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Hard blues and soul loving material from Hendrix – the excellent South Saturn Delta compilation of rarities, alternate mixes and other bits from throughout Jimi's too short life and career! It’s killer stuff that stands up today as well as any posthumous Hendrix release, really pulling together the breadth of stylistic range over the years. Includes "Look Over Yonder", "Here He Comes (Lover Man)", "South Saturn Delta", "Tax Free", "Midnight", "Drifter's Escape", "Midnight Lightning", "All Along The Watchtower", "Power Of Soul" and more.

Two very different sides of the same spacey coin – an original 1971 track by Sun Ra, plus a contemporary remake! "Nidhamu" is a very weird electronic number recorded by Ra at the house of Harmut Geerken in Cairo in the early 70s – done with loads of cool moogy keyboards and weird electronics, and almost more an analogue electronic concept piece, than the usual jazz of the Arkestra – but with some melancholy keyboard moments that are surprisingly soulful too! Ras G & The Alkebulan Space Program offer up their take of the tune on the other side of the record – even more abstract, and even noisier too!

A great split record – worth it alone for the rare Sun Ra cut from 1979, but also featuring a cool remake as well! The original "Door Of The Cosmos" is wonderful – Ra and the Arkestra in a Lanquidity mode – moving with a slightly funky vibe, and some great spacey keyboards – but more than enough great horn parts to underscore the cut with plenty of soulful energy too! Machinedrum serves up his own take on the tune on the other side – a bit more beat-heavy, but with some reed lines that still keep up the jazzy tip of the track!

Amazing work from Sun Ra – record that really features a great range of sounds and styles, and a heck of a lot of soul as well! Ra plays some especially nice rocksichord on the set – that freaky, fuzzy keyboard that comes off sounding like a guitar, even though it's played with keys – and there's some spiritual undercurrents to the set that are different than some of Ra's other albums with the instrument – some deeply feeling rhythms and soulful, spiritual expressions that really belie the Space Is The Place generation in which the album was cut. A few recitations imbue the record with a bold sense of poetry, which seems to be carried through strongly in the instrumentation too – especially on John Gilmore's tenor lines, which almost have a Shepp-like quality at points. Other players include Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto, Ahk Tal Ebah on trumpet, Clifford Jarvis on drums, and Sly on electric guitar – and titles include "Song No 1", "There Is Change In The Air", "Antique Blacks", "Would I For All That Were", "Ridiculous I & The Cosmos Me", and "This Song Is Dedicated To Nature's God".

A fantastic Sun Ra album – with otherworldly sounds that perfectly sum up his unique jazz vision! The album features material recorded in New York in 1961, and released on Saturn in 1965 – but whatever the date, it's still light years ahead of its time! Ra plays piano, as usual, but he also works with some beautiful instruments of his own creation – including the strangely wonderful Sun Harp, the Dragon Drum, and the Spiral Percussion Gong. The percussion instruments are heard to great effect on the track "Solar Drums" – which has an echoey percussive sound that's really wonderful! The rest of the group includes John Gilmore, Ronnie Boykins, Pat Patrick, Clifford Thornton, Marshall Allen, and Clifford Jarvis – classic Ra players all of them – and other titles include "Lights On A Satellite", "Kosmos In Blue", and "Cluster Of Galaxies".

Tremendous lost work from Sun Ra – recorded live in Detroit at the start of the 80s, and only ever issued briefly on a limited Saturn Records pressing! Given the show's setting in the Detroit underground, the material has an especially hip sound to it – a return to some of the more righteous modes of the early 70s – both in the group's use of electronics, and in the chanted soul-based lyrics on the album's great version of "Rocket Number Nine"! Ra himself is playing organ and synthesizer – using both in ways that are really eerie and other-worldly – often with spooky tones and these highly metallic notes that make it really difficult to figure out which instrument is which. Overall, the tunes are adventurous, but never too far outside – often quite introspective, and even slightly groove-based, as on the record's great take on "Romance On A Satellite". Other members of the group for this date include Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Craig Harris, June Tyson, and James Jacson – who plays "Ancient Egyptian Infinity Lightning Drum". CD also features the whole performance that was recorded – material that originally appeared on the Saturn albums Beyond The Purple Star Zone and Oblique Parallax. Other titles include "Beyond The Purple Star Zone", "Planetary Search", "Vista Omniverse", "Celestial Realms", "Journey Stars Beyond", and "Immortal Being".

Mindblowing music from Sun Ra & The Arkestra – sounds recorded during the same marathon session that gave the world the records Other Planes Of There, When Sun Comes Out, and When Angels Speak Of Love – but titles that are much more obscure overall! The initial release of the material featured very misleading notes, but the true details of the session are even more impressive – as Ra plays a variety of unusual instruments alongside piano – including the piano strings, space organ, and clavioline – alongside some sublime straight horn work from John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on alto and oboe, Pat Patrick on baritone, Danny Davis on alto and clarinet, Walter Miller on trumpet, Robert Cummings on bass clarinet, and Ali Hasaan on trombone! The lineup here has that raw power the Arkestra first unleashed after their initial move to New York – almost a sense of new freedom in the new environment – even at a time when they weren't clicking on a financial level, but still continued to push forward with new ideas in music! Some passages have this great approach that links the cosmic ideas of the Arkestra with older traditions of jazz soloing – while others reflect the growing concern of the group with new textures and sounds – making for some very impressive elements on both the horns and percussion. The group is completed by Ronnie Boykins on bass, Art Jenkins on space voice and percussion, and Tommy Hunter on drums, percussion, and some mighty nice reverb – and titles include "Biosphere Blues", "Intergalactic Research", "Earth Primitive Earth", "New Planet", and "Continuation To Jupiter Festival".

