Sun Ra and His Interplanetary Vocal Arkestra - The Space Age Is Here to Stay (2016)

Tracklist

01. Along Came Ra / The Living Myth
02. Interplanetary Music, No. 1
03. Back in Your Own Back Yard
04. Enlightenment
05. Round Midnight
06. Sometimes I'm Happy
07. The Antique Blacks
08. Moorish Nights
09. Walking on the Moon
10. This Song Is Dedicated to Nature's God
11. 1984
12. Space Is the Place
13. The Forest of No Return
14. The Truth About Planet Earth
15. Nuclear War (Live)
16. Space Chant (Third Heaven)


Although The Space Age Is Here to Stay is technically a compilation, chances are good some of these tracks will be new to even the most serious Ra fans, as six of the 16 tracks are previously unreleased and those that have been released are largely from lesser-known albums. The tracks span from 1958 to 1985, with each decade represented by at least two tunes. The songs range from jazz standards to space declamations to pseudo-gospel call-and-response stompers, and feature not only Sun Ra but the great June Tyson, John Gilmore, and others. By and large, these tracks are on the obscure side and the songs that may be familiar are represented by different versions. "Enlightenment" gets a circus organ arrangement and vocals by Gilmore and Tyson. "Nuclear War" here is a live PG-rated version instead of the original 12" version. Even "Space Is the Place," probably the best-known track on the album, is not the better-known version from the album of the same name, but an excellent take from The Other Side of the Sun. Even if you have heard many of these tunes, you probably haven't heard them sound this good before. These masters come from the Sun Ra Archive, where Michael D. Anderson and Irwin Chusid have been doing remarkable restoration work.

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