Lee "Scratch" Perry has been stumbling along the very fine line between eccentricity and insanity for more than 30 years, and his latest album, "Jamaican e.t.," is one of his most mind-scrambling yet.
It was never going to equal the classics from the Black Ark era of the '70s, but it shows that the mad old man -- 66 today -- can still master the beats and is capable of the odd (key word here) surprise.
Perry was born poor in a small Jamaican village, arrived in Kingston in the '50s and arguably invented reggae in the mid-'60s when he produced The Pioneers' "Long Shot." He started calling himself The Upsetter and was soon releasing eerie instrumentals with titles like "Kill Them All" and "Dig Your Grave" -- early indications of the madness to come.