There are few names in reggae music that attract such universal and unreserved praise as Lee Scratch Perry and Trojan records. So for a new album to arrive courtesy of Mr Perry and the seminal Trojan imprint is no small occasion.
Perry is of course no spring chicken and his career has been wildly prolific, so it wouldn't be wildly over adventurous to suggest the peak of creative abilities has probably passed.
But in fact the old magic is very much still there, especially in the detail.
His quirky re-working of 'I'll Take You There', for example, begins with the words Lee Perry Forever, to which the 67-year-old man of dub quickly adds a rejoinder of wheezy coughing.
And there are a fair few other surprises, not least that the offerings are remarkably spritely and sunny affairs compared to the dark dub child that Perry helped to create.
For a man who built his reputation on vocal stripped instrumental dub plates, the tracks here are stuffed with voices, mostly his own, that parade around the tracks in place of the usual panned delays and effects.
Meanwhile the bass lines are layered subtly into the tunes, with greater emphasis being given to high end percussion and breezy watery effects.
All of which makes the inclusion of old style, deep and funky dub tracks, such as his ode to extra Cold Guiness, 'Evil Brain Rejector', all the more joyous.