Mindblowing music from Sun Ra & The Arkestra – sounds recorded during the same marathon session that gave the world the records Other Planes Of There, When Sun Comes Out, and When Angels Speak Of Love – but titles that are much more obscure overall! The initial release of the material featured very misleading notes, but the true details of the session are even more impressive – as Ra plays a variety of unusual instruments alongside piano – including the piano strings, space organ, and clavioline – alongside some sublime straight horn work from John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on alto and oboe, Pat Patrick on baritone, Danny Davis on alto and clarinet, Walter Miller on trumpet, Robert Cummings on bass clarinet, and Ali Hasaan on trombone! The lineup here has that raw power the Arkestra first unleashed after their initial move to New York – almost a sense of new freedom in the new environment – even at a time when they weren't clicking on a financial level, but still continued to push forward with new ideas in music! Some passages have this great approach that links the cosmic ideas of the Arkestra with older traditions of jazz soloing – while others reflect the growing concern of the group with new textures and sounds – making for some very impressive elements on both the horns and percussion. The group is completed by Ronnie Boykins on bass, Art Jenkins on space voice and percussion, and Tommy Hunter on drums, percussion, and some mighty nice reverb – and titles include "Biosphere Blues", "Intergalactic Research", "Earth Primitive Earth", "New Planet", and "Continuation To Jupiter Festival". Beautiful 2CD reissue features sublime sounds from the original tapes, remastered – plus a full bonus CD of unreleased tracks that include "Blue York", "Conversation Of The Universe", "Red Planet Mars", "Cosmic Rays/Next Stop Mars", "The Myth", "Meteor Shower", "Infinity", "The Beginning Of", and "Endlessness".

One of the greatest Saturn albums! This one has Ra playing clavioline and echoey "cosmic side drums" with a great spacey sound that was probably arrived at through some primitive reverb and echo techniques! The overall effect is everything you'd imagined about Sun Ra – a mixture of hardbop, soul jazz, and some spacey musings that are definitely out of this world! Titles include "Moon Dance", "Voice of Space", and "Adventure Equation". Beautiful blue and white image on the front cover, with that stark Saturn Records look – and a very cool sound overall!

If this is disco, point us in the direction of Studio 54! The album's one of Ra's greatest from the 70s – recorded in Italy in 1978, and featuring some incredibly otherworldly keyboards that are some of his most enigmatic on record! Original tracks from the album include "Disco 3000", an incredible workout on synthesizer, with a tiny bit of drum machine, a little "Space Is The Place" breakdown, and all of the wild sound you'd expect from a Sun Ra album – plus more long tracks – the sweetly soulful "Friendly Galaxy", a great soul jazz number, and "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens", which has spooky organ, frenetic bass, and somber percussion!

An amazing live date from Sun Ra & The Arkestra – recorded in Cairo in 1971, with a very transcendent sound overall! Ra and the group are clearly inspired to be working in the shadow of the pyramids – and their music sometimes has Eastern overtones, a bit in the manner of Salah Ragab – their associate in Egypt – yet at other times, things get quite outside and noisy too! The keyboards are especially wonderful – as Ray plays "tiger organ" and moog, in addition to conventional piano – adding in the electronics with really spacey tones that really push the limits of the music. And some of the reeds really help shape the sound of the songs too – stark and soulful at key moments, but also forceful in formation at others – played by John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on flute and alto, Danny Thompson on baritone and flute, Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Danny Davis on flute and alto, Larry Northington on alto, Eloe Omoe on bass clarinet . The group comes together for a tight reading of "Space Is The Place" – and other titles include "3rd Planet", "Horizon", "Starwatchers", and "Shadow World". CD also features tracks not on the original album – "The Satellites Are Spinning", "We'll Wait For You", "Enlightenment", and "Love In Outer Space".

Sun Ra's really moving forward with this classic set – refining the sound of his Chicago-based Arkestra, and reaching for new territory that moves him way past familiar jazz modes! The cover bills the group as playing "music from tomorrow's world" – and you can definitely hear that on some titles here, including one number that features Ra on some really haunting celeste, and another that features Marshall Allen making weird noises with his mouthpiece! The group is all greats from the old days – John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on flute, Pat Patrick on baritone and flute, James Spaulding on alto and flute, Hobart Dotson on trumpet, Charles Davis on baritone, and Ronnie Boykins on bass – and titles include "Hours After", "Saturn", "Ancient Ethiopia", and "Blues At Midnight".

An excellent Sun Ra session from 1959! Ra and the Arkestra are playing in a fine mix of straight jazz and spacey styles, with Ra on electric piano throughout the entire set. A few tracks have some great chanted vocals – and we're not sure if they're sung by one of the Saturn doo wop groups, or by the ensemble – but they give the tracks a great sound, and the whole set has a good late 50's Arkestra sound. With the tracks "Nubia", "Plutonian Nights", "Star Time", and "Watusa".

Righteous Ra from the end of the 70s – one of the most soulful albums ever by the Sun Ra Arkestra, and a lost treasure that's got some nice funky moments! The vibe here is very much in the Lanquidity/Disco 3000 mode – an extrapolation of styles best known from the Space Is The Place era, tightened up into more of a groove at some points, but also relaxed and more reflective at others. Our favorite track on the set is "UFO", a snapping bit of funk that comes as a real surprise from Sun Ra – and a tune that's got some nicely noisy guitar jamming alongside straighter electric rhythms – all topped off by vocals from the group and some really strong horn work! The tune's a great party funk number that shows the Arkestra at its most joyous – and other tracks include "On Jupiter", which has a great blend of light vocals, spacey moog, and snakey sax – plus the side-long "Seductive Fantasy", a laidback number that unfolds with a really gentle grace.

One of the most soulful Sun Ra albums ever – very much on the Lanquidity tip, and done with a great mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation! The vibe here is really mellow, spiritual, and warm – and the album actually feels a lot more like a session recorded for the Strata East label than it does for Saturn! Keyboards pervade the session – electric piano and organ drifting around in moody, laidback lines – augmented by occasional vibes, bits of guitar, and some wonderfully well-blown sax solo work by Marshall Allen and John Gilmore! The title track "Sleeping Beauty" runs for all of side two of the album – and it's an amazing little number that mixes instrumental passages with some great mellow Roy Ayers-styled vocals. "Door Of The Cosmos" is a bit of a groover, and even gets a bit funky at times – and the album also features the laidback spacey number "Springtime".

