Sun Ra - give me a can't miss album to get started

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There are way to many to chose myself since i am not to familiar

― sej, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

you are lucky, though, because there's much more of a selection of sun ra available to you. and the stuff that's recently available tends to be more of a mixed bag than his older work - i.e. you're going to find that the more recent reissues are more varied listens whereas the older albums are either all trad jazz ("futuristic sounds", "supersonic jazz") or all out/free ("heliocentric worlds").

if i had to recommend one to start with i'd say get the "great lost sun ra albums: cymbals / crystal spears" 2cd set on evidence. it's got a wide range of stuff on it, from astral freakouts to shambling psychedelic rhythm explorations to fried takes on big band modal jazz. it's not his canonical material but i'd say it's a good introductory listen. ditto for albums like "cosmos" and the "cosmic tones.../art forms..." reissue.

i'd recommend against the usual advice of "space is the place", it almost put me off sun ra for life!

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

vahid, the only one of your recommendation I'd categorically disagree with his the Great Lost Sun Ra albums.

I still think that the Greatest Hits that Evidence put out is as good a varied starting point as any.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

did you not like cymbals?? or crystal spears?? those are like my favorite sun ra albums now, in that they're basically more toned-down versions of the byg/actuel sessions.

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd suggest Nothing Is - it's good stuff, not too long, has some very accessible tracks, and gives a hint of what the band was like live.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

if you can find the tape only release "Out There A Minute", that would be the perfect starting point.

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

vahid, aside from the track that got picked up on the greatest hits, I didn't like those albums, plus I don't think they provide a varied enough selection for an introductory CD.

Out There a Minute is fantastic, one of my favorite albums ever. It took me a long while to get into it though. (On the other hand, that was partly because it was the first Sun Ra recordings I bought, and it clashed so much with my expectations of what it should sound like, based on seeing Sun Ra and the Arkestra live in the 80's. I wanted that experienced on a recording, and that's not what Out There a Minute is.) Incidentally, it was also released on CD. At any rate, I have it on CD.

I think Nothing Is is a pretty good starting point, though there is one track that kind of drags. But that is maybe an honest picture of his output. (There is the occasional track that drags and goes nowhere in an uninteresting way.)

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Which is the one that drags? "Shadow World"? That's the one I don't remember very well.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't remember the title & can't check now.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Lanquidity.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:08 (twenty-two years ago)

my vote goes to Foundation Maeght Nights Volumes 1 & 2.

― (Jon L), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i am revealing my bias ... i like my sun ra wild and wooly, with lots of electronics ...

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

(I have to buy that Maeght stuff!)

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

vahid, nothing wrong with that. Some of his stuff is too wild for me, but I like his use of electronics much of the time.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Unless you're specifically looking for the weirder stuff, go with Jazz in Silhouette--one of his best albums, and one of the most immediately accessible too.

― bugged out, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I would definitely start with The Singles. That or Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy. Or Jazz in Silhouette. Start with those three and your off on a great foot. Three distinctly different albums that give three impressions that can be explored elsewhere and indefinitely.

― scott m (mcd), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I have Out There a Minute on CD too.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Jazz in Silhouette is a good starting point for jazzbos, but not necessarily for the general public.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:21 (twenty-two years ago)

did you not like cymbals??

Rockist does not like cymbals in general.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

This always happens when people ask for starting points for Sun Ra. It brings up a much more varied list of titles than the same question would for most other artists, I think.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

My Brother the Wind, Vol 2

― marcos lopez, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

The first one I got was Atlantis, but I would recommend the Visits Planet Earth/Interstellar Low Ways cd. The first half is really traditional and the second has good space stuff with a good version Rocket # 9 at the end.

― A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Jazz in Silhouette is a good starting point for jazzbos, but not necessarily for the general public.

Rockist Sun Ra fans to thread.

― scott m (mcd), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:40 (twenty-two years ago)

>This always happens when people ask for starting points for Sun Ra. It brings up a much more varied list of titles than the same question would for most other artists, I think.

always a good sign

I like Maeght because it's a good early 70's overview, got the chants, got june, got show tune songs, a big band stompdown, and vol 1 has a 20 minute noise moog freakout. But seriously, go to the other thread, lots of smart people going into depth.

― (Jon L), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Singles is, imo, very uneven in quality and actually fairly unrepresentative of Sun Ra's body of recordings.

I second the Evidence Greatest Hits collection instead.

― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I disagree with that in a hundred different ways, but I guess that's the beauty of Sun Ra, something for everyone!

― scott m (mcd), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

question...too...difficult.

sej- it really depends what you're looking for.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 21:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Julio's right of course - which is why the "Greatest Hits" may be the best way to go.

Alternatively I'd suggest getting Atlantis and Space Is The Place (the Impulse album rather than the film soundtrack).

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 15 January 2004 00:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I kind of like the soundtrack better:

TS: Space is the place, Evidence vs. Impulse

― A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 15 January 2004 00:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I like how every time there's a Sun Ra thread, people recommend all sorts of albums I have never heard of (much less heard), even though I own a dozen or so of his records. Always so much more to hear... (and I lean towards vahid's taste, I think. Definitely like the electronics and the freakouts).

