Sun Ra - What's New (USA 1975)

The Sun Ra Discography.

1.  What's New   6:55

2.  Wanderlust   5:53

3.  Jukin'   2:26

4.  Autumn in New York   6:59

5.  State Street   3:45

6.  Sometimes I'm Happy   6:42

7.  Time after Time 1   2:18

8.  Time after Time 2   3:30

9.  Easy to Love   3:27

10. Sunnyside Up   3:36

11. We Roam The Cosmos   10:30

Got a bit of a backlog of Sun Ra albums to get through and I believe this is where we got to in part one of the Sun Ra Discography. This is the second release in the discography where I haven't been able to purchase it on CD("Deep Purple" was the other one although some of the tracks I have on "Sound Of Joy"), except some of the tracks above appeared on the "Standards" CD. This original release has a particularly convoluted history and has never been reissued on CD, so I got this version from Adventure Equation Blog. Also check out Nuvoid, for  a more indepth review and history.

The first four tracks, again recorded at the Choreographers workshop in 1963, continue the series of jazz standards the Arkestra covered and overall is an enjoyable workout, although I do prefer it when they play the more original Sun Ra compositions. Tracks 5  to 10 cover similar ground and some I have covered on the "Standards" CD. All fairly conventional Jazz but more in the Bebop style than the earlier swing that Ra played previously. A nice set.

Track 11 was the original B-side of What's New but was only issued on very few copies of the original pressing before the other tracks, 5-10, replaced it on later pressings. This is a fairly lo-fi live recording of an apparently improvised number which sounds familiar with parts of other tracks incorporated. The line "space is the place" and perhaps, the line"My Brother The Wind" indicate this. It is mostly a spoken/sung word piece with very slight background sounds. Ra Sermonising his space stuff. Not particularly interesting.

Overall rating 2.5/5.