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

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

1967/1974 - Sub Underground/Lost Ark Series/Temple University

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0449050994_10.jpg

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3247370536_16.jpg

STOP THE PRESSES AGAIN we have two more earlier tracks that got missed. From the liner notes to the 2014 Bandcamp reissue:

Sun Ra wasn't concerned about discographical codification. He left it to Ra scholars to make sense of his sprawling catalog, and mysteries abound. Sub Underground (#1), released in 1974, is one of those confusing entries.

The 21-minute LP A side, "Cosmo-Earth Fantasy," was presumed recorded at New York's Variety Studio in '74 , as noted in Campbell & Trent's massive discography, The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (2nd ed., pub. 2000). That track was coupled on side B with three tracks from a purported "live" recording at Temple University that same year. Complicating matters from a title standpoint, Sun Ra released unrelated albums tagged "Sub Underground series," and this particular album (which carried no personnel or recording info) also appeared in hand-designed sleeves under the titles Sub Underground #2, Cosmo-Earth Fantasy, and Live at Temple University 1974. If it was a live album, the Arkestra had performed before an audience possessed of such hushed reverence that they don't make a sound before, during, or after each piece. The Sun Ra Music Archive's Michael Anderson, a former Temple student, believes that the performance took place in the college chapel. Others have suggested the Temple radio station. The recordings on side B undoubtedly originated in a studio, an ad hoc studio, or—as it turns out—studios.

Enter Ra scholar Paul Griffiths, who in 2011 found an album master tape of "Cosmo-Earth" formerly owned by the late Ra business partner James Bryant. In an Art Yard CD reissue, Griffith says the words "strings bandura" are handwritten on the reel. The beginning of "Cosmo-Earth" features sounds reminiscent of Ra's singular 1967 Saturn release Strange Strings, on which Arkestrans plucked and savaged string instruments with which they were otherwise unfamiliar. The bandura, dubbed the "Space Harp," was featured on a number of Ra albums in the late 1960s. Griffith writes:

"['Cosmo-Earth'] features an opening section of music using the strange strings, including the bandura as mentioned on the tape box. As several of the string instruments were destroyed in a car accident in 1969, and the bandura itself was left in the possession of Hartmut Geerken in 1971 after the Arkestra’s legendary first Egyptian visit, this music cannot postdate these events and a revision of the recording date is needed."

Griffith further observes:

"Ra plays Hohner Clavinet on this recording in close stylistic proximity to that on the LPs Atlantis [1967], Solar Myth Approach Vols. 1 & 2 ['67-'68], and Continuation ['68]. The feel of the whole piece is very much in the style of the exploratory work undertaken by the Arkestra in the later New York period between '66 and early ’68. It is very likely that this music was recorded in 1967 or possibly early 1968 before the Arkestra moved to Philadelphia."

Griffith affirms that "Love Is For Always" and "The Song of the Drums" were indeed recorded at Temple in '74. But he reexamines "The World of Africa," stating:

"… [It] is clearly not from the same concert as its predecessors and takes us back to 1968 when vocalist June Tyson joined the band. Ra is again featured on Hohner Clavinet playing very much in the style of the small group Atlantis sessions from the previous year, with a host of Arkestra members on percussion."

Everything Griffith asserts is believable and logical. Ra was renowned for compiling LPs from unrelated sessions and different locations, with material recorded years apart and offering radical juxtapositions of style. Sub Underground is business as usual on Saturn.

With this in mind, I put the two 1960’s tracks in the Spotify playlist right after Atlantis, the rest is in 1974.

A few other 1974 Temple University recordings are on the out-of-print Lost Ark Series, you can listen at the link below:

https://sunrastrut.bandcamp.com/album/lost-ark-series-vol-1-2

I’m pretty unimpressed with the sidelong track, but “The World Of Africa” might actually be the first recorded appearance of June Tyson? And it’s a good track as well.

oops

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/sub-underground-1

wow I'm listening to the 1974 tracks now and their version of "Love Is For Always" is just gorgeous, slow and stately and introspective. I assume it's a jazz standard?

Yes, gorgeous is the right word. I'm not aware of any standard by that name and I can't find anything additional info on the track, or any other recordings. Seems to have deserved better!

6/16/1974 - Out Beyond The Kingdom Of/Discipline 99

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2048141584_10.jpg

A rare one, only reissued via Bandcamp in April 2018 after almost 40 years of obscurity.

Discipline 99, a.k.a. Out Beyond the Kingdom Of, was recorded at a Hunter College, New York, performance by Sun Ra & His Arkestra on June 16, 1974. Selected titles were issued that year on LP (Saturn 61674); the album went thru several pressings with different-colored labels, at least as late as 1980. As with many privately pressed Saturns from the 1970s and '80s, the total press run is unknown, but presumably it totals in the hundreds, not the thousands, hence original copies are rare.

Some copies of D99 featured a generic "Acropolis" cover, others were hand-decorated or sported paste-on art. The cover of this digital edition, scanned from an LP sleeve in the collection of Gilbert Hsiao, features one of the best illustrations we've seen of ANY Saturn DIY release. (The artist is unknown; this illustration graced the sleeves of other Saturn releases from the period, but this particular cover had "Discipline 99" handwritten in the upper left.)

