Destroy: never really heard a BAD Sun Ra disc, but the second vol of 'Heliocentric Worlds' is a major let-down after the first alb, which heavily features John Gilmore at his hard-blowin' best.
― Andrew L, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― francesco, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― jk, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― gareth, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― your null fame, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Destroy: jazz recommendations from soul-less people.
― matthew m., Sunday, 19 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Search: Atlantis. Title track finally fulfills fantasies I had of what Sun Ra would sound like: alien, cold, forbidding, etc. The rest of the album is pretty good too.
Destroy. Pictures of Infinity. Not really bad, but also not spectacular live album. Classic wrong entry album that makes you go "is this what all the fuss is about?"
― Omar, Sunday, 19 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― duane, Sunday, 19 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― your null fame, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― gareth, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Additional recommendations: Monorails and Satellites, Sun Ra playing solo piano. Like many Sun Ra recordings, this took a few listens (in this case separated over a number of years) before I came to appreciate it.
Other Planes of There. I don't know why this seems to be considered less accessible than Atlantis or the Magic City, both of which are too chaotic-sounding for me (at least in their title tracks). This starts off a bit more spare than the title tracks from those albums. There are some difficult moments, but overall I like it. The recording quality on the title track is perhaps "cruder" than that on "Heliocentric Worlds vol.I:," but I find it warmer, though I can't explain how such lonely and alienated sounding music can also be warm. At times I think I hear echoes of Varese (sp?). It includes "Pleasure" which always blows my mind. The last rack, which maintains more or less a waltz rhythm throughout is probably my least favorite on the album, but it's pretty good.
Angels and Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia is a pretty accessible and enjoyable CD. (Did I just say anything there? Probably not.) Fate in a Pleasant Mood/When Sun Comes Out is also good. The first album is relatively straight, while the second one gets into more "uncompromising sonic exploration" sort of territory. The rediscovered bonus track of Marshall Allen playing clarinet is a treat. It sounds like he is work on a theme very close to one that appears on one or more other tracks (elsewhere), possibly "Next Stop Mars."
Destroy? I'm reluctant to say destroy anything, since Sun Ra albums I didn't like have often grown on me. I am less keen on his live albums in general than a lot of Sun Ra fans seem to be, though I love seeing the Arkestra live.
― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 22 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Correction: John Gilmore plays clarinet on this track.
Incidentally, Marshall Allen's Arrival Day is this Saturday (the 25th). It will be celebrated at the Tritone in Philadelphia.
― DeRayMi, Thursday, 23 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I just found out that Szwed has a Miles Davis book coming out this year. Oh happy day!
― Ben Williams, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
The ideal starting point is the soundtrack to the Ra movie (can't remeber name). There's a lot of varied material there and it serves as a sort of Ra comp.
I like the group improvisations and the stuff he does with his moog (big slabs of noise: a take no prisoners approach there). Will have to get more records and the biog. Swzed is a good writer.
― Julio Desouza, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Josh, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
''in the credits to the ra movie (remake: Queen of the Damned) is the name WILLIAM DHALGREN: this has always intrigued me''
Why?
― rw, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― DeRayMi, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
THESE records shop has a rack fully devoted to Ra (one of the guys who runs it absolutely worships him). That's where i got that CD from. Google it, they run a mail order service.
― DeRayMi, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
In a similar vein, I recently got "Black Myth/Out in Space" - "Out In Space" being another electronic maelstrom, this time lasting almost 38 minutes! Believe me, not a CD for the faint-hearted!
I have to confess however that I'm not a tremendous fan of his so- called "great" albums from the mid-60's: "Magic City", "Heliocentric Worlds", "Atlantis". I think these albums are remarkable but I don't find myself listening to them very often - they're more to be admired than loved. Certainly, if you're looking for jazz don't look at the "Heliocentric Worlds" albums - these are probably the least "jazz" jazz albums I've ever heard, closer in fact to Varese or even Boulez.
― KCoyne, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I have to confess however that I'm not a tremendous fan of his so- called "great" albums from the mid-60's: "Magic City", "Heliocentric Worlds", "Atlantis". . . . Certainly, if you're looking for jazz don't look at the "Heliocentric Worlds" albums - these are probably the least "jazz" jazz albums I've ever heard, closer in fact to Varese or even Boulez.
I don't really like those albums either. (I have only heard one of Heliocentric volumes, but I own the other volume and the other two titles mentioned.) Have you heard "Other Planes of There"? The title track covers somewhat similar material to "Heliocentric Worlds" but is much warmer and less rigid sounding. I don't mind jazz that doesn't sound much like jazz, per se, but I share your lack of enthusiasm for these albums.
