Sun Ra in Chronological Order: An Arkestra Listening Thread + Related Solar Sounds

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-cymbals-symbols-sessions-new-york-1973

thanks!

so far this sounds very of a piece with the "pathways to unknown worlds" LP, which i guess makes sense.

(np)

it definitely gets into space barbecue mode around track 3

lol

here's what ed michel looked like by the way:

https://i.imgur.com/lvK3IjG.png
with archie shepp and roy burrowes c. 1972

lol, hippie!

1973 - Crystal Spears

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2150585143_10.jpg

Yet another studio album from the Impulse sessions, the 2019 Bandcamp remaster notes:

In 1972-73, Ra reportedly produced eight newly recorded projects for Impulse!—two were released at the time, and five have been issued since 2000.

Four of those five mentioned are Friendly Love, Cymbals, this one, and the yet-to-come Sign Of The Myth - anyone know what the other one is? I assume it’s the extra “Symbols” material on the Cymbals Bandcamp release and/or the extra tracks from the ‘Pathways” sessions, and that we’ve covered all of the Impulse era recordings now, but of course nothing is certain.

Continuing from the Bandcamp notes:

Crystal Spears, intended for release in 1975 by ABC/Impulse! and assigned catalog # AS-9297, was ultimately rejected by the label. Ra and business manager Alton Abraham retained the rights, rechristened the album Crystal Clear and assigned Saturn Records catalog # 562—but never got around to issuing it. The first three tracks on this album were mastered from that tape, a 1/4-inch four-track (15 IPS) brand favored by home recording enthusiasts—and generally disfavored by pro engineers. The sessions took place at Variety Recording Studio in New York on February 3, 1973, a month before the Ark returned on March 8 to record another Impulse-rejected album, Cymbals/Symbols

Sun Ra Sundays discusses it as part of the Evidence twofer:
If Cymbals is relatively earthbound, Crystal Spears is a rocketship ride to the planet Saturn, showcasing Sun Ra’s more experimental compositional techniques and radical orchestral strategies. A full contingent of Arkestrans is present, although Boykins is notably absent and no one steps in to play bass. It doesn’t really matter as Sonny is by now well used to this arrangement and fills out the space with his electronic keyboards and the addition of marimbas and multiple percussionists, while Clifford Jarvis’s return to the drum stool allows for a steadier, more intuitive rhythm section.

This is one I’m kinda scared of, but hey I’m working form home and I might as well blast it.

recently discovered this one, love it, esp the title track, which sounds like the title suggests. doesn’t seem to have attracted much notice yet since its release but it’s great esp if you like the more pared down stuff like heliocentric vol 1, cosmic tones, etc

god I fucking love it when Allen plays the oboe

cool soundz on this one

1973 - Sign Of The Myth

https://img.discogs.com/4NzhwlNxtqMjfo1A69ZEyvhl724=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-6365153-1433694352-2996.jpeg.jpg

The last Impulse recordings to be released, on a limited vinyl-only edition in 2014. Not much to go on here, but I did find a review on a free jazz blog:

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2015/01/100-years-sun-ra-revisited.html

Sign of the Myth originates from the Pathways To Unknown Worlds sessions and like In the Orbit of Ra, maybe the best of all 2014 releases, it also captures the brilliant and underestimated bass work of Ronnie Boykins – while Ra concentrates on spooky, spacey and psychedelic synthesizer sounds, which are like an electric carpet contrasting the wave of percussion and the free jazz reeds lines of the reed section consisting here of Eloe Omoe, Danny Ray Thompson, Kwame Hadi, Akh Tal Ebah, Marshall Allen, Danny Davis, and John Gilmore. With a constantly shifting array of Moog horror movie sounds, Ra structures the pieces, for example the title track, which can keep up with the best Arkestra tracks. Ra, Boykins and the percussion section start off before the saxes fall in trying to take control of the improvisation but in the end it is Boykins’s walking bass and Ra’s synth lines which prevail and even give an outlook to where the Arkestra was heading with Disco 3000 only five years later.