The rare Space Probe sent out to the cosmos by Sun Ra in the mid 70s – with material recorded from the early 60s onward – the heart of it being Sun Ra's first ever recordings on a moog synthesizer in 1969, and it's one heck of a trip! This excellent edition on Art Yard includes the material from the original Saturn release – the epic, nearly 18 minute interstellar trip that is the title track – with Sun Ra crafting hallucinatory moog magic throughout it. He shifts gears on "Earth Primitive Earth" (the complete version), an earlier recording, as much influenced by ancient sounds as futuristic ones, with hand drums for the beat and bass clarinet by John Gilmore. The closing "Conversion Of JP" is the other holdover from the earlier Space Probe LP and it's another gem steeped in primitivism, believed to feature Marshall Allen on flute (sure sounds like him to us). Art Yard includes some really incredible unissued material here from sessions that produced the Secrets Of The Sun and When Sun Comes Out sets – titles including "Solar Symbols II", "Dance Of The Wind", "Recollections Of There" and "Destiny". Other players include James Jacson on log drums, Nimrod Hunt on hand drums and vocalist Thea Barbara.

One of the rarest Sun Ra albums ever – and one of the most enigmatic, too! Strange Strings is a very unique session recorded with an otherworldly sound – heavily steeped in the use of "electronic strings", amplified string instruments recorded with crazy echo and other effects, almost sounding like analogue electronics at times. The set also uses a variety of percussion instruments – including "log drum" and "lightning drum" – and Ra plays a bit of electronic piano on it as well as a variety of interesting percussion instruments. And if that's not enough, the whole album ends with the spooky sound of Thlan Aldridge on "space voice"! Incredibly cosmic, and quite out at most moments – with tracks that include "Strange Strange", "Worlds Approaching", and "Strings Strange".

The first album on Saturn! Despite the futurism that the title of the set might imply, the material on this LP is actually some of Sun Ra's earliest, and dates back to the years when the Arkestra was first beginning to make itself heard in Chicago. That doesn't stop the material from being amazing, though, as these prime early tracks really show how strong Ra's vision was, even when it was being applied to material that might look more simple on the surface. Titles include "El Is A Sound Of Joy", "Medicine For A Nightmare", "Sunology", "Advice To Medics", and "Portrait Of The Living Sky".

A lost Sun Ra classic – from the early days of the Arkestra! This 1966 release on Saturn features music that was recorded by The Arkestra in Chicago in 1957 and 1958. Some of the tracks are from the same session as the Sound Of Joy LP, and a few others were from sessions later in the year. Ra plays piano and "solar piano", and the group's got some added percussion and tympani. Along with the usual suspects, James Spaulding also sits in with the group on a few tracks, playing both alto and flute. Titles include "Eve", "Overtones Of China", "Two Tones", and "El Viktor". Cool cover, too, with a colorful painting of a surrealistic space scene!

An adventurous side from Sun Ra – recorded in 1962, when the Arkestra had recently moved to New York City – with Ra playing a bit of percussion and electric celeste on one track, and an overall freer approach by the rest of the group! Players include the classic lineup with Pat Patrick, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Ronnie Boykins – and titles include the haunting originals "Dimensions In Time", "Dancing Shadows", "The Rainmaker", "We Travel The Spaceways", and "Calling Planet Earth".

A set of varied moods and settings – yet one that really does a wonderful job of fleshing out the Sun Ra aesthetic during these crucial years when Ra dubbed himself the "King Of The Sub Underground"! That humorous title is a reference to the fact that Ra and the Arkestra were still working with largely little mainstream exposure – despite the big growth of avant jazz at the time – and were instead working on beautiful recordings like these, often made without any thought of a larger market at all! The CD brings together material from albums originally issued with Sub-Underground in the title – also under other names as well, including Temple U – and the tracks represent the Arkestra really hitting some of their creative heights in a mix of live, studio, and rehearsal recordings. Titles include the brilliant "World Of Africa", recorded in 1968, but with a chunky groove and weird piano that almost feel like a precursor to Fela Kuti; the sublime "Love Is Always" and "Song Of Drums", recorded live with a spare group in a beautifully echoey setting; surprisingly great takes on "What's New" and "Autumn In New York", played by a small group with Ra on a slightly off-tune upright piano; the long "Cosmo Earth Fantasy" suite, with some very fierce sounds; and a nice live take on "Space Is The Place/We Roam The Cosmos", which jumps right into the groove at the start – with a pretty offbeat feel, and lots of cool vocal interplay!

A killer early session from Sun Ra! Ra plays organ and electric piano, and the band includes Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Marshall Allen, Ronnie Boykins, Art Hoyle, Phil Cohran, and Julian Priester. The group's also got an electric bass, which gives the tracks a nice bottom, and a good spooky feel. Nothing's too out, but the record's got a great off-kilter sound, and lots of original tracks like "Between Two Worlds", "Tiny Pyramids", "Music From the World Tomorrow", and "Angels And Demons At Play".

An incredible record from Sun Ra! The session was recorded in New York in the late 60s – and it features Ra playing the "solar sound instrument", which is actually a modified Hohner Clavinet, used here with some really spooky sounds! The setting of the album is spare and moody – with Ra striking out first on the "solar sound instrument" – laying down a groove that's filled in by John Gilmore on tenor, plus additional percussion by Robert Barry (who plays a bit of the "lightning drum"), Clifford Jarvis, Marshall Allen, and Pat Patrick. Titles include "Mu", "Lemuria", "Atlantis", "Bimini", and "Yucatan".

If this is disco, point us in the direction of Studio 54! The album's one of Ra's greatest from the 70s – recorded in Italy in 1978, and featuring some incredibly otherworldly keyboards that are some of his most enigmatic on record! The track "Disco 3000" is an incredible workout on synthesizer, with a tiny bit of drum machine, a little "Space Is The Place" breakdown, and all of the wild sound you'd expect from a Sun Ra album. The cut goes on for quite some time, and is really fantastic. Side two of the record features two more long tracks – the sweetly soulful "Friendly Galaxy", a great soul jazz number, and "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens", which has spooky organ, frenetic bass, and somber percussion!

