SUN RA — The Singles

Jazz music community with review and forums

4.00 | 1 rating | 1 review

Boxset / Compilation · 1996

Filed under Exotica
By SUN RA

Tracklist

1-01 Nu Sounds, The – A Foggy Day
1-02 Cosmic Rays, The – Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie
1-03 Cosmic Rays, The – Dreaming
1-04 Cosmic Rays, The – Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie (Alternate Version)
1-05 Cosmic Rays, The / Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Bye Bye
1-06 Cosmic Rays, The / Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Somebody's In Love
1-07 Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Medicine For A Nightmare
1-08 Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Saturn
1-09 Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Supersonic Jazz
1-10 Qualities, The – Happy New Year To You!
1-11 Qualities, The – It's Christmas Time
1-12 Yochanan – Muck Muck (Matt Matt)
1-13 Yochanan – Hot Skillet Mama
1-14 Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Great Balls Of Fire
1-15 Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Hours After
1-16 Juanita Rogers / Lynn Hollings – Teenager's Letter Of Promises
Featuring – Mr. V's Five Joys
1-17 Juanita Rogers – I'm So Glad You Love Me
Featuring – Mr. V's Five Joys
1-18 Yochanan / Sun Ra And The Arkestra – The Sun One
1-19 Yochanan / Sun Ra And The Arkestra – The Sun Man Speaks
1-20 Yochanan / Sun Ra And The Arkestra – The Sun Man Speaks (Alternate Version)
1-21 Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra – October
1-22 Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra – Adventure In Space
1-23 Yochanan / Sun Ra And The Arkestra – Message To Earthman
1-24 Yochanan / Sun Ra And The Arkestra – Message To Earthman (Alternate Version)
1-25 Sun Ra And The Arkestra – State Street
2-01 Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra – The Blue Set
2-02 Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra – Big City Blues
2-03 Little Mack – Tell Her To Come On Home
2-04 Little Mack – I'm Making Believe
2-05 Sun Ra And His Outer Space Arkestra – The Bridge
2-06 Sun Ra And His Outer Space Arkestra – Rocket #9
2-07 Sun Ra And His Astro-Solar-Infinity Arkestra – Blues On Planet Mars
2-08 Sun Ra And His Astro-Solar-Infinity Arkestra – Saturn Moon
2-09 Lacy Gibson – The Sky Is Crying
2-10 Lacy Gibson – She's My Baby
2-11 Lacy Gibson – I Am Gonna Unmask The Batman
2-12 Lacy Gibson – I Want An Easy Woman
2-13 Sun Ra And His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra – I Am Gonna Unmask The Batman
2-14 Sun Ra And His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra – The Perfect Man
2-15 Sun Ra And His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra – Journey To Saturn
2-16 Sun Ra And His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra – Enlightenment
2-17 Sun Ra – Love In Outer Space
2-18 Sun Ra – Mayan Temple
2-19 Sun Ra And The Arkestra – Disco 2100
2-20 Sun Ra And The Arkestra – Sky Blues
2-21 Sun Ra – Rough House Blues
2-22 Sun Ra – Cosmo-Extensions
2-23 Sun Ra And His Outer Space Arkestra – Quest
2-24 Sun Ra And His Outer Space Arkestra – Outer Space Plateau

Line-up/Musicians

Information missing - contribute to JMA, by filling this information using the left menu member zone link "Edit album infos". This function is only available to JMA Collabs.

About this release

Evidence – ECD 22164-2 (US)

Recorded between 1954 and 1982

2CD compilation highlighting the heap of recording released solely on the 45 rpm format

Thanks to snobb, js for the updates

Buy SUN RA - THE SINGLES music

More places to buy jazz & SUN RA music

Amazon.com — Jazz music new releases, best sellers on CD and vinyl

SUN RA THE SINGLES reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

When Evidence released Sun Ra “The Singles” it marked one of the greatest miracles in recent musicological history. Long time Sun Ra fans had often heard tales of exotic singles made in small quantities floating around out there somewhere never to be heard again. No one dreamed that someone would be able to track down forty nine of these rarities and then use new technology to clean them up for release on CD. Sun Ra fans were stunned and grabbed up this two CD collection at a rapid rate.

Apparently the early part of Ra’s career in Chicago started as an arranger and producer for local doo-wop, RnB and blues acts, with his band acting as the back-up musicians. Much of these two CDs involves these various vocal groups who range from fairly straight ahead to insanely off the wall. Along with all the vocal styles on here, Ra and his band on their own also cover a wide range including, hard bop, jump blues, avant-garde, bizarre lounge music and more. These CDs are extremely eclectic and will probably only appeal to hardcore Sun Ra fans or musicologists.

There are so many gems on here for the Sun Ra devotee. Yochanan is an insane ‘outsider’ blues singer who sounds like a cross between Wild Man Fischer and Screamin Jay Hawkins. His “Hot Skillet Mama” RnB number is hilarious. If you liked the bizarre clavinet with percussion numbers on “Atlantis”, this collection has a couple singles cut from that same session. “The Perfect Man” matches a weird synthesizer bass with crime jazz sax lines for that classic spy movie sound. Elsewhere on this CD are fabled Sun Ra classics never available before such as “Rocket Number Nine” and “Disco 2010”.

This is a must have for Sun Ra collectors, but for those looking for their first Sun Ra record, better choices might include “Angels and Demons at Play” or “Live at Montreaux”.