super Ape in conventional musical terms is like describing a dream using only architectural blueprints. The album operates on feeling as much as form.

The rhythms are heavy, slow, and insistent, built on bass lines that rumble at frequencies more felt than heard. Perry strips songs down to their skeletal components, then rebuilds them using echo, reverb, phase shifting, and tape manipulation. Vocals appear and disappear like ghosts. Percussion rattles and shimmers in impossible spaces. The mixing desk becomes an instrument, with Perry riding faders and effects in real time to create performances that could never be exactly replicated.

"Zion's Blood" opens the album with a statement of intent: a bass line so deep it seems to come from underground, with Perry's dub effects swirling around fragmented vocal samples. "Croaking Lizard" incorporates animal sounds into the rhythm track, blurring the line between music and nature. The title track "Super Ape" is an exercise in controlled chaos, with multiple rhythmic elements competing for attention while Perry's hand on the mixing desk provides the only organizing principle.

The album's influence extends far beyond reggae. Without Super Ape and the Black Ark recordings, there would be no trip-hop, no dubstep, no ambient dub, and arguably no modern electronic music production as we know it. The idea that the recording studio itself is an instrument, that sound manipulation is a creative act equal to performance, was not invented by Perry, but he was among its earliest and most radical practitioners.

Specifications (Island Records First Pressing)

• Artist: The Upsetters (Lee "Scratch" Perry)

• Title: Super Ape

• Label: Island Records

• Catalog number: ILPS 9417

• Country: United Kingdom (primary first pressing)

• Year: 1976

• Format: 12" vinyl LP, 33 1/3 RPM

• Cover: Gatefold or standard sleeve (variants exist)

• Label design: Pink Island "palm tree" label

• Matrix/Runout: Check for "STERLING" stamp and specific matrix codes

Identifying First Pressings:

• Pink Island label with palm tree logo

• "Island Records Inc" text under the logo

• STERLING stamp in runout groove (Side A)

• Specific matrix/runout etchings vary by pressing plant

• Gatefold sleeve with original artwork

Value Guide

Super Ape values vary significantly by pressing, condition, and specific variant.

Island Records UK First Pressing (ILPS 9417)

• Near Mint (vinyl and cover): $200 to $400

• Very Good Plus: $100 to $200

• Very Good: $50 to $100

• Good: $25 to $50

Jamaican Upsetter Label ("Scratch the Super Ape")

• Near Mint: $300 to $600 (rarer than Island pressing)

• Very Good Plus: $150 to $300

• Very Good: $75 to $150

Other First Pressings

• Island Records US pressing: $80 to $200 (NM)

• Island Records European variants: $60 to $150 (NM)

Reissues and Remastered Editions

• 2013 Record Store Day Black Friday double vinyl: $30 to $60

• Vinyl Me Please (VMP) edition: $40 to $80

• Standard modern reissues: $15 to $30

Condition Assessment Guide

Vinyl Grading:

• Mint: Unplayed. Flawless surface. Essentially impossible for a 1976 pressing.

• Near Mint: May have been played once or twice with care. No visible marks under direct light. Full bass response and no surface noise.

• Very Good Plus: Light marks that do not affect playback. Occasional light crackle but no pops or skips. Labels clean.

• Very Good: Surface marks visible. Some light surface noise between tracks. Labels may show minor wear.

• Good: Plays through without skipping but audible surface noise. Marks visible. Labels worn.

Cover Grading:

• Near Mint: No splits, no ring wear, no writing. Colors bright.

• Very Good Plus: Minor shelf wear. Slight corner bumps. No splits.

• Very Good: Moderate wear. Light ring wear possible. Minor seam splits (under 1 inch).

• Good: Obvious wear. Ring wear visible. Seam splits. Writing possible.

Critical Check Points for Super Ape:

• Bass response is the most important sonic characteristic. Worn copies lose bottom end first.

• Check for warping. Jamaican pressings were often stored in tropical conditions.

• Verify label variant (pink palm tree for UK Island first pressing)

• Original inner sleeve presence adds value

• Check matrix/runout area for pressing identification

Collecting Context

Dub Collectors: Super Ape is the cornerstone of any dub collection. It belongs alongside King Tubby's "Dub from the Roots," Augustus Pablo's "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown," and Scientist's "Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires."

Lee Perry Completists: Perry's discography is enormous and chaotic, spanning hundreds of releases across dozens of labels. Super Ape is the single most essential Perry album and the natural starting point.

Reggae Investors: Original Black Ark-era pressings have appreciated steadily as the cultural significance of these recordings becomes more widely recognized. The Jamaican Upsetter pressing in particular is becoming scarce in collectible condition.

Sound Quality Seekers: The original Island pressing offers mixes that differ substantively from later reissues. If you care about hearing Perry's vision as it was first presented internationally, accept no substitute.

Legacy

Lee "Scratch" Perry passed away on August 29, 2021, at the age of 85. His death underscored what the music world had long known: Perry was one of the most important figures in recorded music history, a producer whose innovations shaped genres that would not exist for decades after Super Ape was released.

The album remains in print, available in multiple reissued formats. But for collectors and audiophiles who understand that the medium is part of the message, the original 1976 Island Records pressing of Super Ape is the definitive format: analog, warm, deep, and alive in a way that digital reproductions can approach but never quite capture.

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