The Sun Ra Discography.
Kinda confusing how this one ended up in the position it is listed in the discography, but that is because there is a possibility that part of the track "Janus" was recorded in 1963.
This is an eclectic set cobbled from several different recording sessions and it is quite a stunner too. The opening track is quite accessible little ditty and quite enjoyable whereas "The Invisible Shield" is a very out there, mostly improvised piece, of almost industrial proportions of Ra letting loose on the keyboards. This track segues into "Janus" via some distorted sounding gongs? before we get into that weird reverberating percussion which was so prevalent in the Choreograph Workshop recordings. These pieces are about as far away from jazz as you can get.
Velvet is a great live recording of a much older song from Ra earlier Chicago days with some great solos, a fairly straight track after the madness of the last two. "Joy" is somewhat more free sounding and presents us with another aspect of Ra on this rather impressive release. Rating 4.5/5.
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