$45.00
A Fireside Chat with Lucifer was issued by Sun Ra in 1983 (Saturn Gemini 19841). Like many Sun Ra albums, Fireside Chat offered stylistic random shuffle, as was the artist's intent, reflecting his eclectic, seemingly irreconcilable approach to compositional extremes. With Sun Ra you get everything except consistency and predictability. Side B consisted of the inscrutable 21-minute title track, while Side A consisted of three unrelated, shorter works (the wryly apocalyptic "Nuclear War," a languid, atmospheric ballad titled "Retrospect," and the soul groove "Makeup"). Fireside Chat was pressed in limited quantities, with hand-made Xeroxed covers (sans personnel or credits), and sold at concerts. Original copies are incredibly rare.
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Though a resident of Philadelphia since 1968, Ra frequently booked sessions in New York at Variety Recording Studios, under the supervision of owners (and his friends) Fred Vargas and Warren Smith. The association began in the 1960s, and countless Sun Ra dates were captured on Variety's soundboard. Fireside Chat, recorded in September 1982, was one of the final extended Arkestra sessions at Variety; except for three tracks recorded there with Phil Alvin in 1985, it would be six years before Sun Ra again made extensive use of Variety. In 1988 he recorded the Disney tune "Pink Elephants on Parade," as well as the album Blue Delight (A&M)—and that was it. The bulk of Sun Ra's recorded legacy during the 1980s was captured live in clubs and concert halls. (An as-yet unreleased, but recently mixed, 1986 session at Boston's Mission Control studios is an exception.) – Bandcamp
Label: Modern Harmonic – MH-8217 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Reissue |
Country: USA & Canada |
Released: 2020 |
Genre: Jazz |
Style: Free Jazz |
$39.00
“Recorded in ’73 and rejected by tin-eared major label execs in ’75, Crystal Spears (or “Crystal Clear” as it appears on the tape box) subsumes a cathartic brawl between Minimoog and Yamaha combo organ, with percussionists providing tonal textures, and plaintive oboe colliding with roaring electronic keyboards over waves of rollicking marimba, devilishly chattering below the fray. Crystal Spears is Ra’s once lost aural cinematheque! Includes a quad-ra-color Sun Ra poster!
Crystal Spears, intended for release in 1975 by ABC/Impulse! and assigned catalog # AS-9297, was ultimately rejected by the label. Ra and business manager Alton Abraham retained the rights, rechristened the album Crystal Clear and assigned Saturn Records catalog # 562—but they never got around to issuing it. The first three tracks on this album were mastered from that tape, a 1/4-inch four-track (15 ips) brand favored by home recording enthusiasts—and generally disfavored by pro engineers. The sessions took place at Variety Recording Studio in New York on February 3, 1973, a month before the Ark returned on March 8 to record Cymbals, as well as tracks issued decades later under the title Sign Of The Myth (and perhaps even Pathways To Unknown Worlds).” – Sundazed
Item description:
Artist: |
Sun Ra |
Title: |
Crystal Spears |
Label: |
Modern Harmonic |
Format: |
Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, Red Vinyl |
Pressing: |
US |
Release Date: |
This reissue: 23 November 2018 | Original: 2014 |
Genre: |
Jazz |
Style: |
Avant-garde Jazz, Space-Age |
Catalog No: |
MH-8082 |
Condition: |
New |