Sun Ra - Atlantis
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Free Music Notes for Atlantis
Free Music Review: Music Or Noise?
Hit: 1 Stars
Depends on your taste of course. What is music to one may be noise to another. To me this is noise - an atonal, arhythmic sonic mess for the most part. Here and there you get glimpses of melody, but it limps alongside murky, inarticulate accompanient, and goes nowhere in the end. The whole sound is so murky and ill-defined that it's hard to tell who plays what, and what song they are on. This will probably appeal to fans of Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman.Free Music Review: Simple and beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
If you love Sun Ra you don't need to know what it sounds like. This is a much stripped down recording, really emphasizing Ra's electronic keys, and a lot of percussion. It goes by fast, topped by the over 20 minute nominal behemoth solo.
This disk is a nice companion to Night of the Purple Moon and I'd have loved it if the guys had stretched "Mu" out a bit longer. It's quite quirky and addictive.
I'm much more into the late sixties early 70s electric experimental Ra, so take that into consideration when choosing!
This is not the big band material from "space is the place". This is a much more intimate sampling of sounds. Joyful Noise.
Free Music Review: I hate to say this but....
Hit: 2 Stars
...I think alot of people give this album too much credit. Sometimes you cannot heap lavish praise upon something simply because it is different, and breaks the mold of preconcieved notions formerly held of any particular genre. At this, Sun Ra excells brilliantly, rewriting what could be recorded for a jazz label at an early historical date like no one who has come before or since. That however does not merit placing this album up on a pedestal, for we must detatch the significance the album played in the evolution of avant garde jazz from the actual contents of the disc. For the most part I find the playing on this disc to be extremely over-indulgent and pretentious. Yes, there are some facinating moments where everything clicks, particularly when the creative use of perrcussion is employed to organize so much of that sloppy noise that Ra was putting out. The production is also extremely low quality and I feel that this does nothing to compliment the material. Basically, aside from a few hints that clue in the listener as to the pedigree of musicians being recorded, this could almost be passed over as a bunch of college jazz stoners in their garage improvising tributes to the Coltrane Interstellar Space free-jazz era meterial. Free Music Review: One of Sun Ra's finest albums
Hit: 5 Stars
You think Pink Floyd is trippy and out there? Roger Waters and David Gilmour bow down to the great Sun Ra. That being said, Pink Floyd fans and stoners (often times one category) will love Sun Ra. In an age where Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane were criticized for straying way too far away from Jazz's orgins, Sun Ra was already leaps and bounds ahead of them. Sun Ra is the apex of Avant-Garde and Experimental Jazz. To the untrained ear of those unfamiliar with Ra, this may sound uneven and sloppily composed. But you couldn't be anymore wrong. That's the genius of avant-garde art - it may seem poorly conceived on the surface, but underneath its thought out and pays close attention to details. This is one of Sun Ra's best albums, and a good place to go from after "Space Is the Place" or "Easy Listening For Intergalatic Travel" (the two starting points in your Ra enjoyment). The lack of production, minimalist and at times primative organ playing, and the very small band add to an atmosphere of the outer limits that any Space Age Pop artist couldn't dream to create. In other words, classic Ra. Not the greatest starting place to get acquainted with the genius, but a classic nonetheless.Free Music Review: Overated but good
Hit: 3 Stars
Certainly there is some very good music on this album, but I've always thought this album was overated. The shorter pieces suffer from a lack of cohesiveness and ramble on a bit in a laid back, offhand way. They don't really go anywhere. The long centerpiece composition "Atlantis" is for the most part an organ workout for Ra and is by turns extremely aggressive, spacey and ultimately exhausting. There are some great passages but its just too long. I would recommend "The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Vol. 1", or the truly magical "Magic City" or "Other Planes of There" before Atlantis. Those albums all contain long compositions that are more rewarding. Heliocentric Worlds is comprised of smaller pieces that flow into one another creating in effect one long suite. I'm not saying Atlantis isn't worth having because it is, just that there are better Sun Ra albums out there that you might want to pick up first.