Not on Spotify or Bandcamp, here are some Youtube links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAhEUPL_Zl8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIpI6PlII3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXAfwpxWsik

this one sounds pretty unfocused to me, nothing really clicked listening to those links

1973 - Wake Up Angels (Disc 1 part 2 - Sept. 9th 1973, Live at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival)

https://aadl.org/sites/default/files/aa_sun/aa_sun_19730423_p008-001.jpg

The second of three consecutive years that the Arkestra played, and the first of four live recordings to round out this very busy year. I found some cool links for this show, like this original newspaper scan with text added (the image above):

https://aadl.org/node/195629

Art Yard’s website has EXTENSIVE notes from the one and only John Sinclair, I will quote at length:

Sun Ra was one of the biggest hits of the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival. The Solar Myth Arkestra appeared on opening night and completely wowed the crowd with Its spectacular presentation of space-age Improvisational music and brilliant costumes Sun Ra & His Arkestra would have been considered an unlikely audience pleaser In Ann Arbor and the Detroit area were It not for the band’s historic performances with the MC-5 during 1967-69, including shared bills at Community Arts Auditorium, the Grande Ballroom, Ann Arbor Armory, and the first Detroit Rock & Roll Revival festival at the Michigan State fairgrounds In June 1969. Ra was a particular favourite of the MC-5, who adapted his wild space-Jazz style and his poem ‘There ls” Into their tour-de-force number called “Starship,” and the band’s enthusiasm was quickly picked up by Its legions of followers In the area. The Arkestra’s appearance at the 1972 Blues & Jazz festival marked Its return to the area after a three-year absence and became widely regarded as a must-see event. Just over a month after Its triumphant 1972 appearance in Ann Arbor, the Arkestra made Its first major label recording, a magnificent opus titled Space Is The Place Issued by Bob Krasnow’s Blue Thumb Records. His reception in Ann Arbor and widespread positive critical response to the new album served to thrust Sun Ra much further Into the consciousness of muslc-lovlng Americans than ever before, beginning a 20 year period of steadily Increasing performance opportunities and international acclaim. When we began programming the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues e Jazz festival, the closing show on Sunday night was set aside to showcase the most popular artists from the previous year’s festivities: the great Luther Allison, the Irrepressible Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers. the mighty Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Discipline Arkestra, plus a star-studded Chicago Blues Revue featuring Otis Rush, Homesick James, Eddie Taylor, Carey Bell, and Lucille Spann, all backed by the Mighty Joe Young Blues Band. Sun Ra’s 1973 appearance was even more highly anticipated than ever before. The Arkestra-16 members strong-was at the peak of its powers, with an array of brilliant soloists like John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Eloe Omoe, Ahk Tal Ebah, and Kwame Hadi continually swirling forth from Ra’s inexhaustible font of music and color, fired by three sets of drums and an equal number of hand percussionists end topped by Sun Ra’s Inter-galactic keyboards and the space voice and interpretive dancing of the magnificent June Tyson… A new suite based on the previous year’s smash success, Space Is The Place, had been prepared to Introduce Ra’s concept of an “Outer Space Employment Agency” which would put the Idled workers of post-industrial America back Into a productive mode outside the tired orbit of Earth.

For more local color and background, see this archived link to the Ann Arbor Sun, issue 49, June 5-18, 1973.

While the 1972 set was originally released in full by Sinclair in 1999 (see upthread), I missed earlier that one track from it WAS released at the time - a 1973 double LP compilation of performances from the festival included 6 minutes of “Life Is Splendid.”

The 1973 and 1974 sets are only on the 3CD Wake Up Angels set from 2011, also noted upthread.

https://img.discogs.com/-nmhiGnPDTzhes9XEp8J4ZxNtyc=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3264781-1360625222-3691.jpeg.jpg

I haven’t listened to this 1973 set yet, but my anticipation level is high.

they go in hard here, starting out with a raucous 13-minute improv blowout

my favorite thing about this thread is how many ra releases this is alerting me to that went under my radar, boykins is killing it on "sign of the myth".

yes he's fantastic

love the crowd noises on the '73 ann arbor set. around 12:43 on the opening improv track some guy yells "ROCK N ROLL !! YEAH !!"

xxp yes I did notice his excellent bass playing amidst the aimless horns

:D

after listening to the '73 set, I don't like it quite as much as Life Is Splendid but then again that one is in my personal top ten

'73 ann arbor notes

1. love in outer space > watusi !! so intense. a highlight of the performance. love how all the tinkling jangling hand percussion sits so forward in the mix.

