Customer Reviews

Nuclear War 1982

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nuclear War itself as catchy as Space Is The Place, & significantly less annoying. The profanity comes as a surprise from a bandleader who gaves lectures on morality but is appropriate to put across a point. 20 years later that point is more valid than ever, w/ paranoia all around, a good enough reason for Yo La Tengo to cover it now. The song is somehow both gospel soul & minimalist hiphop. Legendary stuff. Tell 'em 'bout it, Tyrone. Anyway the rest of the album is some of the most LISTENABLE stuff of Ra's career, quite enjoyable, even though I usually enjoy the abstraction of something like Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy. The sound quality only adds a certain aura to it all, a smokey jazz club 'round midnight, all quite quiet. There's 2 June Tyson vocals that seem to be standards in Smile & Sometimes I'm Happy. Not as revolutionary as the title track but good stuff. Overall I do really think it's a terrible shame for something to be so ignored as this is. RA LIVES!

This should have been a breakout hit, rather than an obscurity to even Sun Ra fans. The title cut walks a line between frightening and hilarious, a line that few can walk as well as Sun Ra. The other tunes, which mix originals and covers, instrumentals and vocals, make this album a surprisingly good introduction to new fans, as well as providing sonic pleasures for old fans. The only negative is the sound quality, since it was recorded from a good quality record, rather than the original tapes, which are lost.

... I suspect it would open some ears!

In 1982, Sun Ra thought he had a hit on his hands. He went to Columbia Records with a bizarre nearly eight minute recording called "Nuclear War", featuring a piano trio over playing some lilting jazz over which SUn Ra intoned lyrics rife with vulgarity ("nuclear war / it's a motherf***** / don't you know / if they push that button / your a** got to go") in a time, pointed out in the liner notes, before gangsta rap made it commercially acceptable to do so. Of course, Columbia rejected it and Ra went with an indie British label. That recording, alng with its b-side (the lovely "Sometimes I'm Happy") and several other recordings, make up this release.

What's probably most amazing is how commercially viable this is, seeped largely in swing tradition. Even "Nuclear War", vulgarity aside, is really a commercial sound. The other real standout on this collection is the Ellington cover "Drop Me Off in Harlem", featuring fantastic organ playing from Sun Ra and some great collective work from the orchestra.

All in all, one of the best of the Sun Ra releases I own (about two dozen) and well worth the investment. Highly recommended.

Nuclear War was originally a 12-inch single that Sun Ra thought was going to be a hit. But a track filled with foul language wasn't going to fly with mainstream America during the early 80's. Eventually the disc was pressed but only a few copies hit the streets. Years later, this single (along with a lot of rare Sun Ra music) was finally released with several other original tracks and a handful of covers.

The title track (Nuclear War) has to be the best song ever recorded about the subject matter. It's straight and to the point about the severity of a thermonuclear conflict. Duke Ellington's "Drop Me off in Harlem" and Charles Chaplin "Smile" are some of the other high lights from this disc. You'll be singing Nuclear War in no time. Just remember, whatcha gonna do without yo' a$$? Nuclear War's a mother
f.....! Don't you know?

Highly recommended, Sun Ra's the man!

I'm too lazy to get into the characteristically snarled release history of this album, which first saw daylight in 1982; you've got liner notes for that. Sufficient to say that for anyone wondering what all the fuss is about Sun Ra, this is a fine place to dip in and begin, even though he'd been recording for about 30 years before he made this. Title track is a classic, with call-and-response vocals that manage to be frightening and hysterically funny AT THE SAME TIME! YES, I SAID AT THE SAME TIME! Rest of the disc is an effective mix of wild soloing, abstract big-band dirges, and a couple of fine standards...I find Charlie Chaplin's SMILE particularly affecting at this point in history...Only one entity could pull off this range of performances, and his name was Sun Ra. He was never in fashion, so he can never go out of it. Peace.

Recorded in 1982 and unsuccessfully marketed to major jazz labels, this forgotten gem had a very limited release two years later. The session tapes were lost or destroyed, hence the CD is remastered from vinyl.

The title track runs the gamut of emotions, as the infectious beat and Sub Ra's rap delivers an urgent message of reality by facing the dangerous games played by political powers and those striving for entrance into that club.

Retrospect has a slow and moody texture, but is a very accessible musical piece. The cover of Duke Ellington's Drop Me Off in Harlem is outstanding and the big-band swing in Nameless One #2 is a great change of pace. But it is the vocals of June Tyson - Sometimes I'm Happy, Smile - that takes the album to tremendous heights.

The Outer Space Arkestra is well-grounded in soul and jazz, with Sun Ra showing that he can work within a less experimental framework, but still deliver a timeless classic.

plenty of great sun ra stuff here. there are some slight avant-garde leanings to this album, but it is all very accessible. john gilmore's incredible tenor saxophone work is on fine display throughout the set, and sun ra's piano, organ, and synthesizer work are inventive and enjoyable beginning to end. it's a joy to find another sun ra recording that is definitely going to stick around in my music collection (not all of them do). i highly recommend this to you jazz fans out there.

Even without a bassist, Brother "Ra's" funky basslines swing hardcore.... A really tight-knit studio recording from the band in the eighties.

This is one of the most accessible recordings by Sun Ra (formerly refused by a major like Columbia) but the Maestro is in total command of his art and the Arkestra in full glory! So if you need one essential recording of their eighties output this is it...Anyway there's no experimental free music here but mostly beautiful synth/organ driven grooves in a space-jazz context, very listenable and full of ideas. The title track, originally issued as a 12" maxi-single on the Y label (UK) is a pure masterpiece of black popular art: a sort of jazz-hip hop anthem sung by Ra that was a classic in the Arkestra live sets during the eighties (see "Live at Praxis 84" or the "Mystery Mr.Ra" video) inspiring later recordings like Guru's Jazzmatazz and others. The cover versions here are fantastic examples of how Ra & his Arkestra could send Duke Ellington or Charlie Chaplin flying on a magic carpet! And now the bad news: the source is the original vinyl and not exactly in the mint condition. The problem is that obviously we are not talking about a low-fi acetate from the 20's but a 1982 recording; even the original Saturn masters from the late fifties sound great (see the Evidence discs). The liner notes say that the Unhear Music Series used the best possible LP for this remastering. The cd label is a replica of the Italian LP label and you can even read "Distribuzione Dischi Ricordi" on the cover. It's a real mystery (or a spell by Mr.Ra himself?) that the masters don't exist anymore because Ricordi (now BMG) was one of the biggest Italian labels, publishings & distributors not exactly a small indie company. A strange fact indeed: this is the only reason I gave it 4 stars...
I can only add that as usual with Ra this great black music stands above all technical imperfections and even if you're not a big fan you'll find Nuclear War a real pleasure!

Wow, to think this is being re-released the same day as Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades" and the new Rollins Band! How cool! Anyway, if you're unfamiliar w/Sun Ra (which I guess is probably the only reason to write this sort of re-release review!), imagine Hawkwind at their most acid-damaged, a heavy dose of African music, with terrific, insane Albert Ayler/Ornette Coleman-esque free jazz. Sorry, but that's about as best a coherent description as I can come up with. The first time you listen, it's almost incomprehensible, but with some time and attention, you'll begin to recognize the genius at work. This isn't one of my personal favorites of Sun Ra's lengthy discography, but damn, it's definitely worth investing some time into trying to understand this. Not too many bands these days actually bother to challenge the listener like Sun-Ra did, so for all the college girls running out to buy Radiohead's half-hearted stabs at "Animals"-era Floyd and Tangerine Dream bleeping, check here for the work of a true genius/iconoclast.