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 15 January 2004 01:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"I kind of like the soundtrack better"

Has anyone here seen the film (which is now out on DVD)? Verdict?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 15 January 2004 09:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Is Strange Celestial Road still available? That's a great starting point - spans the stoned singalong of the title track to the cosmic wanderings of "I'll Wait For You." Otherwise I will sit firmly on the fence and say that both the Evidence Greatest Hits and the Singles 2CD comp are worth having (incidentally, some interesting crosscurrents on the latter with what Joe Meek was up to at the same time). For an introduction to the "hardcore" out-there Sun Ra, get The Magic City - the 27-minute title track is one of the masterpieces of large-group improv.

― Phoebe Dinsmore, Thursday, 15 January 2004 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think any of the Sun Ra compilations really work though it's next to an impossible task to make a "definitive" Sun Ra compilation. But "Greatest Hits" is definitely worth having, as is "Out There a Minute" - if only for stuff that you can't get on CD anywhere else, is it still available? The "Space is the Place" soundtrack resembles a career overview in that covers so many styles of Ra music but it has a curiously flat and lifeless feel.

I think I've said this before but there is a very cheap live album called "Spaceways", recorded 1966/68, which I really like and which I think is a pretty good sort of intro. It's on some crappy label with a crappy generic sleeve and is actually an album called "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" - whereas the album on the same label called "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" is actually "Pictures of Infinity", errrrrrrrrrrr, anyway, it's well recorded and pretty accessible.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 15 January 2004 10:29 (twenty-two years ago)

As always, i'd recommend you start at the begining.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf600/f620/f62059gux2w.jpg

― christoff (christoff), Thursday, 15 January 2004 18:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I've seen Space is the Place (the original, truncated version) and it is GREAT. Everything you could dream of when you hear the words "sci-fi blaxploitation musical starring Sun Ra". I'll rent the DVD eventually, for sure. There's tons of wonderfully cheap, yet inventive, sets and props, good performances, lots of Ra pontificating, a few very tripped-out scenes on other planets, other dimensions, plus Sun Ra's space ship. See it yes yes.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 15 January 2004 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Some others to consider: [Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1] and his moving "concept album" [The Magic City]. ([Atlantis] is about Atlantis. I think this "Magic City" is Birmingham, ALA -- destroyed by its disenfranchised citizens.)

― Dock Miles (Dock Miles), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:31 (twenty-two years ago)

The only one I have is 'Space Is The Place', and I really like it!

― Jay Kid (Jay K), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I got the Space is the Place DVD for Christmas, but I haven't been able to watch it yet, since I don't have a DVD player.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

As a child, Sonny could look out the window and see the big sign over the railroad tracks that greeted visitors to The Magic City

― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Neither 'Out There A Minute' or 'Strange Celestial Road' are still in print, sadly, tho' the latter is fairly common 2ndhand.

For anyone who likes the electronic freaky stuff esp. that Charly UK dbl disc set of the BYG albs 'Solar Myth Approach Vols. 1 and 2' is an absolute steal.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Ingram's piece on "Un Ra" is so bad, ill-informed and patronising it makes you wonder whether he bothered to listen to any of the records he mentions.

― Phoebe Dinsmore, Friday, 16 January 2004 11:07 (twenty-two years ago)

link?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 16 January 2004 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Shakey - Sun Ra is hilarious in that movie! I understand that he was responsible for all the good bits in it. You should check out the biography if you haven't done so already.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Friday, 16 January 2004 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah, I've read the bio. Excellent stuff - one of the better musician bios, really gets "the wit and the wisdom" of Sun Ra. There's a really good article on the making of the film "Space is the Place" is one of the recent issues of Arthur. Talks about shooting in Oakland, which ideas came from Ra - check it out.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 January 2004 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

If you're a fifties jazz fan, try "Jazz in Silhouette."
If you're a free jazz fan, try "The Magic City."
If you're a rock fan, try "Lanquidity."

― Not That Chuck, Friday, 16 January 2004 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

The "Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise" video is a great place to start, but it seems to be out of print at the moment. I saw it years ago when it was broadcast on British tv, and it turned me round on him as I hadn't fully "got it" up to that point. You get great concert footage, the Arkestra playing on the roof of an office building, John Gilmore showing the interviewer a tree that was struck by lightning and cannibalised to make a drum, mad Sun Ra interviews and loads more. I don't know if there are any plans to issue it on DVD but it's unmissable, and gives you a perspective on the music you don't fully get from the records.

― udu wudu (udu wudu), Friday, 16 January 2004 21:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Ingram's piece on "Un Ra" is so bad, ill-informed and patronising it makes you wonder whether he bothered to listen to any of the records he mentions.

could you elaborate, marcello? cos you know otherwise this statement makes you look like a bit of a cock.

