Winston Watson, an original member of the vocal harmony trio, The Meditations died on the morning of Thursday 29th March 2019 in New York. The cause of death has not been revealed. The Meditations were formed in late 1974, when Danny Clarke left The Righteous Flames, recruiting Ansel Cridland (previously of The Linkers) and Winston Watson. After releasing singles credited to the individual members, they began recording as The Meditations in late 1976, shortly after which they released their biggest hit, "Woman Is Like A Shadow", which sold over 45,000 copies in its first month of release. They recorded in the mid-1970’s for producers such as Dobby Dobson, Joseph Hoo Kim, and Lee "Scratch" Perry, their righteously Rastafarian style gaining comparisons with The Mighty Diamonds.Their first album, “Message From The Meditations”, was released in 1977. The Meditations sang backing vocals on a number of Bob Marley songs, including "Blackman Redemption", "Punky Reggae Party", and "Rastaman Live Up", as well as providing backing for Gregory Isaacs, Jimmy Cliff and The Congos (on their “Heart Of The Congos” album). They appeared at the One Love Peace Concert in April 1978, officially a commemoration of the 12th anniversary of Haile Selassie's state visit to Jamaica, but more famous for the handshake between Michael Manley and Edward Seaga when they joined Bob Marley on stage. Perry’s legend is better known than his music: his associations with Bob Marley and the Clash; the stories of Perry at the mixing board, gunned to the eyeballs on weed, rum and Rastafarian creed; his psychological meltdown, which culminated in 1979 with the torching of Black Ark, apparently by Perry himself. Vital Black Ark titles like “War In A Babylon,” “Police And Thieves” and the Heptones’ sunbathed-gospel beauty “Sufferer’s Time” with their respective dub versions captures Perry at his most wily, disguising tripped-out socio-religious tracts as irresistible dance music. In Errol Walker’s “In These Times,” a rewrite of the Gershwin standard “Summertime,” Perry places Walker’s lamentations about unemployment and oppressive inflation over a gutted rhythm track in which guitars and keyboards are yanked out from under the singer without warning. At times, Walker seems physically suspended over big, echoey holes of economic disaster and acute personal despair. Perry’s gift for whiplash drama and word-sound punning is also evident in the rude cymbal crashes that explode like land mines in “No Peace,” by the Meditations. And the extreme compression that Perry applies to the brass in the extended mix of Junior Murvin and Dillinger’s “Roots Train” makes the horns sound like a steam whistle on the Jah Railways express. 1977 saw the Heptones’ “Party Time”, Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves” and George Faith’s “To Be a Lover” all issued by Island Records to critical acclaim. However, the Congos’ landmark “Heart of the Congos” was shelved, and the company also passed on an album Perry produced with two Congolese singers, Seke Molenga and Kalo Kawongolo. Island also refused to issue Perry’s “Roast Fish Collie And Cornbread” and “Return Of The Super Ape”, both issued in Jamaica by Perry. “Roast Fish” is thoroughly excellent, being the first album ever issued to feature Lee Perry as lead vocalist on every number; songs like “Favourite Dish,” “Throw Some Water In” and the title track are couched in the humour and distinctive use of language that has always marked his best work. Musically, it bears a typical late Black Ark sound, bolstered by harmonies from the female Full Experience trio. However, “Evil Tongues,” which Perry later said was aimed at the Congos, evidences the man’s increasingly troubled frame of mind, verging on the paranoiac. At Black Ark, Perry operated on the crumbling margins of sanity; his own “Soul Fire” is anguished, hallucinatory dub, the sound of a man driven to terror and incoherence. But for the most part, Perry was crazy like George Clinton, drawing dynamic performances from a fluid cast of singers and sidemen and camouflaging his calls for social change and spiritual retribution in cool licks and cartoonish mysticism. A steely, stabbing guitar adds a Steve Cropper-like touch to Max Romeo’s Rasta-superhero hyperbole in “Chase the Devil”. In “Roast Fish” Perry’s slow, woozy chanting transforms the notion of a simple Rasta lunch into something akin to a sacrament. By the end of 1978, as various pressures came to a head, Lee Perry shut the doors of the Black Ark, ejecting everyone from the premises, and trashing much of the equipment. He entered a new phase, based on covering the walls and every other available surface with cryptic graffiti, and filled his days with enacting obscure rituals, as a dramatic new persona, Pipecock Jackxon, took over. After the Black Ark finally perished in a mysterious fire in 1983, Perry was cast adrift. Words from various sources - Wiki / Rolling Stone / David Katz.

• published: 29 Mar 2019
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