A sad Discogs review notes “Sound quality isn't the greatest on this one.”

Some interesting observations from Sun Ra Sundays:

The first thing you notice is the school has provided Sonny with a decent grand piano, and he relishes in the opportunity to tickle the ivories… An obsessive collector in the year 2011 will have heard these routines many times before, but in 1974, live recordings were scarce. Sonny was shrewdly filling the gap, documenting the Arkestra’s current show for eager fans. Considered in that light, Out Beyond The Kingdom Of was exactly what it needed to be: a souvenir you could take home with you from the Cosmo Drama.

I like this alternate cover as well:

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Npkv03Myo1I/Tb36Ai314ZI/AAAAAAAABoE/5zx51z9eOKg/s1600/Sun_Ra_-_Out_Beyond.jpg

I keep forgetting the Bandcamp links, sorry

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/discipline-99-out-beyond-the-kingdom-of

https://www.discogs.com/Sun-Ra-And-His-Intergalactic-Research-Arkestra-Out-Beyond-The-Kingdom-Of/master/1007174

really dig the sparse vocal / percussion / keyboard track "the song of drums" from "sub underground #1" with these two:

Eddie Thomas (Thomas Thaddeus): vocal (3)
Akh Tal Ebah (?): 2nd vocal (3)

and then just BOOM right into the funk with "the world of africa"

stoked for OBTKO / D99

i definitely recognize this version of the cover art:

https://img.discogs.com/EZGlYPFi4Oy0cVb4bY5FwUulxtw=/fit-in/600x615/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-8782338-1485363352-2577.jpeg.jpg

^^ yeah I posted that for the "Sub Underground" entry, can't check right now but maybe that design was used on multiple releases?

firing this new one up now

it is such a typical Sun Ra mess-with-yr-head thing that the intro was lifted from a totally different show!

the grand piano sounds really great on this one, no idea what all the whining about "sound quality" is on about

maybe it's because my brain is mush, but this "discipline 99" sounds so very different than the ones we've heard before. sounds very very indebted to ellington, beautiful dense harmonies with the swelling propulsion

xxxp to myself

oops sorry I posted that cover way back under "What's New/Invisible Shield", damn hybrid releases

August 17th, 1974 - The Antique Blacks

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3901814992_10.jpg

Another originally-rare one pressed to sell at shows that has gone through several updates/permutations. Today is it probably the best known of the 1974 recordings I think? Originally released on Saturn in 1974 with the cover art posted by budo jeru above:

https://img.discogs.com/lcxFmNb_alqpLv3gFloD77dcYyo=/fit-in/600x450/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2876404-1422207800-6418.jpeg.jpg

and a number of variants:

https://img.discogs.com/rJihg_S_B6uXbHY6pNeNKXYJ4ew=/fit-in/400x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2876404-1438454293-9800.jpeg.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/dFXaJQoeKjcFbkFYDxhR8OxXwNU=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2876404-1526984899-8676.jpeg.jpg

The Antique Blacks, original copies of which are quite rare, was one of those LPs that Sun Ra pressed in very limited quantities to sell at concerts and club dates. The recordings apparently originated from a 1974 Temple University (Philadelphia) radio broadcast. Like many independently pressed and self-released albums on Ra's Saturn label, it's a mixed bag of material with little continuity or consistency. That's not a bug—it's a feature. It contains a jaunty jam ("Song No. 1"), a few songs, and lots of Sunny's declamatory (and inscrutable) sermonizing.

Then, as usual, 35 years went by until Art Yard reissued it on 2009.

After a 30+ year absence from the market , it was reissued on CD in 2010 by the U.K. label Art Yard, who replicated the LP sequence. In fact, due to the absence of tapes, a vintage vinyl copy was used for the reissue, which included a mono bonus track, "You Thought You Could Build a World Without Us.”

But last year it got updated again, as per the 2019 Bandcamp remaster/revision:

After the completed CD production, Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive discovered the master tapes from the date. One of the revelations was that three tracks from the LP, "There Is Change in the Air," the above-named bonus track, and the album title track, were actually part of a continuous 24-1/2 minute suite. When the original LP was compiled, some bridge material had been edited out, and three components of the suite were isolated as standalone tracks. For this digitally remastered edition, the entire suite is presented for the first time (and in full stereo). In addition, "Song No. 1," which was the opening track on the LP, has been placed where it stands in sequence on the tape, as track 4.

What sounds like an audio glitch at 7:21 in "Space is the Place" is in fact a four-second patch of tape spliced in reverse—Sun Ra's contribution to the sinister '70s practice of lyrical backmasking.

There was some speculation about the source of "You Thought You Could Build A World Without Us." Based on comments made by Sun Ra himself on WKCR in 1987 (when it was aired), Sun Ra discographers Robert Campbell and Christopher Trent speculated that the track was an outtake from the 1972 film soundtrack for Space is the Place. However, RC/CT note that electric guitarist Dale Williams did not join the Arkestra until 1974. The discovery of the master tape confirms the provenance of the performance.

Historical footnote: Producer Hal Willner claims he witnessed these sessions at Temple University. Ask him about it.

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-antique-blacks