― DeRayMi, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ben Williams, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Julio Desouza, Sunday, 11 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I enjoyed 'Exotic Forest'. A constant bassline but lovely 'middle eastern' blowing (cliche alert!) and rolling percussion. And whenever sun ra plays on that piano (he sounds like a classical pianist who had burnt his hands but was still able to play) the music would change direction.
Definetely need to listen more. There's much more but i need to go to sleep.
anyway, will get some more recs soon...
― Julio Desouza, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Generally when I read that something sounds "middle eastern" in a published review, I find that it either sounds only very vaguely middle eastern or it doesn't sound middle eastern at all. (For instance "Circe" from "When Sun Comes Out" doesn't sound like anything a middle eastern singer would do, though the liner notes describe it that way.)
― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I'll try to track some of this stuff down (yet some more for the record pile but I need to visit the 'world music' section at tower anyway).
I don't care much for Flamenco singing, which sounds to me like degenerate Arabic singing (not that I am saying it really is, but to my Arabicized ears, it kind of sounds that way); but I do like the guitar. Where I take salsa classes, there is also a Flamenco dance class. The teacher's husband is a guitarist who plays for the class. When I first heard him playing I was amazed by how good he is. I did kind of a double take, like, wow, this guy is actually really good, not just the teacher's husband who happens to play a little guitar or something. In fact, do you know much about Flamenco guitar, because that's something I'd be interested in hearing recommendations for? (I probably should get off my butt and be daring and go to a little bar at the edge of what used to be the barrio, where this guitarist sometimes accompanies his wife, etc.)
yeah...i've looked into flamenco guitarists but I can't remember any names (i think there was a webpage somewhere, I suppose I feel a thread coming).
― Julio Desouza, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 13:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 8 October 2002 14:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 14:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ben Williams, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 15:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 16:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ra-kist Scientist, Friday, 25 October 2002 23:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
If not, could somebody hurry up and do it?
― David Allen, Saturday, 26 October 2002 04:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― bob zemko (bob), Saturday, 26 October 2002 08:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 26 October 2002 13:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
there WAS a bootleg about a year ago but i was assured this was official. i don't really know what to believe with rough trade cos it all depends who you speak to. try the scot with the beard. i assume you went to the covent garden one with the tramps and the cheese and the skaters and whatnot
if all fails i'll dub it 4 u
― bob zemko (bob), Saturday, 26 October 2002 14:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ra-kist Scientist, Saturday, 26 October 2002 17:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
yes, I went to the covent garden shop.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 26 October 2002 18:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
you may be thinking of the 80's set with Salah Ragab
― sleeve, Monday, 14 September 2020 22:58 (four years ago) link
THere wee 2 sets reissued by Art Yard Horizon and a 2fer of Nidhamu + Dark Myth Equation Visitation not sure if I got one or both of those.
In 1971, in Denmark, at the end of a tour, Sun Ra suddenly decided to take his whole band to Egypt. They had no concerts and no contacts there, but Ra sold some recording rights to Black Lion to pay for the tickets and they flew out. They were stopped at customs and their instruments were temporarily impounded, but they were let through as tourists. Then they booked into a hotel facing the pyramid at Giza. Word got to Hartmut Geerken, then working at the Goethe institute, and he quickly threw a concert together at his house in Heliopolis, for which Brigadier Salah Ragab borrowed army instruments for the Arkestra to play (he was later disciplined for it). Ra's Moog had made it through customs and a Tiger Organ was hired. One of the audience (of 25) booked the band in for a Cairo TV session the following day. Then Ragab persuaded the Ministry of Culture to book a concert at the Balloon Theatre (for another tiny audience: only the first 4 rows were occupied). Two more concerts followed -- at the American University (for the cab fare) and the Versailles Club. They stayed for more than a fortnight, making a film while they were there and finally, by band-members selling various personal items, raised the money to fly home. Horizon (also known as Starwatchers and Sun Ra in Egypt Vol. 2) contains a big chunk of the now legendary Balloon Theatre concert (it burned down soon after their visit, as did the hotel in which the Arkestra stayed while they were in Cairo). The Balloon extract is an uncut block (tracks 1- 4 on the CD) and features a lot of Sun Ra's all-hell-let-loose Moog soloing, as well as a great version of 'Discipline #2.' The rest of Horizon is from the Heliopolis concert, kicking off with an instrumental version of 'Enlightenment' and 'Love In Outer Space,' (neither are on the original LP) segueing slowly into 'Space Is The Place' -- followed by drum orchestra, more Ra soloing on Moog, Tiger Organ and detuned piano (bloops, hoovering, whistles, Concords taking off) leading to a first lurching, then wild, 'Discipline #8.' Two bonus tracks, for the first time restored from the original concert, follow: 'We'll Wait For You' (with June Tyson) and 'The Satellites Are Spinning' -- which ends in full-on percussion. A classic recording of a classic band in great form."
