Super Ape Inna Jungle

The legendary reggae producer Lee “Scratch” Perry gets top billing on this 1995 release, but it’s really a showcase for the junglist production skills of Neil Fraser, a.k.a. Mad Professor. It features tight, dense, and sometimes almost airless jungle tracks, often based on Amen breaks, crafted by the Professor, over which Perry intones his usual pronouncements related to black magic, thunder, lightning, water, fire, etc. It’s a fine — if ultimately exhausting — illustration of how far the art form had come even this early in its development.