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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Return of the Super Ape

album by The Upsetters, Lee "Scratch" Perry

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ718488 ↗
Source-derived summary

Return of the Super Ape is a reggae studio album produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, credited to the Upsetters. The album was originally released in Jamaica in 1978 and was the last album by the Upsetters to be released before Perry closed down his Black Ark studio.

The album has been re-released on several different labels. In 1998, it was re-issued by Jet Star with five bonus tracks under a slightly different title, The Original Super Ape. The cover was by Lloyd Robinson.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Return of the Super Ape” as album by The Upsetters, Lee "Scratch" Perry. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1978, 1998—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1978. The account is most persuasive where Return, Super and album can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as album by The Upsetters, Lee "Scratch" Perry. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q718488. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1978 and 1998.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Return of the Super Ape”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Return of the Super Ape primary sources, Return of the Super Ape archive and Return research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Return of the Super Ape”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Return of the Super Ape” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.