[.ca] Singles

From Amazon.com:
Sun Ra maintained a big band from 1955 until his death in 1993, even though he was even further out on the fringe of the music industry than Charles Mingus, who only held onto smaller groups. Sun Ra consistently maintained he came from another planet-and his taste in clothes and harmonies lent some credence to the claim-but he also felt he could connect with a broad terrestrial audience, which is why he continually released singles on his Saturn label. Some of these singles were his trademark space-jazz, but most of them were more down-to-earth-doo-wop, blues, R & B vocals, swing standards, novelty songs and big-band dance numbers. Yet they all had the Sun Ra touch, which made them weird and worldly all at once. --Geoffrey Himes

start somewhere else:
As much as I hate to give Sun Ra a bad review, I felt kind of ripped off after I got this. The first CD is all doo wop stuff that really didn't do it for me. Two songs were really awesome: "Blues on Planet Mars," and "Mayan Temples;" about 4 others on the second disk were ok if you used your powers of imagination to get past the bad sound quality. I would save this one for only the most devoted, bed sheet wearing Ra freaks out there.

JOYOUS CELEBRATION:
I'm not really a jazz fan, but this wonderful collection of obscure singles is quite an enjoyable listening experience. Describing the music is no easy task, but it veers from what sounds to me like standard jazz into real avant-garde cosmic experimentalism, with some flashes of calypso, über-funk and delightful soul in between. Perhaps George Clinton with his ParliaFunkadelicment-thang was inspired by Sun Ra? My favorite tracks include Great Balls Of Fire (it's not the rock 'n roll song), two brilliant and very catchy renditions of I'm Gonna Unmask The Batman, Disco 2100, Cosmo Extensions and Outer Space Plateau. I can just imagine someone like Prince doing a great cover of "Batman" and one of those "intelligent techno" bands like Autechre or Aphex Twin doing post-modernist versions of Disco 2100 or Mayan Temple. Weird, wonderful and quirky music infused with humor and joy. Sun Ra was a marvel, a very prolific genius whose influence will continue to grow in the 21st century.

Great for Fans, Not for Beginners:
The music on here is not typical Sun Ra. Evidence have done a wonderful job of collecting rare material into an informative, well-presented package. Unfortunately many potential fans may try to start an investigation of Ra's music here, when much of the content here is not reflective of Ra's jazzier, more arranged LPs. What is here is interesting, but it is by no means Ra's best stuff - though there are some real pearls of beauty in here. Here's to the unmasking of the Batman.

For confirmed Sun Ra fans:
I got a kick out these two CD's but I am: A) a Sun Ra fan of long standing, and B) interested in where music really comes from, and not just the high points. These recordings, some of them anyway, are odd even within Sun Ra's idiosyncratic world. Sun Ra is one of those jazz musicians who usually think in terms of the total composition, integrating a number of soloists into that framework. Jelly Roll Morton, Ellington, and, sometimes, Miles, Mingus & Monk work this way. Some of these "singles" are one-dimensional novelty numbers. Some are cute, like the "doo-wop" songs, e.g. "Dreaming". Valuable if you find this kind of music charming but otherwise wouldn't come in (voluntary) contact with it. Others are just raucous, like the Yochanan pieces, though even these have a kind of urban rustic charm, especially "Hot Skillet Mama". (The liner notes indicate that the fine tenor player John Gilmore called Yochanan, billed as the "space age vocalist" in the day, a "no-talent hanger-on" and swore he'd never recorded with him.) Other pieces connect more directly with Sun Ra's oeuvre. Some, like "Saturn", are similar to more familiar recorded versions of the era or later. Many of these recordings are rough in comparison to Sun Ra's other work, with a rehearsal or impromptu feel, e.g. "Love in outer space" with June Tyson & John Gilmore singing. The liner notes are very good, placing the guy who said variously that he "came from nowhere here" or "Saturn" very firmly in the grimy contexts of Birmingham, Chicago and Philadelphia. Includes some interesting photos.

An Amazing Achievement!!But DONT Start Here:
I am relatively new to the world of Sun Ra (started 7/99). Someone mentioned him to me and I decided to start my Sun Ra collection the way I started my collection with most rock groups and that is with a compilation of hits or singles. I bought this and was immediately put off by what I heard. I later tried "Other Planes of There" after hearing a extraordinary Sun Ra song on a college radio station, and that was the real start of my Sun Ra collection of nearly 70 cds. This singles compilation remains a high point in my collection. The reason this isnt the place to start is although it is a singles compilation, which I still cannot believe they were able to compile considering how obscure a great deal of them are, but alot of what is on here is Sun Ra in a support role to another act. The other act being a Rhythm and Blues act with performances I have grown to love, even though they are not typical Sun Ra by any stretch of the imagination. If you are a seasoned veteran of Sun Ra from any period the 50s, 60s,70s, 80s, buy this album and let it grow on you. If you are interested in Sun Ra and wonder where to start I would ask yourself Big Band?? or Free Jazz?? If the answer is just swing and a good time start with "Jazz in Silhouette". But if you want free jazz taken further than John Coltranes deepest dreams. Try "Atlantis" and the peek of the genre "Magic City".

• Foggy Day - Nu-Sounds, The Nu-Sounds
• Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie \oDemo Version\c
• Dreaming
• Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie
• Bye Bye - Arkestra, , Sun Ra
• Somebody's in Love - Arkestra, , Sun Ra
• Medicine for a Nightmare \oAlternate Take\c\o#\c
• Saturn
• Supersonic Jazz
• Happy New Year to You!
• It's Christmas Time
• Muck Muck (Matt Matt) - Yochanan
• Hot Skillet Mama - Yochanan
• Great Balls of Fire - Sun Ra
• Hours After
• Teenager's Letter of Promises - Juanita Rogers
• I'm So Glad You Love Me - Juanita Rogers
• Sun One - Sun Ra, Yochanan
• Sun Man Speaks - Sun Ra, Yochanan
• Sun Man Speaks \oAlternate Take\c\o#\c - Sun Ra, Yochanan
• October - Sun Ra
• Adventure in Space - Sun Ra
• Message to Earthman - Sun Ra, Yochanan
• Message to Earthman \oAlternate Take\c\o#\c - Sun Ra, Yochanan
• State Street - Sun Ra
• Blue Set - Sun Ra
• Big City Blues - Sun Ra
• Tell Her to Come on Home - Little Mack
• I'm Making Believe - Little Mack
• Bridge - Sun Ra
• Rocket Number Nine - Sun Ra
• Blues on Planet Mars - Sun Ra
• Saturn Moon - Sun Ra
• Sky Is Crying - Lacy Gibson
• She's My Baby - Lacy Gibson
• I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman - Lacy Gibson
• I Want an Easy Woman - Lacy Gibson
• I'm Gonna Unmask the Batman - Sun Ra
• Perfect Man - Sun Ra
• Journey to Saturn \oLive\c - Sun Ra
• Enlightenment - Sun Ra
• Love in Outer Space - Sun Ra
• Mayan Temples - Sun Ra
• Disco 2100 - Sun Ra
• Sky Blues \oLive\c - Sun Ra
• Rough House Blues - Sun Ra
• Cosmo-Extensions - Sun Ra
• Quest - Sun Ra
• Outer Space Plateau - Sun Ra