2. the vocal refrain + groove on "outer space employment agency" is sublime. i also love how ra lists off planets ("don't you wanna got mars?") and each time the crowd roars in the affirmative.

yeah that whole part is great

(Outer Space Employment Agency)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUN RA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1P_J9iOWbTw

oh FFS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P_J9iOWbTw

Unlike the previous European tour (an extended sojourn which ranged widely across the continent, culminating in an impromptu trip to Egypt), the 1973 visit seems to have consisted of barely a handful of gigs in and around Paris. Also unlike the well-documented 1971 excursion, there were no high-profile radio broadcasts and very few amateur recordings survive. The tour likely began with the ill-fated Fête de l’Humanité at the end of September (possibly found on Transparency’s Lost Reel Collection Vol.5) and while Prof. Campbell mentions a 180-minute audience tape from the Nancy Jazz Festival on October 14, that’s about it (p.203) (and I haven't heard this tape). Otherwise, it seems the Arkestra settled into a multi-night stand at the famed Gibus Discotèque in Paris until their return to the states sometime in mid-to-late-October. Fortunately, the French division of Atlantic Records recorded a portion of this gig and released it as Live In Paris at the “Gibus” (Atlantic 40540) in 1975—but only in France (Id.). It remained an obscure collector’s item until 2003, when the Italian Comet label reissued it on CD on their Universe imprint in a deluxe, gatefold mini-LP package with excellent sound quality. Finally! This is one of the essential Sun Ra albums: an impeccable performance, well-recorded, documenting a crucial period in the Arkestra’s development.

https://nuvoid.blogspot.com/2011/01/sun-ra-sunday_23.html

Not on the Bandcamp page, or on Spotify.

1973 - Planets Of Life Or Death (Amiens, France, 21st October 1973)

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0089314253_16.jpg

A relatively recent release on the Strut label for Record Store Day 2015:

https://sunrastrut.bandcamp.com/album/planets-of-life-or-death-amiens-73

https://www.discogs.com/Sun-Ra-And-His-Intergalactic-Research-Arkestra-Planets-Of-Life-Or-Death-Amiens-73/master/836601

Looks very similar to the other shows from right around this time period.

One more 1973 release left after this, it was a busy year for the Arkestra.

^ worth noting that strut is offering the digital version for only €3

just getting around to listening now, i really like this version of "love in outer space"

1973 - Concert For The Comet Kohoutek (Dec. 22nd 1973)

https://img.discogs.com/PiWLLKMluyGH-GKLdh3PPAjqdwE=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1144525-1574642832-2195.jpeg.jpg

The last entry for this busy year, for some reason I though this was released by ESP in the 70’s but it turns out that this was first issued in 1993. On Spotify, but the rights must be tied up in some weird ESP-related limbo as it is not on either official Bandcamp page.

CD version has more tracks than the LP fwiw.

the whole concert is on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-4rpmepXA

sweet, thanks.

on a side note, this is my 50th entry in this thread! time flies when you're having fun... thanks for starting this and let me know if you or Karl want to step back in at any point.

this is a good one, maybe my favorite of the 1973 live sets?

iirc the Sun Ra Sundays guy doesn't like this one

hey, that's cool ! if anybody deserves thanks, it's you for running the thread for so long and so well.

if you'd prefer to take a break, i'm happy to take over. otherwise i'm happy with how things are. your call :)

xp

1974 - Of Abstract Dreams

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2513331608_10.jpg

Although this was possibly recorded in 1975, and technically should be covered last for this year, I’m starting with it because the Bandcamp liner notes for the 2018 release give the best overview of the new period that we’re moving into here. The actual recording date for this session is unknown.

