Judith / Such Is Life / Partial Records

Produced in 1998 by Manasseh and Markie Lyrics aka Jah Lingwa of the R.D.K. Hi-Fi Sound System, Judith’s “Such Is Life” is a really cool cover, a fantastic female reading, of a song written by Trinidadian musician and singer Kenrick Randolph Patrick aka Lord Creator. Patrick first cut the track in 1968, after an 18 month prison stretch for cannabis possession, as a rocksteady side for Vincent “Randy” Chin, at 17 North Parade. However, it was later radically reimagined with Lee “Scratch” Perry.* Perry’s version is a classic, bounced down, dizzy, deliriously degraded – tape heads cleaned with an old, funky sweater, tapes themselves buried in the back yard and then resurrected – Black Ark production. All the instruments blurred into a mutated maze for stoned / opened minds to explore. The song was a highlight amongst highlights on a Seven Leaves compilation of Perry’s work, titled “Heart Of The Ark”, which I found in the racks of Berwick Street’s Daddy Kool, when the album was reissued…