Sun Ra & His Space Arkestra - What Planet Is This?

Felix · January-21st-2006, 01:16 PM

This is an upcoming Leo release, a 1973 double-CD. Does anyone know where this was recorded? They say the sound is great.

stonemonkts · January-21st-2006, 02:02 PM

This is from the Guardian:

"This 1973 double album, live from New York, features legendary Arkestra sidemen including saxophonists John Gilmore, Marshall Allan and Pat Patrick, and a raft of percussionists and singers including majestic regular vocalist June Tyson. Sun Ra buffs (there are plenty) will find it indispensable, but since much Arkestra material is poorly recorded, fairly high audio standards on this recording may well help sell it to the unsuspecting. There are lots of squalling, heaving trombones, long empty spaces filled only by the sound of dogs barking, booming drums and approximate ensemble phrasing, of course (this was a very big group for free improv). But Sun Ra's drive to combine a loose, ritualistic collective music with soul vocals, Duke Ellington harmonies, slashingly audacious organ-playing and 1960s free-jazz meltdown was in fierce overdrive at this time."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/revie...690223,00.html

Jon Abbey · January-21st-2006, 02:14 PM

nice, my favorite era of Sun Ra. now let's get more of those Saturn releases reissued!

stonemonkts · January-21st-2006, 03:19 PM

Yeah, those Saturns are very good to great, depending.

There was a massive trader's download a while back of every Saturn LP, I think there were 26 in all. I have them and have been quite pleased overall. They cover quite a bit of territory, some are from the early to mid 60's, most from the 70's, and a few from the 80's.
Very worthwhile.

Jon Abbey · January-21st-2006, 05:08 PM

that sounds like roughly the number of Saturns that were reissued on CD by Evidence, without checking. there are way way more than that that haven't been reissued on CD by anyone.

Sergio Zamora · January-21st-2006, 08:36 PM

Nice! This is my favorite era as well.

stonemonkts · January-21st-2006, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

that sounds like roughly the number of Saturns that were reissued on CD by Evidence, without checking. there are way way more than that that haven't been reissued on CD by anyone.

Jon,

I'm not sure if these are the LPs which have been converted to "shn" format and then shared, or not. But since I can whip out my geeky spreadsheet, I'll cut and paste the titles here:

1968 CONTINUATION
1970 MY BROTHER THE WIND VOL I
1970 NIGHT OF THE PURPLE MOON
1970 SPACE PROBE
1971 DARK MYTH EQUATION - VISITATION
1971 HORIZON
1971 NIDHAMU
1971 UNIVERSE IN BLUE
1973 DISCIPLINE 27-II
1974 OUT BEYOND THE KINGDOM OF
1974 THE ANTIQUE BLACKS
1974 SUB UNDERGROUND (COSMO-EARTH FANTASY)
1977 SOME BLUES BUT NOT THE KIND
1977 SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
1977 THE SOUL VIBRATIONS OF MAN
1977 TAKING A CHANCE ON CHANCES
1978 MEDIA DREAM
1978 DISCO 3000
1979 OMNIVERSE/GOD IS MORE THAN.. .TRIO
1979 ON JUPITER/SLEEPING BEAUTY
1979 I, PHAROA/VOICE OF THE ETERNAL TOMORROW
1980 BEYOND THE PURPLE STAR ZONE/DANCE OF …
1980 AURORA BOREALIS/OBLIQUE PARALLAX
1982 RA TO THE RESCUE/WHEN SPACESHIPS APPEAR
1983 HIROSHOMA/OUTER REACH INTENSITY
1988 HIDDEN FIRE I AND II

Jon Abbey · January-21st-2006, 11:48 PM

wow, nice. none of those have been reissued. maybe you can stop by SLSK again sometime?

stonemonkts · January-21st-2006, 11:52 PM

I will soon, after I copy the files to my pc again. They're no longer on my hard drive.

John L · January-24th-2006, 11:02 AM

It was great when Evidence was throwing out 2-3 Saturns a year on CD. But the project appears to be dead now. Does anybody know what happened?

Lore · January-24th-2006, 11:20 AM

Some of the recs from that list have been reissued on LP:

1970 MY BROTHER THE WIND VOL I
1970 NIGHT OF THE PURPLE MOON
1973 DISCIPLINE 27-II
1978 MEDIA DREAM
1978 DISCO 3000

There may be others, as I haven't really been keeping up. I love the second side of "Out Beyond the Kingdom Of," which I remember buying from the Arkestra after one of their gigs at the Cooler back in the mid-'90s.

Dan G · February-15th-2006, 11:45 PM

New release on Leo's Golden Years imprint of a 1973 concert from NYC. I was a bit skeptical, given the history of mediocre Sun Ra releases from Leo, but this one's a winner. So far, I'm only just starting on disc 2, but disc one is great! Ra sticks mostly to an electronic keyboard, probably the Rocksichord but maybe sometimes an organ, and is absolutely inspired. There's a long improv that comes out of Discipline 27 where he goes into stuff I haven't heard elsewhere from him, and he's predating Pacman by about a decade. Also some really good vocals from June Tyson.

The sound quality is very good. I wasn't listening on my good equipment, just a crappy unit I have in the dining/living area, and was quite pleased.

This is, for me, prime era Ra, and I'm glad to see this one come out. Leo says it is the first volume of the waitawhile archives, and I'm curious what else is coming.

Jon Abbey · February-16th-2006, 10:31 AM

thanks, Dan, looks like I might have to get this, my favorite era of Sun Ra.

Sergio Zamora · February-16th-2006, 11:41 AM

Sounds delish

Squaredancecalling Steve · February-16th-2006, 11:51 AM

Sounds great!

But what are "The Waitawhile Archives"?

Dan G · February-16th-2006, 12:19 PM

the waitawhile archive thing isn't explained at all, either on the disc or on Leo's website. Just says that it is the first volume. I don't think that it is the same people who do the Saturn Research mags (and, I think, are the ones putting out the dvds).

My only minor beef with this set is that I would have liked to have a "scorecard" of the soloists, as with the MPS Black Myth/Out in Space set. I can pick out some of the soloists, but not all. I'm especially bad on the trumpeters.

Dan G · February-16th-2006, 12:34 PM

After a bit of searching, I've figured out that waitawhile has something to do with Hartmut Geerken. Hard to find anything in English, but it seems to be a name for a publishing company he has. That would make sense, because he probably would have seen Ra several times, or had access to tapes or people with tapes. And I think he was also a big part of the Praxis label that Leo has already licensed at leased a few discs from.