Late 60's issue of a record that's also known as Rocket Number Nine Take Off For The Planet Venus. The material was recorded in 1959 and 1960, but unissued until the mid 60's. Ra plays piano, chimes, and gong, and the tracks have a nice laid back spacey feel, with some ensemble vocals chanted by the group. Ronnie Boykins also plays the space gong on one cut, which sounds very nice. Cuts include "Somewhere In Space", "Space Loneliness", "Space Aura", and "Interplanetary Music". The cover's got a brilliant red and white drawing of volcanic land, piano keys floating in space, and a mysterious female figure in flames!

Incredible work from one of Sun Ra's most enigmatic periods! The album was recorded in Italy in 1978, right around the same time as "Disco 2000" (and not too far off from Languidity) – and it features Ra playing around with lots of cool spacey keyboards, in a spare cosmic style that's really out of this world! The overall sound is incredible – with an incredible sense of otherness that has Ra pushing the limits of the moog and organ to a level never heard before on record – and in a way, the set is everything you might have imagined when you first heard of Sun Ra as some strange jazz musician who claimed to be from outer space! The group is a quartet, with Michael Ray on trumpet, John Gilmore on tenor, and Luqman Ali on drums – and titles include "Saturn Research", "Media Dreams", "Year Of The Sun", "Constellation", and the haunting straight jazz piece "Twigs At Twilight". Expanded 2CD version features a huge amount of unheard music – a full disc of bonus tracks that includes "Friendly Galaxy", "An Unbeknown Love", "Of Other Tomorrows Never Know", "Images", "The Truth About Planet Earth", "The Shadow World", and even a version of "Space Is The Place"!

Crazy stuff – one of the wilder albums from Sun Ra, and a record that has him playing on "two moog synthesizers" – which both sound as if they're going at the same time! The rest of the group is quite small – with only John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Danny Davis – so Ra really center stage on the keys, and spends most of the record making some really weird and wonderful sounds on the moog. Tracks include "Intergalactic II", "To Nature's God", and "The Code Of Interdependence".

A pretty darn incredible record from Sun Ra – with a soulful, spiritual approach that's missing from most of his other albums of the time! The album features Ra playing a good deal of organ (dubbed "intergalactic organ" in this case!) – grooving soulfully on some short tracks that almost hit a soul jazz mode, and which recall the late 60s experiments of organist Freddie Roach. One track, "Pleasant Twilight", is actually a pretty catchy groover with some great ensemble vocals – and other nice ones in this mode include "Somewhere Else", "Otherness Blue", and "Somebody Else's World". After those tunes, the album actually gets a bit "out" – with Ra switching to moog, which he uses in a very tripped-out sci-fi sort of way! The moog tracks are spare and spooky – with a real outer space approach, and lots of chunky analogue bits that still manage to be quite tuneful. Titles include "Sun Thoughts", "The Wind Speaks", "World Of The Myth I", and "The Design – Cosmos II".

Sun Ra returns to the motherland – to serve up a host of classic recordings done in Egypt in the early 70s! There's a cool exotic feel to some of the best tracks here – a vibe that's quite similar to the groove Salah Ragab was hitting at the time in Cairo, although probably a bit more outside overall – thanks to the Arkestra's strongly modern tones. Recordings were done at a few locations – and the set mixes live concert material with even more intimate sides done at the home of Hartmut Geerken, who was a key force in getting the Arkestra to play in Egypt at the time. Ra plays a host of great keyboards – including rocksichord, tiger organ, and moog – and other players include John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on flute and alto, Danny Thompson on baritone and flute, Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Hakim Rahim on alto and flute, and the trio of Tommy Hunter, Clifford Jarvis, and Lex Humphries on drums. Occasional vocals are sung by June Tyson, Verta Grosvenor, Gloristeena Knight, and Richard Wilkinson – and the set features a whopping 11 tracks, orignally issued on two different Saturn albums, with bonus material too. Titles include "Space Loneliness #2", "Discipline #11", "Nidhamu", "Solar Ship Voyage", "Discipline #27", "Cosmo Darkness", "The Light Thereof", "Friendly Galaxy #2", "To Nature's God", and "Why Go To The Moon?"

Righteous Ra from the end of the 70s – one of the most soulful albums ever by the Sun Ra Arkestra, and a lost treasure that's got some nice funky moments! The vibe here is very much in the Lanquidity/Disco 3000 mode – an extrapolation of styles best known from the Space Is The Place era, tightened up into more of a groove at some points, but also relaxed and more reflective at others. Our favorite track on the set is "UFO", a snapping bit of funk that comes as a real surprise from Sun Ra – and a tune that's got some nicely noisy guitar jamming alongside straighter electric rhythms – all topped off by vocals from the group and some really strong horn work! The tune's a great party funk number that shows the Arkestra at its most joyous – and other tracks include "On Jupiter", which has a great blend of light vocals, spacey moog, and snakey sax – plus the side-long "Seductive Fantasy", a laidback number that unfolds with a really gentle grace.

Unbelievable! This is one of the rarest Sun Ra records we've ever seen – and it's also one of the most compelling. There are no tracks listed on the label (although the Sun Ra discography lists them as "Sometimes The Universe Speaks", "Pleiades", "Third Heaven", "When There Is No Sun", "Halloween In Harlem", and "Shadow World") – and the sound is very very unusual. The first two tracks feature lots of spare reed work, mixing flutes, oboe, and clarinet with some occasional percussion. Then, the record shifts into an all-vocal number – almost like one of Ra's older doo wop tunes, but with a very strange sing-song lyric about the cosmos. Side two moves into larger group sounds, more in keeping with the mid 70s style of the Arkestra, and featuring some very firey solos mixed with a bit of synth. Great stuff, and the Arkestra at its most mystical!

A beautiful little record from Sun Ra and the orchestra – and a set that really lives up to its evocative cover and title! The album features Ra on "intergalactic space organ" – an instrument that may well be a conventional version of the organ, but which is handled with some haunting, very spacey solos that spin out beautifully often setting the scene while the rest of the Arkestra comes in and adds in great solos over the extended reading of the title tune. The lineup includes John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on alto and flute, Danny Thompson on baritone and flute, Pat Patrick on baritone, and Kwami Hadi on trumpet – and June Tyson sings a bit on the record as well. Titles include "Black Man", "In A Blue Mood", and "Universe In Blue" (parts 1 & 2).

