Chase The Devil Riddim – Lee Scratch

A stripped-down, bass-heavy roots groove rolls out here, all murky organ, clipped guitar and that sly, hypnotic sway Lee Scratch Perry knew how to wring from the Upsetters. You hear the connection straight away between Perry’s “Croaking Lizard” and Max Romeo’s “Chase The Devil”: the same ominous pulse, but Romeo turns it into something spectral and unforgettable, pushing the fire-and-brimstone hook into one of roots reggae’s most enduring chants. The riddim’s 1976 origin puts it right in Perry’s imperial Black Ark period, when he was shaping recordings that felt like they came from another world, and the version cut at the end leaves the atmosphere hanging in the air, just enough.