Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra - Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy/Art Forms Of Dimensions Tomorrow (USA 1961/1963)

Roddus Album of the Day

01.And Otherness
02.Thither and Yon
03.Adventure-Equation
04.Moon Dance
05.Voice of Space
06.Cluster of Galaxies
07.Ankh
08.Solar Drums
09.Outer Heavens, The
10.Infinity of the Universe
11.Lights on a Satellite
12.Kosmos in Blue.

COSMIC TONES FOR MENTAL THERAPY: Sun Ra (Clavioline, drums, organ), Danny Davis (alto saxophone, flute), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, oboe, drums), John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, drums), Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone, flute),James Jackson (flute, log drums), Robert Cummings (bass clarinet), Ronnie Boykins (bass), Clifford Jarvis (drums, percussion), Thomas Hunter (percussion).

ART FORMS OF DIMENSIONS TOMORROW: Sun Ra (piano, keyboards, drums, percussion), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, bells, sticks, drums), John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, drums), Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone), Clifford Thornton, Manny Smith (trumpets), Ali Hassan (trombone), Ronnie Boykins, John Ore (bass), Clifford Jarvis, C. Scoby Stroman, Thomas Hunter (drums).

Its always  a nervous time when listening to a Sun Ra recording for the first time, his many many recordings cover the gambit from totally brilliant to unmitigated rubbish. These two original LPs from the early 60s, re released on one Cd, as were many of his records, fall some where towards the better end of that spectrum.

Mostly Avant-garde in nature with little melody or traditional structure, this experimental mixture could have easily ended up at the rubbish end of the Sun Ra musical Spectrum, but Ra manages to pull it off on these records as he often could and I find myself taken in by their exotic charms and strange sounds. some of the tracks are quite long and it can be a challenge to stay with them right through. The recording quality is quite good, another area where Ra can be inconsistent and overall I rate this 3.5/5.

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