Sun Ra - The Singles (Evidence 1996)

One of the very first do it yerself labels was the solar mythical Saturn label. Home of jazz nutter Sun Ra.
Him and his looney Arkestra released endless amounts of vinyl throughtout the fifties,sixties and seventies, to a disbelieving world. Of course it was virtually all totally ignored,and if you own a pressing on Saturn, its worth loads of dosh. Incredibly Sun and the crew released plenty of singles!!....and not the stuff that had a prayer of chart action they were. The crazed ramblings of Yochannon "The Sun Man" (see sample below) has to be heard to be believed, one of the most unhinged vocal performances in post-war modern compostion; men in the white coats stuff. This is why we love Sun Ra.
In 1996 Evidence Music restored and released a 2 disc set of obscure Sun Ra singles that were originally released on his Saturn record label. I have read that some of these 45s were pressed in editions of 50 or less! These early recordings are fantastic and contain some of his early doo-wop, lo-fi blues and R&B and the usual out there keyboard work and space jazz.
This is easily the best Sun Ra release, containing such classic versions of Ra staples like " Love in outer space" and "Rocket #9";theres still a slim chance that these two tracks are hits as we speak in a parallel universe, in fact its a quantum certainty. Once you've got through the deranged Doo-Wop of the majority of the first disc,things start to get a bit stranger around "Muck Muck", this must have signalled the onset of some pretty hardcore drug use in the Sun Ra communal house in chicago.

Disc: 1
1 Foggy Day
2 Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie [Demo Version]
3 Dreaming
4 Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie
5 Bye Bye
6 Somebody's in Love
7 Medicine for a Nightmare [Alternate Take][#]
8 Saturn
9 Supersonic Jazz
10 Happy New Year to You!
11 It's Christmas Time
12 Muck Muck (Matt Matt)
13 Hot Skillet Mama
14 Great Balls of Fire
15 Hours After
16 Teenager's Letter of Promises
17 I'm So Glad You Love Me
18 Sun One
19 Sun Man Speaks (with Yochannon "The Sun Man)
20 Sun Man Speaks [Alternate Take][#]
21 October
22 Adventure in Space
23 Message to Earthman (with Yochannon "The Sun Man)
24 Message to Earthman [Alternate Take][#]
25 State Street

Disc: 2
1 Blue Set
2 Big City Blues
3 Tell Her to Come on Home
4 I'm Making Believe
5 Bridge
6 Rocket # 9
7 Blues on Planet Mars
8 Saturn Moon
9 Sky Is Crying
10 She's My Baby
11 I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman
12 I Want an Easy Woman
13 I'm Gonna Unmask the Batman
14 Perfect Man
15 Journey to Saturn [Live]
16 Enlightenment
17 Love in Outer Space
18 Mayan Temples
19 Disco 2100
20 Sky Blues [Live]
21 Rough House Blues
22 Cosmo-Extensions
23 Quest
24 Outer Space Plateau


Download Disc One Here

Download Disc Two Here