Cosmic Myth US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Even by Sun Ra's eccentric and deeply psychedelic standards, Strange Strings is an outlier. Eventually released in 19657 but mostly recorded in New York in 1965, it was the result of Sun Ra turning up at the studio with a vast number of string instruments and asking his 'Arkestra' - none of whom knew how to play them - to make some noises. In true fashion, the results are spectacularly experimental - think freeform experimental jazz, created via a cacophony of improvisation, with added intergalactic intent. This lightly expanded, remastered edition contains original mono versions of the album tracks, a rare stereo mix of 'Crystal Spheres (Amongst Worlds)', a recently rediscovered concert recording ('Untitled St Peter'), and a snippet of Sun Ra being interviewed while the Arkestra plays around with strings in the background.

Review: Fans of Sun Ra's Space Bop and genre-bending jazz were in for a shock with Strange Strings. Even in the eclectic and sometimes baffling Sun Ra catalog, Strange Strings, first issued in 1967, is an outlier. Is it music, or just noise? Or noise as music? John Cage could not be reached for comment. For this album, Sun Ra collected an arsenal of exotic string instruments and handed them out to his Arkestra on the precept that "strings could touch people in a special way." That the Arkestrans didn't know how to play or tune these instruments was not beside the point - it was the point. Ra framed it "a study in ignorance." The result was primitive, yet sophisticated; brutal, yet highly sensitive. Cosmic ignorance being the point of the record, cosmic ignorance is equally, perhaps, *the* point of life; in an era of boundless inquisitiveness, of positivist empiricist searching, of enlightenment venturings-out, it might sometimes be as desirable, as learned or ideal, to endeavour not to know.

Review: Sun Ra's When Angels Speak of Love, originally released in 1966 on his Saturn label, remains a rare and avant-garde gem. Pressed in extremely limited quantitiesiaround 150 copiesithis record was initially sold via mail order and at live performances. The album, recorded during 1963 sessions at the Choreographer's Workshop in New York, captures Ra's Arkestra at a time of intense experimentation. The rehearsal space's warehouse-like acoustics add an otherworldly texture to the music, further amplified by Tommy Hunter's innovative tape reverb. The album showcases Ra's controlled chaos, rejecting the label of "free jazz" while embracing liberation through structured improvisation. Tracks like 'Next Stop Mars', a sprawling 18-minute epic in its mono version, reveal bold performances from Marshall Allen and John Gilmore, pushing their horns to daring extremes. Ra's own piano workirooted in tonal centers but interspersed with thunderous rumblingicreates a dense, cosmic soundscape. With influences from contemporaries like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, When Angels Speak of Love sits comfortably within the avant-garde jazz movement of the 1960s, yet maintains its unique Sun Ra eccentricity. Now reissued on vinyl, this album invites listeners to experience the cosmic, pre-psychedelic atmosphere Ra and his Arkestra crafted over half a century ago.