Lee “Scratch” Perry - Destiny (Vinyl LP)

Destiny is the final album from Lee “Scratch” Perry, a reggae and dub record made with producer Bob Riddim in the last year of Perry’s life. Released by Delicious Vinyl Island on 8 September 2023, two years after his death in 2021, it pairs the dub pioneer with a new generation of Jamaican artists.

Perry and Bob Riddim began working together in July 2020, and Bob Riddim completed the album, playing most of the instruments himself. It sets Perry’s voice against modern reggae rhythms rather than the 1970s Black Ark sound of many of his later records.

Six of the nine tracks feature guests. Evie Pukupoo of The No-Maddz joins him on the title track, Kabaka Pyramid on ‘Black’, and Xana Romeo, daughter of Max Romeo, on a new version of ‘Police And Thieves’, the 1976 song Perry wrote with Junior Murvin. Blvk H3ro, Leno Banton and Wayne J share ‘Ring Pon My Finger’, and Yaadcore appears on ‘Infinity’. The album closes with two dubs, including ‘Infinity Dub’ with Addis Pablo on melodica.

Bernard Lanis plays saxophone on three tracks, and the cover art is by Akut.

This edition is a single LP, first released on vinyl in 2024.

For more of Perry’s later orbit, Adrian Sherwood, who produced his records on On-U Sound, steps out under his own name on The Collapse of Everything. African Head Charge’s Off The Beaten Track carries that label’s experimental dub further out, and Melodies International Presents Ariwa Sounds gathers the work of Mad Professor’s label, which released Perry’s collaborations with the Professor.