Sun Ra
God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be | 2018 Reissue

Cosmic Myth Records

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About

“God is More Than Love is the only complete piano-bass-drums studio session in the massive Sun Ra catalog. What would have drawn the bandleader, 25 years into his recording career, to adopt a format that had been common in jazz for decades? Drummer Samarai Celestial (Eric Walker) recalled it being his first recording date with Ra; they were joined by bassist Hayes Burnett, who gigged with Ra on and off for a decade.

The album offers an intense set of cosmic vagabond moods, reflecting the telepathy that is the essence of small combo jazz. Sun Ra doesn't play notes—he paints stars. Burnett's bass runs fluid and thick. Celestial is a perpetual motion machine; his quicksilver fills echo the muscle and propulsion of a young Billy Cobham. This is a power machine, full of drive and liftoff, with sporadic (and surprising) gearshifts. Celestial's restless stickwork doesn't play the groove so much as imply it; Burnett's foundational pulse is the unifier. The threesome rarely locks in, but their musical spirits are intertwined.” – Bandcamp

“God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be was last given a physical re-release in 1989 but in March 2018 it was reissued in a remastered vinyl-only edition by Cosmic Myth. Ra is accompanied by bassist Hayes Burnett and drummer Samarai Celestial. Burnett played on and off with Ra from 1976—1982, and Celestial, whose first Ra session this was, until Ra's passing in 1993, and then in the Arkestra led by Marshall Allen until his own passing in 1997. The album was recorded live in the studio, with only a small amount of overdubbing (a second piano track on "Days Of Happiness"). None of the five tracks (all Ra originals, though you may detect similarities to W.C. Handy's "St Louis Blues" in "Magic City Blues") has ever reappeared elsewhere in Ra's discography. Ra's detractors often question his qualifications as a jazz musician. Listening to God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be for just a few minutes should convert even the most sceptical among them.” – All About Jazz

Item description:        

Artist:

Sun Ra

Title:

God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be

Label:

Cosmic Myth Records

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered

Pressing:

Europe

Release Date:

This reissue: 22nd March 2018 | Original: 1979

Genre:

Jazz

Style:

Free Jazz, Avant-garde Jazz

Catalog No:

CMR 003

Condition:

New