Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2009 - Track Six - The Upsetters' "Touch Of Fire"

We're on to track six and it comes to us courtesy of Lee "Scratch" Perry's band the Upsetters and it's a little tune called "Touch Of Fire." I know "Touch Of Fire" isn't exactly a full fledged "duppy tune" but it has a definite creepy appeal. For me, I can't decided if it's Glen Adams' sinister sounding organ at the beginning or if it's when the evil organ loses its sanity and digresses into seemingly tuneless dementia where its establishes its charm.

So much has been written about the legendary Upsetters and the work they did under Lee Perry's tutelage that it's not necessary for me to get into a long winded dissertation about their history. If you want to know more I recommend the excellent People Funny Boy: The Genius Of Lee "Scratch" Perry by David Katz... it's chock full of information!

"Touch Of Fire" comes from the Upsetters 1969 album on the Trojan label Return Of Django and I've added minimal monster and maniacal laughter to sweeten it up a bit. I've noticed that most of the Upsetter tracks I've used throughout the years always give me a feeling of lunacy and I think that's what makes them nice additions to any Spooktacular.

As for The She Beast you ask? I've had that trailer on my hard drive for years and I've never had the proper tune to which to use it. I figured since "Touch Of Fire" was kinda out on a limb to begin with I'd use it now or forever hold my She Beast.

The She Beast (AKA Revenge Of The Blood Beast, AKA Satan's Sister, AKA Sister Of Satan) is a 1966 British-Italian horror film about a witch who gets attacked and executed by a angry mob of 18th century villagers and swears revenge on the descendants of those who murdered her. We flash forward to "present day" 1966 Romania and the trouble that befalls a British couple vacationing there...they have an accident and their car ends up in the very same lake where the witch was murdered 200 years before and the pretty young wife, played by the pretty young Barbara Steele, is transformed into her evilly hideous reincarnation.

I actually think I prefer the trailer's proclamation of the She Beast being "Deadlier than Dracula, wilder than the Werewolf, more frightening than Frankenstein!" to the film itself but Barbara Steele makes Barbara Steele worth watching... oops, I meant the She Beast worth watching. Though she could have spent a little more time on screen without the monster make-up!

Spooktacular Track Six