1974 saw the Arkestra maintain a busy performing schedule across the USA while Ra also prepared a series of Saturn LPs featuring live concert material coupled with older studio recordings. Until now, the Saturn LP ‘The Antique Blacks’, recorded at radio station WXPN FM, represented the only studio recording to have been made between the second half of 1973 and the recording of the LP ‘Cosmos’ in France in August 1976.

In his efforts to continuously document his music, Sun Ra was always looking for new recording opportunities. Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson explains; “From 1974 through 1980, The Arkestra recorded a series of recordings in the WXPN studios. WXPN is on the campus of The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Then-station manager Jules Epstein and music director Russ Woessner were instrumental in the exposure and recording of The Arkestra. As an inexpensive means to record in Philadelphia, they offered Sunny the opportunity to record in the WXPN production studios. The station was also associated with concert entrepreneur Geno Barnhart, founder of The Empty Foxhole concert collective (1969-1982). Each weekend, WXPN broadcast and recorded concerts from The Foxhole. Sadly, in the 1990s, WXPN changed its format and discarded most of the master tapes in dumpsters outside the studio.”

‘Of Abstract Dreams’ preserves a single session from this seemingly lost legacy of recordings. As with many other Sun Ra recordings, there are no documented details, and all information has been gleaned through aural detective work by Michael D. Anderson (with Irwin Chusid of Sun Ra LLC) who unearthed the tape reel and surmised that this session took place in either 1974 or 1975.

Four tracks were recorded: two chants familiar from live performances, 'I’ll Wait For You’ and ‘Unmask The Batman’; one seldom heard title, ‘Island In The Sun’ and a spontaneous composition titled ‘New Dawn’. A small Arkestra is present, made up of then-residents of the Ra house in Morton Street, Philadelphia.
Ra plays piano throughout, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen and Eloe Omoe are on reeds, Akh Tal Ebah plays trumpet and there are two dedicated percussionists, probably Eddie Thomas on kit and Atakatune on congas. Everyone adds vocals, handclaps or both.
The mono recording, dry radio room sound and bass-less ensemble gives a low key feel and sound to the session. The fire and commitment to the Omniversal moment is always there but the emphasis is mostly on cyclic groove. The tracks show the group in a less declamatory and more discursive mode.

“released December 24, 2018

All titles composed by Sun Ra © Enterplanetary Koncepts (BMI)
except 3. composed by Alton Abraham and Lacy Gibson

Probably recorded at WXPN FM Studios, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1974-1975

Sun Ra: piano (1–4), vocal (4)
John Gilmore: tenor sax (2, 3, 4)
Marshall Allen: alto sax (2, 3, 4), flute (1)
Danny Ray Thompson: Baritone sax (2, 3, 4), bongos (1), percussion 2, 4)
James Jacson: oboe (2), lead vocal (3), vocal (4)
Akh Tal Bah: trumpet (4), vocal (1)
Eloe Omoe: bass clarinet (2, 4)
Eddie Thomas: drums (1–4)
Atakatune: congas (1–4)”

will try to spin this later today

thanks for reminding me! gonna put it on now.

I love it already, real loose and jammy and relaxed

also, this has the definitive version of "I'm Gonna Unmask the Batman"

Oh man, I am loving this looser piano-driven version of 'Island In The Sun' and this might be definitive too, esp. with the eruption of vocalisations at 5 minutes in. Only two* other recordings of this to my knowledge for comparison though (the complete 1970 version from Invisible Shield reissue, and the 1980/12/31 version from Detroit JC Residency) - please let me know if you know of more!

*I believe the 'Janus' version is just a cut of the complete Invisible Shield version with a flatter mix (it is probably in fact the edit that was issued on the original Invisible Shield LP but I don't have a copy of that for a listen and I can't find a resource with track lengths to confirm).

A little digging has also turned up a tight little version by Nostalgia 77 & The Monster from their 2014 release 'Measures' that ain't half bad.

