Although it sounds pretty much unlike any other album they recorded during their long career, Party Time is a landmark release for the Heptones because it represents their collaboration with the legendary (not to say infamous) producer Lee “Scratch” Perry at his equally legendary (and notorious) Black Ark studio. The album partakes deeply of the classic Black Ark sound: dark, swampy, wet, echo-laden, with wild production flourishes courtesy of Perry. Despite its title, this is not really a party album. Songs like “Mr. President,” “Sufferer’s Time,” and “Storm Cloud” are much more representative of the mood here. The Heptones had never sounded like this before, and never would again.