Really wonderful work from Sun Ra – a host of recordings cut at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Fest in the early 70s – always a very welcoming audience for the Arkestra at the time! We're not sure what was in the water, but it always seems like the group really hit their stride at the festival – opening up with a force and intensity that really goes past some of their other recordings! It's almost as if the enthusiastic mix of ages and cultures present really ignited the best energies in the Arkestra – having them hit the kind of righteous crescendo of their best Space Is The Place identity – and even some of the more avant, outside moments have a focus that the group hardly seems to reach this well! The material is from the John Sinclair archives – originally issued on the CDs Life Is Splendid, Outer Space Employment Agency, and It Is Forbidden – but somehow sounding even more amazing in a tight package like this – with loads of amazing keyboards from Ra, soulful vocals from June Tyson, Cheryl Banks, and Judith Holton, and wonderful supporting reeds from the Arkestra. Titles include "Space Is The Place", "Enlightenment", "What Planet Is This", "Immeasurable", "Love In Outer Space", "Watusi", "Images", and some great untitled improvisations.

A beautiful album of tracks recorded during some of the Arkestra's last days in Chicago! The record features some great work by Ra on Electronic Piano and Cosmic Tone Organ – and there's a full complement of horn players on the set, including Pat Patrick, John Gilmore, and Marshall Allen. 2 tracks – "Interplanetary Music" and "We Travel The Spaceways" – have haunting vocals by the group, and the set also features the numbers "Space Loneliness", "Tapestry From An Asteroid", and "New Horizons".

One of the most soulful Sun Ra albums ever – very much on the Lanquidity tip, and done with a great mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation! The vibe here is really mellow, spiritual, and warm – and the album actually feels a lot more like a session recorded for the Strata East label than it does for Saturn! Keyboards pervade the session – electric piano and organ drifting around in moody, laidback lines – augmented by occasional vibes, bits of guitar, and some wonderfully well-blown sax solo work by Marshall Allen and John Gilmore! The title track "Sleeping Beauty" runs for all of side two of the album – and it's an amazing little number that mixes instrumental passages with some great mellow Roy Ayers-styled vocals. "Door Of The Cosmos" is a bit of a groover, and even gets a bit funky at times – and the album also features the laidback spacey number "Springtime".

If this is disco, point us in the direction of Studio 54! The album's one of Ra's greatest from the 70s – recorded in Italy in 1978, and featuring some incredibly otherworldly keyboards that are some of his most enigmatic on record! The track "Disco 3000" is an incredible workout on synthesizer, with a tiny bit of drum machine, a little "Space Is The Place" breakdown, and all of the wild sound you'd expect from a Sun Ra album. The cut goes on for quite some time, and is really fantastic. Side two of the record features two more long tracks – the sweetly soulful "Friendly Galaxy", a great soul jazz number, and "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens", which has spooky organ, frenetic bass, and somber percussion!

Amazing stuff from Ahmed Abdul-Malik – one of the early 60s most enigmatic jazz talents! Malik was Thelonious Monk's bassist for a few years, but by the time of this record, he was working in a very sophisticated cross-cultural mode – pulling together many different strands of jazz and Eastern music, forging them into a very unique sound. Unlike some of Malik's other records, which featured a style that was very heavy on Middle Eastern instrumentation, this one's got a very even blend of jazz, and features excellent work by Tommy Turrentine on trumpet, Calo Scott on cello, Eric Dixon on tenor, and Andrew Cyrille on drums. Malik himself plays bass and oud, and the record's got a snaking mix of jazz and exoticism that's roughly similar to Yusef Lateef's work on Savoy, or some of Sun Ra's work from the time. Titles include "Nights On Saturn", "La Ibkey", "The Hustlers", and "Oud Blues".

The first proper Aesop Rock album in a few years – and his first for Rhymesayers – a logical next step for his uncompromising, darkness-tinged sounds and distinctive rhyme style of his early work for Def Jux! Aesop hasn't missed a step, and the sound is as dystopian, breathless and creative as ever. Hanni El Khatib plays guitar on a few tracks, as does Allyson Baker, with appearances by Rob Sonic and Kimya Dawson. Includes "Leisureforce", "ZZZ Top", "Cycles To Gehenna", "Zero Dark Thirty", "Crows 1" with Kimya Dawson, "Homemade Mummy", "Crows 2" with Rob Sonic, "1,000 Clock", "Saturn Missiles", "Tetra", "Gopher Guts" and more.

One of the greatest recordings ever made by John Coltrane in his late years – a spare set of duets with drummer Rashied Ali, recorded in 1967, but never issued until after his death! Trane and Ali play in a free spiritualist mode, with no other accompaniment – making for a very unique album, especially for the time, and setting the tone for years of New York improvisation in the 70s. Titles include "Mars", "Venus", "Jupiter", and "Saturn".

Amazing images from the universe of Sun Ra – a mixture of rare photographs and mural images painted by Aye Aton – sometime percussionist with the Arkestra, and a heck of a great painter too! The book begins with these stunning full color photographs of Ra on the set of Space Is The Place – images from 1972 that echo the cover of the album of the same name, but which feature a costumed Ra in a number of different settings – including a few parking lot shots that make him look like a true visitor from the cosmos, briefly walking on our planet! The bigger second half of the book features photographs of murals painted by Aton (who's also known as Robert Underwood) – all of them spacey and trippy, and in a similar spirit to the Saturn Records album covers – except these were all painted on walls and ceilings, in very vivid colors. Aye painted many images in the Arkestra commune in Philly – and other paintings appear to be from the south side of Chicago – and all work here is seen by the wider public for the first time ever. Archivist John Corbett provides an essay with the book to situate the work – and the whole thing's a vivid visual treat for any fan of Sun Ra!

