SUN RA & HIS ARKESTRA Schallplatten & CDs

Review: There have been plenty of retrospectives on the absolutely essential work of Sun Ra and his Arkestra over the years, but trust Strut to go that bit deeper when they elected to focus on the Sun God himself. As the extensive title suggests, this collection places the focus on proceedings in the hands of Marshall Allen, the longest serving member of the Arkestra and current band leader. The results mean In The Orbit Of Ra feels a whole lot more personal and indepth, with over 25 years worth of Sun Ra-lead music documented. It's all been fully remastered from the original tapes and is pretty much the most conclusive introduction to the work of this pioneer one could hope for. In addition to the 13 track double vinyl set, this release also includes the double CD edition which includes a further 7 Ra gems!

Review: Recorded before he fully defined spiritual jazz and dived head-first into cosmic, avant-garde experimentation, 1959's Jazz In Silhouette remains one of Sun Ra's most significant works - a more traditional (comparatively speaking) set that still boasts a serious amount of Afro-futurist intent amongst nods to jazz fashions of the period. This double-disc edition boasts remastered versions of the original mono and later stereo mixes, alongside a wealth of bonus tracks recorded at the time. These sonic treats include the gently bossa-flecked 'Great Balls of Fire', the cosmic-minded (but jolly and jaunty 'Blues From Saturn'), and an incomplete, in-progress take on album favourite 'Horroscope' that's one of the most "big band jazz" recordings in the great man's epic catalogue.

Review: For Sun Ra devotees, the idea of a new album of unheard material is exciting enough, but Prophet is not just any album. These recordings are pulled from an unusual trip Ra and his Arkestra took to the Mission Control studio in Massachusetts in 1986, where he familiarised himself with the wild new sonic frontiers afforded by the brand new Dave Smith Prophet VS. It's a period of time less thoroughly documented in Ra's legacy, but the session brims with the electricity you would expect, with the added bonus of wild synth tones in the Arkestra paint box.