Fever

Description

1974, Kingston, Jamaica, Lee Scratch Perry presents the album Sexy Suzy by Susan Cadogan on his Upsetters label. The Jamaican singer, who was just under 25 years old at the time, sees her cover of Hurt So Good flirt with the top of the UK and JA charts without suspecting that 50 years later her name would still be cited as that of one of the top reference singers of Jamaican music. On the B-side of this LP produced by Perry, discreetly placed as the penultimate track on the tracklist, a cover of Little Willie John’s Fever would, over the years, take an unshakable place in the hearts of reggae music enthusiasts. With nearly 700 different versions referenced to date, Fever already enjoyed classic status at the time, essentially thanks to the success of Peggy Lee’s version released in 1958. Since then, across all styles and on every continent, the song has been reinterpreted, so much so that it is rare to find a year since 1956 that has not seen the release of a new version! Universal, timeless, this love song is known to all music lovers, but in the reggae world, it is Susan Cadogan and Lee Scratch Perry’s version that stands out. 50 years after its release, Stand High Patrol offers us its own version. Recorded in late 2023, the Susan Cadogan
Stand High Patrol collaboration was not supposed to move beyond its dubplate status. Yet, due to the track’s success at parties and demand, it becomes the first recorded collaboration between a Jamaican artist and the Dubadub Musketeerz. Accompanied by its dub version, the Stand High-style Fever evokes 90s UK stepper influences. It sits firmly on a roots-sounding drum pattern built for 4x4. Some will surely judge the interpretation as “more jazz” than the one offered by Lee Perry; everyone will make up their own mind, but all will be led to judge its incredible impact on the dancefloors!