A pretty wild compilation of classic material from German electronic experimentalists Der Plan – one that was produced exclusively for the Japanese market in '84 – and cheekily-titled JaPlan! Features tracks from benchmark Der Plan releases like Normalette Surprise the Die Letzte Rache soundtrack and other releases – plus some specially prepared rarities and instrumentals produced for a series of concerts Der Plan played in Tokyo that year! Includes "Ein Moment Sind Zwei Sekunden", "Tanzende Kakteen", "Buback", "Space Bob", "Das Insekt", "Schwarzwald", "Alte Pizza", "Hey Baby Hop", "Glidzergleider" and more. This 180 gram vinyl version has 4 bonus tracks: "Junger Mann", "Gorch Fock", "Elektro Platinum Saturn Gott" and "Gummitwist (Instrumental)".

A cool 60s Capitol psych album – with organ from Tony Scott and flute from Paris Sheppard – and nice long tracks that include "I Just Thought Of The Moon", "The House Of Saturn", and "The Happening".

A great contemporary tribute to Sun Ra – put together in ways that are a lot more sensitive than other projects of this nature! These young players really seem to get the sense of Ra's Arkestra as an ensemble – and work in ways here that really recall the best energy of the early Saturn recordings – even on a few original numbers by members of the group! We're not familiar with most of the players, but together they work wonderfully – in a lineup that includes Nikolaus Neuser on trumpet, Kathrin Lemke on alto, Dirk Steglich on tenor and flute, Gerhard Gschlossl on trombone,a nd Rui Gincel on piano and "spacekeys". Titles include "Future", "Images", "Ancient Aiethopia", "A Call For Demons", "Do To Voodoo", and "Watusa".

One of the most striking records so far from the mighty Rob Mazurek – a set that makes us more than glad we've been following his musical journey for the past two decades! The set's got a nicely compressed feel – one that takes some of the looser energy that's been bubbling up in recent Mazurek records, and delivers it in a tight quartet format – with Rob's sparkling cornet in the lead, amidst great piano from Angelica Sanchez, bass from Matt Lux, and drums from John Herndon! Given the wide resumes of all players, there's a really shifting sense of sound here – one that's bold one minute, introspective the next – and never falls into too-familiar jazz phrasing modes. Yet Mazurek's also really matured as a player, too – working here with a sensitivity we never would have expected years ago – captured with great clarity in the recording. Titles include "Magic Saturn", "Twister Uranus", "Spanish Venus", "Folk Song Neptune", "Primitvie Jupiter" and "Spiral Mercury".

One of the rarest non-Saturn LPs by Sun Ra – an obscure set recorded for the Philly Jazz label, the imprint who also released Ra's classic Lanquidity album! This set has the group returning to a more traditional Arkestra groove – recording in Chicago with a mix of acoustic instruments and electric keyboards that reminds us of some of the band's best work for Saturn – very odd and offbeat at times, quite free at others – but always brought back beautifully with a sense that all is unified under the cosmos! Ra really stretches out on organ and synthesizer – and also plays a bit of piano as well – and titles include "Mayan Temples", "Inside The Blues", "Over The Rainbow", and "Intrinsic Energies".

A really cool compilation of late 50s outer space obsessive pop, rockabilly boogie, and groovy space age jazz numbers – wild numbers from the decade before we set down on the moon! The numbers are mostly from the end of the 50s – age of black & white flying saucer attack movies and cold war hysteria – and it's filled with seedy and spacey little numbers that clearly influenced a generation of cheeky rockers to come. Martian honky tonk numbers, theremin enhanced instros, early Sun Ra cosmic jazz, echoey surf rock, and so much more! 27 tracks in all: "Blast Off" by The Jimmie Haskell Orchestra, "Saturn" by Sun Ra, "In The Bible" by Flying Saucers, "Martian Band" by Wildtones, "Moon Moods" by Samuel J Hoffman, "Space Storm" by Col Frank Erhardt and more.

Way more than the greasy mess you'd expect from the title – and instead, one of the coolest collections we've heard in years! The set's something of a sampling of the sounds of Trunk Records – but actually features loads of selections that have never been on CD before, or issued by the label at all – presented in a really playful way that has sound library grooves sliding into jazzy vocals into spoken bits, obscure electronics, kids records, commercials, and more – the really great range of sounds we've come to love Trunk for over the years! We've been following the label with keen interest since their very first record – almost 20 years ago – and this cool compilation definitely lives up to all we've come to expect. 30 tracks in all – and titles include "Mute 4" by Basil Kirchin, "The Snake" by Maximillian, "Gurney Slade" by Max Harris, "Basic Hip' by Del Close & John Brent, "The Lost Souls Of Saturn" by Russ Garcia, "Bring Back The Cat" by Terry Thomas, "Temple Bells" by Frank Hunter, "Sports Activities" by Wisbey & Jonny Trunk, "The Foggy Dew" by Shirley Collins, and "Star Eyes" by Carole Crevelling.

One of the most striking records so far from the mighty Rob Mazurek – a set that makes us more than glad we've been following his musical journey for the past two decades! The set's got a nicely compressed feel – one that takes some of the looser energy that's been bubbling up in recent Mazurek records, and delivers it in a tight quartet format – with Rob's sparkling cornet in the lead, amidst great piano from Angelica Sanchez, bass from Matt Lux, and drums from John Herndon! Given the wide resumes of all players, there's a really shifting sense of sound here – one that's bold one minute, introspective the next – and never falls into too-familiar jazz phrasing modes. Yet Mazurek's also really matured as a player, too – working here with a sensitivity we never would have expected years ago – captured with great clarity in the recording. Titles include "Magic Saturn", "Spiritual Mars", "Twister Uranus", "Spanish Venus", "Folk Song Neptune", and "Spiral Mercury".