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 15 September 2020 08:42 (four years ago) link
that was from the forcedexposure page, not sure where it was being quited from but its between sets of quotation marks.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 15 September 2020 08:43 (four years ago) link
this is really hard to parse but it looks like the Egypt 71 box is coming out on CD in November?
https://sunrastrut.bandcamp.com/album/egypt-1971
― sleeve, Thursday, 24 September 2020 14:44 (three years ago) link
looks like maybe just the unreleased material on CD, and the three original LPs will be available as individually-reissued vinyl releases ?
― budo jeru, Thursday, 24 September 2020 20:15 (three years ago) link
ah that makes (a little) more sense, thanks
― sleeve, Thursday, 24 September 2020 20:31 (three years ago) link
however many extra box sets they got sold out in minutes, I looked 45 minutes after the email and they were gone
― sleeve, Thursday, 24 September 2020 20:32 (three years ago) link
https://sunrastrut.bandcamp.com/album/swirling
this is fabulous!
― calzino, Saturday, 31 October 2020 09:33 (three years ago) link
Does anyone know anything about this book? http://artyardrecords.co.uk/its-after-the-end-of-the-world-by-gerald-jenkins/
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Monday, 16 November 2020 04:20 (three years ago) link
sweet new single with 2 unreleased tracks
https://sunrastrut.bandcamp.com/album/sun-ra-quartet-featuring-john-gilmore-the-sky-is-a-sea-of-darkness-when-there-is-no-sun-to-light-the-way
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Tuesday, 15 December 2020 15:18 (three years ago) link
My Egypt 1971 CD set finally showed up this week, it’s great so far. Really digging the weirdo synth stuff at the end of the first disc.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 February 2021 05:08 (three years ago) link
I didn't realize Marshall Allen still lives in the Sun Ra house in Germantown!
https://whyy.org/articles/jazz-legend-after-house-partially-collapses-gets-help-from-philanthropist-neighbors/
― city worker, Wednesday, 3 March 2021 13:57 (three years ago) link
The fact that he still lives is already notable.
― Punk's not daft (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 March 2021 14:18 (three years ago) link
Unexpected Sun Ra update:
They're selling a 3CD complete album set in Edinburgh Woollen Mill for £4.99
Super-Sonic Jazz (Saturn)Jazz by Sun Ra (Transition)Jazz in Silhouette (Saturn)
Their James Pringle cardigans are nothing to sniff at either
― .xlsm (P. Flick), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 10:00 (two years ago) link
Visiting Paris, seeing them Sunday night!
― DAMAGED by Black Flat (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 6 May 2022 16:34 (two years ago) link
Sun Ra's house now a Philadelphia historic landmarkhttps://www.phillyvoice.com/sun-ra-house-philadelphia-historic-landmark-designation-germantown-arkestra/
― city worker, Thursday, 19 May 2022 23:15 (two years ago) link
Marshall Allen is still incredible at nearly 100. See them if you can!
― DAMAGED by Black Flat (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 20 May 2022 12:43 (two years ago) link
Saw them open for Parquet Courts in 2018 - between both acts, it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
― birdistheword, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:40 (two years ago) link
"Sleeping Beauty" is one of the greatest compositions in any genre ever.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 20 May 2022 18:48 (two years ago) link
Sun Ra's Full Lecture & Reading List From His 1971 UC Berkeley Course, "The Black Man in the Cosmos" (Open Culture) : https://t.co/IdxXCyF2MS pic.twitter.com/nDKC3XWth2— reaktorplayer (@reaktorplayer) July 29, 2022
― dow, Friday, 29 July 2022 23:17 (two years ago) link
Does anybody remember what year Sun Ra played Brixton Academy in the early to mid 80s. I thought I would find it with a simple google search but not finding a gigography that stretches back that far. Seeing listings for Academy cutting out in the late 80s. Have been hoping i might be able to find out what he/they were playing. Should still be in a period where they were playing some really great space funk but also when he was doing gigs based in a more classic jazz style. I have some recordings from the time of the latter but do think I prefer the former.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 27 August 2022 09:40 (two years ago) link
according to setlist.fm he played there on 15 June 1984.
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:37 (two years ago) link
this Facebook post also refers to it.
