Sun Ra - Atlantis
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Free Music Notes for Atlantis
Free Music Review: Complicated.
Hit: 4 Stars
Throw any expectations of a simple melody out the window. This is "do it yourself" jazz for the alert listener.I can honestly say I have never heard anything like this before. The best way to describe this album is to suggest that it would make the perfect soundtrack for "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." - and I mean that as high praise.
The staccato application of the melody line leaves the listen to fill in the blanks, creating an almost distractingly surrealistic feel to the music. The "off-mike" studio feel further enhances the dream-like quality.
This is enjoyable music, but it requires attention. "Yucatan," the fourth cut, plays the most easily, with a soft and steady off-mike drum roll and only the occasaional horn blast to paint the faintest arc of melody. It's all so strange.
This a compelling and demanding work that defies casual listening. Atlantis makes for lousy background music, but fascinating listening if you have the time to give it.
Free Music Review: Unique Abstraction
Hit: 5 Stars
Side 1 sounds to me like Thelonious Monk on a clavinet somewhere on a moon of the planet Saturn, jamming with African drummers. It is unique music and very worthwhile in my opinion. Ra is on clavoline (it sounds a bit like an electric guitar) alongside several drummers and minimal bits of jazz horn playing. It foreshadows Ra's "discipline" series of compositions, which required players to work around rigid linear themes, but this particular set of jams is unique in atmosphere and concept.Side 2 is a scarifying live performance (recorded at Olutjuni (sic)'s Culture Center in NYC in 1967) featuring Ra's organ playing as if in accompaniment to a horror movie. It's interesting, but Side 1 is what makes this release especially worthwhile.
Free Music Review: Innovative and strange mixture of different genres
Hit: 2 Stars
This is one instance where seeing is an important part of the experience as the paraphernalia of costume and theatrics was quite an important part of Sun Ra, so I've been told. This CD is mainly a meeting of African talking drums, tin pan alley and electronic music and most of it is pretty simplistic and boring stuff. The main work is the title track, which is 22 minutes long. I wonder if the enthusiasm for it is part nostalgia as I don't find it especially rivetting. I wanted to hear it to find out what the fuss was about and am disappointed. As a lover of improvised music I find John Zorn's work much more interesting and enjoyable - if you like experimental music in the manner of Sun Ra(though I accept that Sun Ra is a "one off") then check out John Zorn's soundtrack work for Japanese films.Free Music Review: Sun Ra and the Forgotten World
Hit: 5 Stars
In early 1973 I had the rare and unique privilege of seeing and interviewing Sun Ra before I had a chance to seriously sample his significant recorded output. Both the show and the interview were remarkable spectacles. Sun Ra was one of the most unique and creative individuals of the twentieth century.This CD underscores his creative abilities. The title track, which starts off with a long organ improvisation, is one of Ra's greatest keyboard solos--an exploration into the depths, if you will, and along with the German Free Jazz Donaueshingen sessions, his Montreaux LP on Inner city, and the recent Kahoutek comet concert CD, among his finest works, and a great place to start.
I will never forget the joy of a Ra performance. This CD comes very close to capturing that spirit.
Gary Gomes GomesCrystalx@aol.com
Free Music Review: Genius&maddness all at once
Hit: 5 Stars
i got this disc last Spring and was floored by it's style.Abstract,Loud&alot of different sounds but it challenges your mind.You Either Love it or Loath it.that's the Ultimate Artist.Sun Ra was a Genius to me.the keyboard never sounded the same after this.