|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
ARTYARD 009CD
|
"In 1971, in Denmark, at the end of a tour, Sun Ra suddenly decided to take his whole band to Egypt. They had no concerts and no contacts there but Ra sold some recording rights to Black Lion to pay for the tickets and they flew out. They were stopped at customs and their instruments were temporarily impounded but they were let through as tourists. Then they booked into a hotel facing the pyramid at Giza. Word got to Hartmut Geerken, then working at the Goethe institute, and he quickly threw a concert together at his house in Heliopolis, for which Brigadier Salah Ragab borrowed army instruments for the Arkestra to play (he was later disciplined for it). Ra's Moog had made it through customs and a Tiger Organ was hired. One of the audience (of 25) booked the band in for a Cairo TV session the following day. Then Ragab persuaded the Ministry of Culture to book a concert at the Balloon Theatre (for another tiny audience: only the first 4 rows were occupied). Two more concerts followed -- at the American University (for the cab fare) and the Versailles Club. They stayed for more than a fortnight, making a film while they were there and finally, by band-members selling various personal items, raised the money to fly home. This release contains all the released material from that visit (3 LPs) as well as unreleased material from these same sessions. Nidhamu & Dark Myth Equation Visitation complete the Egypt trilogy. Most remarkable is Nidhamu (the second release of the series, half recorded at the Balloon Theatre, the other half at Hartmut Geerken's house in Heliopolis) -- a remarkable document: austere and very out there. Electric keyboards and an eerie 'Discipline No.11' set the scene, and after some solo Moog there's a spooky miniature 'Discipline No.15' introducing another long Moog and keyboards solo: 35 pretty abstract minutes that just slip by. Dark Myth Equation Visitation follows (this was the first LP release, and has also been known as Sun Ra in Egypt Vol. 1 and Nature's God). The first tracks are from the Cairo TV broadcast and the whole collection features more familiar groove-based pieces characteristic of the period, interspersed with Moog and electric keyboard solos. June Tyson reappears for 'To Nature's God' and the highly eccentric 'Why Go To The Moon?'"
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
ARTYARD 008CD
|
"In 1971, in Denmark, at the end of a tour, Sun Ra suddenly decided to take his whole band to Egypt. They had no concerts and no contacts there, but Ra sold some recording rights to Black Lion to pay for the tickets and they flew out. They were stopped at customs and their instruments were temporarily impounded, but they were let through as tourists. Then they booked into a hotel facing the pyramid at Giza. Word got to Hartmut Geerken, then working at the Goethe institute, and he quickly threw a concert together at his house in Heliopolis, for which Brigadier Salah Ragab borrowed army instruments for the Arkestra to play (he was later disciplined for it). Ra's Moog had made it through customs and a Tiger Organ was hired. One of the audience (of 25) booked the band in for a Cairo TV session the following day. Then Ragab persuaded the Ministry of Culture to book a concert at the Balloon Theatre (for another tiny audience: only the first 4 rows were occupied). Two more concerts followed -- at the American University (for the cab fare) and the Versailles Club. They stayed for more than a fortnight, making a film while they were there and finally, by band-members selling various personal items, raised the money to fly home. Horizon (also known as Starwatchers and Sun Ra in Egypt Vol. 2) contains a big chunk of the now legendary Balloon Theatre concert (it burned down soon after their visit, as did the hotel in which the Arkestra stayed while they were in Cairo). The Balloon extract is an uncut block (tracks 1- 4 on the CD) and features a lot of Sun Ra's all-hell-let-loose Moog soloing, as well as a great version of 'Discipline #2.' The rest of Horizon is from the Heliopolis concert, kicking off with an instrumental version of 'Enlightenment' and 'Love In Outer Space,' (neither are on the original LP) segueing slowly into 'Space Is The Place' -- followed by drum orchestra, more Ra soloing on Moog, Tiger Organ and detuned piano (bloops, hoovering, whistles, Concords taking off) leading to a first lurching, then wild, 'Discipline #8.' Two bonus tracks, for the first time restored from the original concert, follow: 'We'll Wait For You' (with June Tyson) and 'The Satellites Are Spinning' -- which ends in full-on percussion. A classic recording of a classic band in great form."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
ARTYARD 004CD
|
Originally issued as El Saturn 101679, recorded on 10/16/79, never reissued before in any form (before Artyard's prior LP edition in 2005). "On Jupiter uses more than the usual amount of post recording processing and mixing, nudging up to the jazz-rock/disco music of its time, but not getting too close. These are still eccentric, expanded, lurching musical beasts. And it's nice to hear the oboe and bassoon -- so often lost on the live concert mixes -- so prominent here. The playing is great, as ever. This release along with Sleeping Beauty are two of the more accessible Ra releases and mark a rare experiment in quasi popularity by the band. They are both also, at present, collectors' items."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
ARTYARD 003CD
|
"Originally released on Saturn Records in 1979, both Sleeping Beauty and On Jupiter are studio recordings by the large Ra ensemble (including electric guitar and electric bass) and, for the most part, feature the first recordings of the titles included on them (though most were played live a few months earlier). These two releases belong together, since they were recorded and released in close proximity and are both long, groove-based, pieces that range from proto-disco to relaxed groove-driven pieces in which electric piano, guitar and bass function as a ground on which a parade of events drift in and out; Sleeping Beauty is a chaotic, swirling masterpiece with lots of effects added to the instruments and an interesting mix."
|