I think you're right about Janus vs. Invisible Shield versions there, I was pretty familiar with Janus before hearing the latter.

also thanks for being here!

this one was really great and I might even buy the LP

this looser piano-driven version of 'Island In The Sun'

yes ! and the hand claps are lovely, too

kind of lanky and airy

So because I do love a treasure hunt, a non-exhaustive investigation into what versions of Unmask the Batman are out there:

Chicago Blues guitarist, Lacy Gibson was the brother-in-law of Sun Ra and co-wrote 'I Am Gonna Unmask The Batman' with Sun Ra's business manager, Alton Abraham.

*Lacy Gibson - 1969 Single Version

* Lacy Gibson - Extended Version of the above released on the Rocket Ship Rock compilation (assume this was recorded in 1969 as well)

*Sun Ra And His Astro-Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra 1974 Single Version

* Sun Ra Trumper Player Akh Tal Ebah shouts his way wildly through a home recorded (?) version collected on the Rocket Ship Rock compilation (19??)

* Sun Ra - Of Abstract Dreams version here - 1974 or 1975 - definitive as Sleeve suggests with James Jacson growling out the vocals

*Sun Ra & Arkestra - 1990 live version(?) - I do really enjoy the crowd interaction at the end of this 10min+ version purported to be from a 1990 date at Nightstage, Cambridge, MA that has popped up recently on Youtube.


* The Sun Ra Arkestra - 21 May 2014 Babylon Club, Istanbul (released on the deluxe Babylon Live) - they’re having fun with this messy blues boogie, great vocal interplay between Tara Middleton and Marshall Allen to start it off and then the sax takes over

*The Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Songs From The Sun Ra Cosmos - Tribute Album - far from essential but check out those noisy breakdown sections.

Lo

1974 - I’m Gonna Unmask The Batman/The Perfect Man 7”

https://img.discogs.com/DDVIk90TedKu1CFIyTv0gm_vt_M=/fit-in/592x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3066233-1350430176-7247.jpeg.jpg

https://www.discogs.com/The-Sun-Ra-Arkestra-Im-Gonna-Unmask-The-Batman-The-Perfect-Man/master/1722266

Repressed twice in the 70’s, and there are actually copies for sale on Discogs! Over $200, but yeah.

This is an A+ fucking sweet classic, funky and fun. Included on the Singles anthology and well worth your time.

heck yeah

HOL UP

So I did a little more digging and found four more Batman's on some bootlegs of varying quality (28 October 1984, 1 Jan 1985, 5 Jan 1985, 25 October 1985).

On the two early '85 ones the bass is high in the mix with Rollo Radford getting lots of freedom to play around. The mix on the New Year's day recording is pretty poor, bordering on unlistenable, and Rollo's not sounding 100% on it. These issues, however, are not present on the 5 January 1985 version which I've uploaded to Youtube for your aural pleasure. This might be my favourite the way it comes together post-bass explorations - joyous vocals.

very cool, thanks Finn.

re: batman '74, from the campbell / trent disco:

Alton Abram claims Chicago as the location, but according to Terry Adams, Hal Willner was working at a small radio station in Philadelphia when this number was broadcast live from the studio. Jules Epstein says it was WXPN and questions whether July 4 was the actual date. [Vocalist Sam] Bankhead identified by Abraham. According to Bill Boelens, Aye Aton (aka Robert Underwood), who worked with the Arkestra from 1972 through 1976, has confirmed his presence on this date [on drums]. Other personnel identified by [Robert Campbell]. Thanks to Mike Fitzgerald for pointing out that Sunny himself was responsible for the bass line, and for identifying Sunny's keyboard (not a Mini-Moog or a Clavinet, but an RMI instrument, perhaps an Electra-Piano and Harpsichord Model 368, but probably Sunny's Rocksichord).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/RMI_300b.jpg

also worth checking out the 1968 lacy gibson original, with buddy guy on guitar (and evidently without ra's involvement):

https://img.discogs.com/5fWuJf1dUVOtG8tw75IBgYxp4d8=/fit-in/349x350/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1954690-1258757537.jpeg.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Tn0hxjxBw

very cool, thanks

I really do love the sound of that keyboard