Sun Ra Arkestra - Somewhere Over the Rainbow (2018) [Hi-Res]

As live, late-1970s Sun Ra albums go, Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a cut above. It's similar to and contemporaneous with The Soul Vibrations of Man and Taking a Chance on Chances, two live sets also issued on Saturn in 1977 (and available in our digitally remastered download catalog).

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Saturn 7877) was also known as We Live to Be: the titles of track one on side A were often handwritten on labels and/or generic sleeves, a common practice in Saturn's DIY packaging process.

Tape was not available, but we worked from a solidly transferred, clean 1977 Saturn original. As with many limited-release Saturn pressings, Somewhere Over the Rainbow offers exciting performances and solos preserved with dollar-store acoustics. Audio restoration can't add what the gear didn't capture—e.g., you can't "remix" the balance of instruments recorded with ad hoc mic placement—but these tracks here benefit from digital cleanup and sonic improvements (including phase correction, an essential fix to a number of marginal Saturn releases).

The release alternates four Sun Ra originals with three Tin Pan Alley standards. It was during the 1970s that Sun Ra began peppering his sets with Big Band-era standards, especially titles originally recorded by his heroes Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington.

Of particular note in this set is "I'll Wait for You," whose throbbing disco pulse prefigures by one year the jackhammer thrust of Ra's 1978 gem Lanquidity. (More on the repertoire and instruments by Ra authority Bro. Cleve below.)

The set was recorded at the Bluebird in Bloomington, Indiana. The discographic Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (by Robert Campbell and Christopher Trent, 2nd ed. 2000) notes: "Michael Weiss says that the Arkestra played two nights at the Bluebird; each night consisted of two 3-hour sets. He recalls that 'the band paraded around playing "Lights on a Satellite" like on the Montreux album'. [Two] dancers were identified from two local newspaper accounts. These articles say there were 18 people in the band, and imply the presence of Pat Patrick and Vincent Chancey, plus a possible third drummer—none of them audible on these tracks. Weiss, however, is sure that Patrick and Chancey were not present."

Tracklist:
01. Sun Ra Arkestra - We Live to Be (4:47)
02. Sun Ra Arkestra - Gone With the Wind (2:47)
03. Sun Ra Arkestra - Make Another Mistake (3:54)
04. Sun Ra Arkestra - Take the 'A' Train (11:21)
05. Sun Ra Arkestra - Amen Amen (Amen, Meni, Many Amens) (7:36)
06. Sun Ra Arkestra - Over the Rainbow (7:33)
07. Sun Ra Arkestra - I'll Wait for You (3:35)