A pair of great albums from one of the coolest soul arrangers of the 70s – back to back on a single CD! Close Encounters is a cool collection of space-themed club tracks from Gene Page – and possibly one of his greatest albums of the 70s – dispite a gimmicky approach! There's a tightly soaring feel to most of the cuts that's Page at his best – arranging fully with styles borrowed from Barry White, but also hitting with a bit of Philly inspiration too – never too over the top, and never too commercially driven as you might expect from the concept. There's some great moogy bits on the record – and plenty of great session players who include David T Walker and Wah Wah Watson on guitars, Jack Ashford on percussion, and Ernie Watts on alto sax. Great Phillinganes sings a bit on the record – and titles include "Star Trek", "Close Encounters", "Saturn", "Dancin In The Sky", "I Feel Like I've Been Livin", "Beyond The Hole Space", and "I Sho Like To Ride On Your Star". Love Starts After Dark is a wonderfully well-rounded set from superstar arranger Gene Page – quite possibly his most fully-formed album as a lead act on his own! The set's got some great standout groovers – the kind of club cuts that have the vibe that Gene was doing well for so many others – and it's also got some mellow moments served up with a depth that's almost unexpected – thanks partly to some great vocals from Merry Clayton, Phyllis St James, and Charmaine Sylvers – all of whom help the album shine. Tracks are penned by Leon Ware, Leon Sylvers, Ray Parker Jr, and Joe Sample – and titles include "With You In The Night", "Second Time Around", "Put A Little Love In Your Lovin", "Love Starts After Dark", "You Are The Meaning Of This Song", and "I Wanna Dance".

An expanded version of the material that originally appeared on the Nothing Is album – stretched out here into a 2CD set that features loads of extra unreleased cuts from the recordings! The core album is one of the best non-Saturn Sun Ra albums of the 60s – material recorded live on a tour of New York colleges in 1966, and very much in a spirit that captures the Arkestra at their best! Longer tracks are juxtaposed nicely with shorter ones – in a way that has the group running very outside one minute, yet stepping soulfully back to the center the next – never schizophrenicly, but in a mode that really displays the full range of energy pulsing in the group. Interesting instrumentation on the set includes Ra on clavoline, plus Carl Nimrod on the beautiful-sounding "sun horn" – and other players include Marshall Allen on alto, John Gilmore on tenor, Pat Patrick on baritone, and James Jacson on log drum and flute. This 2CD version features both a first and second set, with even a bit of material from a soundcheck, too – a total of 25 titles that include "Theme Of The Star Gazers #2", "Is Is Eternal", "The Exotic Forest #2", "Space Aura", "Velvet", "Dancing Shadows", "Next Stop Mars", "Outerspaceways", "Shadow World", and "Sun Ra and His Band From Outer Space".

Despite the more "recent" vintage of this recording, this rare Horo 2 LP set is actually harder for us to find than most of the Saturn LPs! Shame, too, because the record's a great one, and features an excellent performance by the Arkestra, recorded in New York in 1977, and featuring Danny Davis, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Ahmed Abdullah, and Michael Ray. Ra plays some very nice organ and rocksichord, and the track list is a mix of standards and originals that includes "The Satellites", "Halloween", "Images", "Lights", "Yesterdays", and "Enlightenment".

A deeper, spacier set from Shaolin Afronauts – and one that goes a bit further into the cosmos, as you might guess from the title and cover art – though it's still firmly rooted in timeless Afro Soul and Funk! Once again, the greatest West African soul, jazz and funk of the 70s provides the most vital inspiration for the group – but the Afronauts go further with the freewheeling jazzy atmosphere on this one – especially on the longer cuts. The majority of tracks run longer than 5 minutes, giving them plenty of evolutionary space to travel, over the funky bedrock that's paved underneath. The horns are fantastic – with nine credited players – along with stellar drums and percussion, guitar, bass, Hammond and Rhodes.Includes "Brooklyn", "Gayanamede Prelude", "Winds Across Gayanamede", "Los Angeles", "Quest Under Capricorn", "End Of A Sun", "Amhara", "Forests Of Io" and "Saturn's Dance". 9 tracks on the vinyl version.

A fantastic bit of space age funk – and maybe one of the greatest moments ever from Philly Soul maestro Dexter Wansel! The album goes way beyond any of Wansel's other work – and blends his warm soulful styles with some of the more keyboard-oriented funk that was coming out of the Herbie Hancock camp during the mid 70s – a vibe that's every bit as electric and spacey as you'd guess from the cover! Some cuts have a bit more of a soul focus, but others have loads of jazzy keyboards from Dexter – driven on by some great drums at points too. Titles include Wansel's legendary version of "Theme From the Planets" with the much sampled breakbeat at the beginning – plus the funky "Life On Mars", and the tracks "One Million Miles From The Ground", "You Can Be What You Wanna Be", "Prophet Named KG", "Rings Of Saturn", and "Stargazer".

This is sort of a Prince Jammy riff on the format of the popular Junjo Lawes-produced Scientist dub series. Nonetheless, he steps up to bat, and indeed defeats the evil planet munchers, with the able help of the Roots Radics rhytnm section. Recorded at Channel One and mixed at Tubby's – and how can you argue with that!? Fat, heavy rhythms dubbed into deep, deep outer space by the heir to the throne! 8 tracks in all, including "Conspiracy On Neptune", "Saturn Bombardment", "Attack on Ganymede", "Martian Encounter", "The Great Red Spot", "Life On Uranus", "Final Destruction" and "War In The Asteroid Belt".

One of Sun Ra's best non-Saturn live sets of the 70s – a nice little record that shows the group mixing it up with equal parts avant garde and straight ahead jazz, all handled in that ever-growing large group style that made them a real force to be reckoned with in a concert setting! The album was recorded during the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival, and has a bit more focus and polish than some of the other Arkestra live material from the time – a mature, coherent sound that almost points the way towards some of their work to come in the 80s – when Ra and the group were finally reaching the wider audience they deserved. The set's a double-length one, and features players who include John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, Pat Patrick on baritone, Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet, Craig Harris on trombone, and James Jackson on Ancient Egyptian Infinity drum – which is always a treat. Ra plays solar organ and moog, as well as piano – and titles include "Of The Other Tomorrow", "On Sound Infinity Spheres", "El Is The Sound Of Joy", "Gods Of The Thunder Realm", "Gods Of A Thunder Realm", "The House Of Eternal Being", and "Lights On a Satellite".

