Two funky space albums – back to back on a single CD! An Astromusical Odyssey is a fantastic album of spacey funky tracks! The great John Keating put this whole thing together in the years before he cut his more famous space soul albums for EMI – and the record's a wonderful mix of spacey orchestrations, spare electronics, and haunting voices – a wicked journey to the stars with a hip Brit Easy feel! There's a lot more funk here than you'd expect from other Phase 4 albums of this generation – and plenty of the cuts have weird instrumental bits that are just waiting for sampling. The whole thing's wonderful, and titles include "Round Trip Mars", "Aquarius", "Nocturne", "Across The Universe", "Up, Up, & Away", and "Spinning Wheel". Nova Sounds Of The Stars is a second slice of Sounds Galactic work from the Phase 4 catalog – this time headed by Roland Shaw, but in the same moogy modes used by John Keating on the previous album! There's possibly even more cool electronics here than before – lots of cool analogue bits that bubble and squeak nicely – amidst more familiar instrumental modes from the Phase 4 universe, including some nice jazzy touches, bits of strings, and other styles – all blended nicely with plenty of odd production and sound effects! Titles include a great cover of "Pillow Talk", a version of "Live & Let Die", and the Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More" – plus the great "Mon Etoile (My Star)", "Summer", "Get Down", and "Love Is All". CD

Sun Ra, Parliament, and other soul and jazz acts famously took us into space back in the day – and in the wake of their journeys, countless other artists elected to take the trip too – soaring to the cosmos on a blend of beats, basslines, keyboards, and vocals – all elements that are given an especially electro-tuned vibe in this great second volume of the series! The space age journeys are maybe more akin to the world of Newcleus than Earth Wind & Fire – lots of processing on the vocals, sweet riffing on the keyboards, and basslines that are tightly tied to the rhythms of the grooves – served up here in a way that references sounds of the street, west coast funk, and even earlier hip hop – all brought together in a very well-chosen array of tracks! As always with Soul Jazz, the presentation is as great as the music within – a set list that includes "More Ounce Rap" by Bobby Deemo, "Master Groove (inst)" by Chance, "Shine Your Light" by The Grainers, "Get Right" by Mid City Crew, "Summer Times" by Frank James & Shadow, "Year 2001 Boogie" by Rich Cason & The Galactic Orchestra, "Smurf Trek" by Chapter Three, "Let's Ride" by Junei, "Breakdance" by Command Performance, and "Computer Pop" by Maggotron. CD

The seminal debut of The Cosmic Jokers – a Krautrock supergroup who really offer up a genre-setting standard with the work on the set! Each track takes up a full side of the record – spun out by the spacious electric talents of Manuel Gottsching, Dieter Dierks, Klaus Schulze, Harald Grosskopf, and Jurgen Dollase – often with a sound that's much leaner than you might expect, which is what makes the record so amazing! These guys are almost an antidote to the heavy jamming of the prog scene – as instead of sounding like a quintet really blowing the roof off the studio, they work this kind of alchemy with their instruments, slowly shifting sound and style in ways that are still as mindblowing now as they were back in 1973. The set features two long tracks – "Galactic Joke" and "Cosmic Joy". CD

A long-lost performance by Sun Ra and the Arkestra – recorded in Amsterdam at the start of the 70s, when the group were brought in by avant saxophonist Hans Dulfer for a special performance! This album marks the first-ever issue of the material, from rediscovered tapes that finally present the group on that night in all of their glory – a horn-heavy version of the Arkestra with Danny Davis, Danny Ray Thompson, Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, and John Gilmore on reeds – as well as Kwame Hadi and Akh Tal Ebah on trumpets, June Tyson on vocals, and a surprise appearance from Alan Silva on cello, bass, viola, and violin! Ra himself plays moog, rocksichord, piano, and the Spacemaster organ – and the group has plenty of percussion, and a rich sound that really resonates strongly in the legendary venue. Titles include an early reading of "Space Is The Place" – plus "Watusa", "Walking On The Moon", "Paradiso Improviso #1", "We Travel The Spaceways", "Theme From The Stargazers", "The Solar Moog Approach", and "Second Stop Is Jupiter". CD

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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". CD

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). CD

A Krautrock classic from start to finish – and very much the sort of music from the early 70s German scene that had a huge impact on music well into the 21st Century! The songs here are maybe a bit shorter than on some of the contemporary albums from the scene, but no less experimental overall – mixing conventional instrumentation with wild production and effects – so that sounds from players like Harald Grosskopf on drums, Manuel Gottsching on guitars, and Klaus Schulze on keyboards all end up sounding much wilder than you might expect! Dieter Dierks serves a key role as the "magier em mischpult" – helping weave the amazing sounds throughout in his legendary studio – on titles that include "Elektronenzirkus", "Intergalactic Radio Guri Broadcasting", "Der Planet Des Sternemadchens", "Planet of Communication", "Der Narr Im All", and "Intergalactic Nightclub". CD

Spacey Far Out Brazilian grooves from the stellar label's roster – some of the wilder, more tripped out and psychedelic sounds on the label – from leftfield dancefloor grooves, to psych rock inspired grooves, to some of the more experimental numbers by Brazilian music legends! The 2CD set features numbers by Azymuth, Joyce, Binario, Jose Mauro and others – including a number of remixes that have never been released on CD before now! Includes "Apocalipse" by Jose Mauro, "Reza Brava" by Piri, "Tudo Bonito" by Joyce, "Black Magic" by Kirk Digeorgio Presents Offworld, "Caca A Raposa" by Azymuth, "Diretriz" by Binario, "Ao Amigo Quartin by Victor Assis Brazil, "Las Vegas" by Rabotnik, "Intergalactic You, Intergalactic Me" by Troubleman and many more. CD