Lee Scratch Perry doesn't do a lot these days: the odd concert appearance, rambling away into the microphone. He does much the same thing here, on his first album in years and his first reunion with former producer Adrian Sherwood in well over a decade. It could be a tepid tread through some old material (many of the rhythms used are date from his '70s heyday), but somehow it all comes together beautifully.
Case in point, Rockhead reworks his Zion Blood classic with the producer-turned-MC muttering about crackheads in an altogether too convincing way. It's followed by Lucky Charm, on which he begins by referencing Max Romeo's brilliant Chase The Devil and ends it freestyling nonsense ("I am the tree of life/ I'm God and wife/ My wife is my knife"). Sherwood's sound hasn't shifted much since he made his name with his '80s dub abstractions, but it's got a bounce and groove that makes for a better listen than you'd have any reason to expect.