Spinning Wheel Riddim – Unknown Label

Spinning Wheel Riddim is a 1969 Lee Scratch Perry production for Unknown Label, centered on a small three-track set that links Blood Sweat and Tears’ original Spinning Wheel to Melanie Jonas and Dave Barker’s vocal cut and The Upsetters’ version. The mix of a pop source tune, a duet from Melanie Jonas and Dave Barker, and Perry’s own Upsetters treatment gives the release a compact early-reggae feel, with the version side showing his developing studio approach. Dave Barker turns up here in one of his early Perry-linked outings, and the riddim is a neat snapshot of how Perry was reworking outside songs into Jamaican recordings at the time.