― toby (tsg20), Saturday, 17 January 2004 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, from Amazon US, you can get "A Joyful Noise" DVD used for a mere $10 -- and well worth it, too.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000G3FB/qid=1074364183/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-0459139-5565649?v=glance&s=dvd

― Dock Miles (Dock Miles), Saturday, 17 January 2004 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I gave a quick read through the ra piece. Its a different way of going through aspects of Ra's sound, by seeing those in other people's records. thing is I haven't heard all of 'em so don't quite know how 'valid' those connections are but I like the method.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 17 January 2004 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I second (or third) the recommendation for A Joyful Noise. Probably more informative about the band than Space is The Place, though perhaps not as interesting as an work of art in its own right. Also, I just listened to Nothing Is again, and I'm tempted to say there are no bum tracks on it. The recording is a bit quiet in a middle stretch of "Shadow World" which makes it hard to hear all the instruments, but it's still a good piece. I like the way it alternates between the longer improvised pieces and the short catchy chants. It's a good cross-section of different Arkestra styles: with everything from hypnotic vamps to squalling noise freakouts.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 18 January 2004 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Disagreeing with someone else's opinion = being a cock? Surely not.

btw Toby can we stick to Phoebe instead of m*rc*ll* - I'm using this meme for a reason. Thanks.

― Phoebe Dinsmore, Monday, 19 January 2004 09:32 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't think it's that marcello, it's just that nobody mentioned ingram's thing, you just piped up out of nowhere, it's like me suddenly going, that church of me, pompous pile of shite that is. that might be my opinion and i'm etitled to it but it's bad form to share it with everyone else, espeically in such a graceless, aggressive manner. that's what makes you look like a cock. that and using a false name when you're badmouthing people.

― luke', Monday, 19 January 2004 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Well if anyone thinks CoM is a pompous pile of shite then it is their democratic right to say so. Plenty of other people have done so here and elsewhere in the past - in a far more graceless and aggressive manner (e.g. Jess and Blount re. my D Rascal piece) - and I kept schtum. No skin off my nose. The book's going to be published regardless of what anyone says about it.

This doesn't change the fact that Ingram's piece is riddled with inaccuracies - both in terms of facts and assumptions - as well as inconsistencies (given the theme which he was trying to develop) and the general tenor of "nutters banging coconuts, you wouldn't want them living next door to you" we could do without. I don't have the time to go through it in depth at the moment but perhaps later on.

― Phoebe Dinsmore, Monday, 19 January 2004 10:19 (twenty-two years ago)

And I have said this before, but I don't see why Ingram or any other blogger should be entitled to diplomatic immunity from criticism if they are going to post their writing on a public website.

― Phoebe Dinsmore, Monday, 19 January 2004 10:28 (twenty-two years ago)

i missed this. sorry i used your name, m. i don't think ppl shd be entitled to immunity from criticism, either - i just think posting one dismissive sentence about something that wasn't even being discussed is unnecessarily rude and unhelpful, and i think you should be prepared to talk about it in more depth if you're going to say that.

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 22 January 2004 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh Marcello is "meming" himself Phoebe Dinsmore now is he?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 22 January 2004 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I just read that un ra piece. I'm kind of new to Sun Ra, so i don't really know in what way it is ill-informed or patronising. Could you explain a little?

― Stringent (Stringent), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

"Concert for the Comet Kahoutek" has a lot of what he and the Arkestra do, singing/chants, group improv/themed stuff (I think), Sun doing some amazing solo keyboard work, it's great. I only have three of his records tho so y'know

― Silly Sailor (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Can't be bothered reading that "Un Ra" piece, the opening paragraphs are rubbish and the rest looks worse. Plus it's not Le Sun'y'Ra it's Le Son'y Ra.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

I'm loving "Angels And Demons At Play/The Nubians Of Plutonia" right now. What else sounds kind of like that? Also recommendations of other artists working in this vein? My jazz knowledge is very patchy, so don't be afraid to be obvious.

― fritz, Friday, 18 April 2008 13:58 (seventeen years ago)

I think "Super-Sonic Jazz" is fairly similar to "Angels and Demons" and worth checking out.

― o. nate, Friday, 18 April 2008 16:26 (seventeen years ago)

I'm loving "Angels And Demons At Play/The Nubians Of Plutonia" right now.

OMG ME TOO

also highly digging the "bad & beautiful / we travel the spaceways" twofer on evidence and the recent "night of the purple moon" / "some blues (but not the kind that's blue)" reissues on atavistic

― moonship journey to baja, Friday, 18 April 2008 19:26 (seventeen years ago)

Lately I've been jamming "Sun Song" and "Cosmos" the most.

― ian, Friday, 18 April 2008 19:32 (seventeen years ago)

four months pass...

Fondation Maeght Nights Vol 1 is fucking incredible

― 100 percent HOOS test (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 16 September 2008 07:04 (seventeen years ago)

twelve years pass...

whoa

https://strut.k7store.com/release/221953-sun-ra-lanquidity-definitive-edition

― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, 6 March 2021 00:33 (four years ago)

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