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:39 (two years ago) link
this ad for it suggests the set style -- GLC always there w/the funk!:
Sun Ra headlines 3 days of jazz, funk, Latin, African and more... NME, 26 May 1984. #NME #MyLifeInTheUKMusicPress #1984 pic.twitter.com/cCeiZHfjRr— nothingelseon (@nothingelseon) December 11, 2019
He played The Venue in Victoria Street (near Victoria Station) in 1982 and again in 1983, and the Fridge (Brixton) in 1985 -- with yrs truly reviewing lol (do not read if you hate me/want to post this on worst-music-writing-of-all-time thread etc)
Live! Sun Ra! The Chills! Three Johns! NME, 23 November 1985. #NME #MyLifeInTheUKMusicPress #1985 pic.twitter.com/eGILcKEka3— nothingelseon (@nothingelseon) July 28, 2020
(@nothingelseon is a good resource for nme and mm ads, there's another guy who does pages from sounds)
― mark s, Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:42 (two years ago) link
ok thanksSeems like it must have been a good one.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 27 August 2022 18:45 (two years ago) link
@dubdobdee wuz there: in the Fridge w @SunRaUniverse : (finding chaos under the sleek hood of taste &) "They pretend to indiscipline...they work for their fun here...it's the way it has to be." https://t.co/1HOByFZe0A— Don Allred (@0wlred) August 27, 2022
― dow, Saturday, 27 August 2022 19:59 (two years ago) link
Great review Mark! That Chills review was a stinker tho
― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Sunday, 28 August 2022 06:28 (two years ago) link
I'm hoping that someone somewhere might have the audio of that night in June 84 cos I don't think I've seen it in the time I've been torrenting. Which is like 16 years. Have heard some of his more classic jazz sets from the time which are pretty good and wondered to what extent a particular lineup of the band changed the sound o fa tune from 30 years or more earlier. Assuming that it was largely the same lineups playing the deep space funk and these standards etc anyway. Like if experience playing other musics put new slants on interpretation etc.Do prefer the deep space funk but the standards and other older songs were done pretty well anyway.
I think I was still thinking that he was a pretty out free jazz player at the time so may have shaped my hearing of the set if he didn't get weirdly out. But have listened a lot more widely since. I think I enjoyed the set but probably didn't think it was quite up to like Say or the noisier parts of live at Montreux or something. So would love to get to listen back
― Stevolende, Sunday, 28 August 2022 10:01 (two years ago) link
https://www.library.upenn.edu/events/kislak-stacks/collecting-sun-ra
Zoom event tomorrow (Oct. 20 noon) with John Szwed talking about assembling an archive of Sun Ra recordings.
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Thursday, 19 October 2023 14:45 (eleven months ago) link
Thanks for sharing!
― budo jeru, Thursday, 19 October 2023 22:44 (eleven months ago) link
Marshall Allen interview - 100 years young this year!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/02/a-man-cannot-learn-without-discipline-jazz-guru-marshall-allen-on-life-with-sun-ra-and-turning-100
― The British Boy of Film Classification (Tom D.), Friday, 2 February 2024 10:51 (seven months ago) link
yes please
https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/pink-elephants-on-parade
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 16:36 (two months ago) link
There was an earlier record of Disney tunes, may be OOP:
https://www.discogs.com/master/2260915-Sun-Ra-His-Intergalaxtic-Arkestra-Second-Star-To-The-Right-Salute-To-Walt-Disney
― Dick Cavett Poo Party (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:01 (two months ago) link
yep, and these are all different versions believe!
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:07 (two months ago) link
*I believe
That seems so. I bought the new one, wish that old one was streaming or available in a legit download.
― Dick Cavett Poo Party (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:29 (two months ago) link
I can YSI if u ilxmail me, I have a flac rip
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:30 (two months ago) link
I've seen the Sun Ra Arkestra twice live in the last two years, and two by streaming. They are so much fun, even though Marshall Allen sat out the most recent DC appearance. Knoel Scott's just as valuable a leader, even if he hasn't been with the band since day 1.
― Dick Cavett Poo Party (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:31 (two months ago) link
Search: Excelsior Mill, Ra's only(?) solo pipe organ recording, from 1984 on a Wurlitzer Theatre Organ at the Dupre Excelsior Mill in Atlanta. Up and down and around the twists and turns of the instrument, a pretty thrilling 42-minute ride, highest recommendation. Released this past April on Modern Harmonic.
― Ippei's on a bummer now (WmC), Sunday, 7 July 2024 18:24 (two months ago) link
ooooh!! that album of sun ra disney tunes is one of my faves -- "the forest of no return" is SO GOOD
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 8 July 2024 14:43 (two months ago) link
I love it so much I made it the theme song to my radio show!
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Monday, 8 July 2024 14:43 (two months ago) link
ha! good choice
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 8 July 2024 14:48 (two months ago) link
hi Boring, I got yr ilxmail but you need to send me another one with an email address, sender is not visible in ilxmail - I got yr flac files!
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, 10 July 2024 05:56 (two months ago) link
NTS is streaming live Sun Ra all day today, just tuned in.
First thing that stands out on whatever track I'm listening to right now is the percussion. The Arkestra's rhythm section is probably my favorite in jazz, they bring a lot of swing to the music.
― Ubiquitor, Sunday, 15 September 2024 19:49 (one week ago) link