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Psy-Fi · 05-09-2021, 07:55 AM

Sun Ra & His Arkestra - Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Beyond Saturn Edition) (2021)

Quote:

This expanded Beyond Saturn edition includes two bonus tracks sourced from a stray tape from the original live 1977 dates. These tracks are not previously unreleased—they were previously and deliberately "misfiled" by the artist. That is, they were included on the A-side of a 1985 Saturn LP whose other content was unrelated.

The original 1977 release alternates four Sun Ra originals with three Tin Pan Alley favorites. It was during the 1970s that Ra began peppering his sets with Big Band-era standards, especially titles originally recorded by his heroes Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington. However, "Gone With the Wind," "Over the Rainbow," and "Take the 'A' Train" recur frequently in the career-spanning Ra discography.

Also of interest in this set is "I'll Wait for You," whose throbbing disco pulse prefigures the dance floor stylings pursued by Ra on his later albums Lanquidity, On Jupiter, and Sleeping Beauty.

The two bonus tracks, "Outer Reach Intensity-Energy" and "Cosmos Rendezvous," were first issued by Sun Ra on the 1985 LP known as Stars That Shine Darkly Vol. 2, and alternately called Outer Reach Intensity-Energy. There was no identifying information included with the release—typical of Ra during the 1980s, it was issued in a generic sleeve which may or may not have been adorned with hand-art and no info except track titles on the label.