Landmark work from Sun Ra – a rare 1964 performance that features some very early work from Pharoah Sanders, a good deal of which is appearing here for the first time ever! The material was recorded at Judson Hall, and only half the tracks came out on a rare Saturn LP – making this CD collection that first time that all 11 titles appear in their entirety. Ra and the group recorded the set on New Year's Eve, 1964 – at a time when John Gilmore had left the Arkestra to work with Art Blakey – leaving Pharoah Sanders to come and take his place on tenor. Also noteworthy is the presence of Black Harold (Harold Murray) on flute – blowing with a dark edge alongside other group members who include Al Evans on trumpet, Teddy Nance on trombone, Marshal Allen on alto sax, Pat Patrick on baritone sax, and both Alan Silva and Ronnie Boykins on bass. The performance starts with a relatively fierce sound, but then moves into some beautifully lyrical moments – and titles include "Gods On A Safari", "The New Tomorrow", "The Second Stop Is Jupiter", "Cosmic Interpretation", "The Other World", "Dawn Over Israel", and "Space Mates".

A sweet little double CD – one that had some folks saying that Stevie should have stayed away from the "2LP syndrome", but for us a real treasure with lots of hidden gems. Besides the hits "Isn't She Lovely" and "Sir Duke", which were more than enough to carry the set in the record shops, the album's got lots of other nice cuts, including many that have that complicated jazzy feel of Stevie's work on the Inner Visions album. Titles include "Ngiculela – Esa Una Historia", "Ordinary Pain", "Black Man", "Village Ghetto Land", and "Love's In Need Of Love Today". Plus, the CD features the 4 bonus tracks off the original 7" single that accompanied the 2LP set – "Saturn", "Ebony Eyes", "All Day Sucker", and "Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)".

A sweet little double CD – one that had some folks saying that Stevie should have stayed away from the "2LP syndrome", but for us a real treasure with lots of hidden gems. Besides the hits "Isn't She Lovely" and "Sir Duke", which were more than enough to carry the set in the record shops, the album's got lots of other nice cuts, including many that have that complicated jazzy feel of Stevie's work on the Inner Visions album. Titles include "Ngiculela – Esa Una Historia", "Ordinary Pain", "Black Man", "Village Ghetto Land", and "Love's In Need Of Love Today". Plus, the CD features the 4 bonus tracks off the original 7" single that accompanied the 2LP set – "Saturn", "Ebony Eyes", "All Day Sucker", and "Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)".

The first proper Aesop Rock album in a few years – and his first for Rhymesayers – a logical next step for his uncompromising, darkness-tinged sounds and distinctive rhyme style of his early work for Def Jux! Aesop hasn't missed a step, and the sound is as dystopian, breathless and creative as ever. Hanni El Khatib plays guitar on a few tracks, as does Allyson Baker, with appearances by Rob Sonic and Kimya Dawson. Includes "Leisureforce", "ZZZ Top", "Cycles To Gehenna", "Zero Dark Thirty", "Crows 1" with Kimya Dawson, "Homemade Mummy", "Crows 2" with Rob Sonic, "1,000 Clock", "Saturn Missiles", "Tetra", "Gopher Guts" and more.

A cool collection of space-themed club tracks from Gene Page – and possibly one of his greatest albums of the 70s – dispite a gimmicky approach! There's a tightly soaring feel to most of the cuts that's Page at his best – arranging fully with styles borrowed from Barry White, but also hitting with a bit of Philly inspiration too – never too over the top, and never too commercially driven as you might expect from the concept. There's some great moogy bits on the record – and plenty of great session players who include David T Walker and Wah Wah Watson on guitars, Jack Ashford on percussion, and Ernie Watts on alto sax. Great Phillinganes sings a bit on the record – and titles include "Star Trek", "Close Encounters", "Saturn", "Dancin In The Sky", "I Feel Like I've Been Livin", "Beyond The Hole Space", and "I Sho Like To Ride On Your Star".

A great mix of grooves from Chicago's Scientific Map – well-crafted songwriting blended with more cosmic touches, and coming off unlike anything we've ever heard before! At some points, the set's got a straightforward drive that makes you think it's going for a bit of a crossover indie vibe – but at others, there's a much deeper soul that comes into play – and the shift between the two modes really keeps things interesting – especially given the lean production, and nice touch of fuzz on the keyboards and guitar! Anthony Nicholson recorded the album, but it's much more in the vein of previous work by vocalist Matt Hudson – and titles include "Saturn Return", "Roll It Into Romance", "Keep Sleeping", "Vijay Singh", "Photo 78", and "Slow 5".

Sweet soulful fusion from guitarist Volker Kriegel – a player who's definitely tighter here than in his more psychedelic days – but who still has a wonderful sense of sound, space, and timing! The record features some great tones from Volker – sliding along with this slight undercurrent of spaciness, in a lineup that features keyboards from Rainer Brunighaus, trombone from Albert Mangelsdorff, and acoustic guitar, drums, and some mighty nice percussion! Players shift a bit throughout the session, giving the record a nice depth of flavors and colors – really fleshed out in a nice way that goes way beyond the usual fusion outing of the time. Titles include "Bahia Next Year", "Tribut", "Let's Say Windmill", "Saturnalia", "Circus Gambet", "Hallo Albert", and "Sister Matic".

Rare and unreleased instrumentals from the great French orchestral pop composer Jean Claude Vannier – amazing stuff from his personal archive that ranges from loosely haunting passes to more grandly orchestrated bits – funky psych rock backdrops to heavy, tribal percussion numbers! Vannier is as much of a master of setting a mood as he as an expert composer-arranger, and this great set is brilliant showcase of his talent and we'd even say a fine entry point if you're just now being introduced. He's greatly reknowned for the incredible work he did with Serge Gainbourg, as well he should be – but a standout artist on his own, as you're hear here! It's got previously unreleased numbers from his Vannier's own vaults, many from a fertile period in the early 70s, plus rare sound library recordings and more! Includes "Bombard Lamentation" (centered around the reed instrument used most often in Breton music), "L'Ours Peresseux – 1969", "La Girafe Au Ballon", "Claquez Klaxons", "Theme 504", "Road To Cuba", "La Douleur De L'Orchestre", "L'Elephant Equilbriste", "Je M'Appelle Geraldine", "Saturnin Vaca Vaca" and more.