Customer Reviews

Other Side of the Sun

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

 

 

Recorded in two sessions - November 1, 1978, and January 4, 1979 - the album yielded a defining song, Space Is The Place, within the vast discography of studio releases.

Space Fling has a bouncy beat and Manhattan Cocktail - the longest piece - captures the future visions of Sun Ra. Flamingo and The Sunny Side Of The Street are more traditional in theory, but are intriguing intersections of the past with the present.

Released in 1979, the oftentimes hard-to-find gem shows a master at work in the studio with a special artistic confidence to utilize a large canvas to capture celestial happiness.

This is a considerably different set form the Sun Ra Arkestra when put next to "Languidity" which was recorded during the same time frame. This is a straght ahead album with alot more energy and vigor and less of an avante gurade slant to the proceedings. I believe the Arkestra could swing from both albums during the same concert and what a great show that would be to see.
CUrrently they list this as out of print from Amazon[.com] but if you really love The Arkestra from the early to mid 80s when they fully embraced music from big bands standards sonng books from the 40s and 50s this is defintely worth searching out.
Be warned I dont think Sun Ra or the Arkestra ever made a substandard album in their careers and this includes the current Arkestra as led by Marshall Allen who continue to tour and record today.

Here is a gem of a Sun Ra album. No one package can
summarize the diversified genius of the mighty Myth
Realist, but there are a handful of albums which
provide a sweet pictoral for ear and mind. SUPERSONIC
JAZZ and JAZZ IN SILHOUETTE present sumptuous views
into the early years of multiharmoic pioneering, and
stomping good jams to boot! NOTHING IS and LIVE AT
MONTREUX offer the further discpline which Ra and
his Arkestra has brought into the entire realm of
Music, let alone the Jazz avant garde.

With the yet-unavailable-on-CD OMNIVERSE, THE OTHER SIDE
OF THE SUN is an impeccable peek into both the traditional
AND transitional drives which make the master poet/pianist/
arkestrator so deliciously deadly. From the jaunty jump
of "Space Fling" to the heady ethereal conjure of
"Manhattan Cocktail", you know you're on one serious
voyage conducting you through the cosmic and the down
home with a firm smile.
Taste the saucy boogaloo of this album's version of "Space
Is The Place", or the haunting allure by which the standard
"Flamingo" calls to the heart and soul, and ponder those
who endlessly speak of Ra and Arkestra as nonmusical
noisemakers. Add a genuinely-upbeat rendition of "The
Sunny Side Of The Street", and you have a classic album
of Sweet Black Music, great and warming.

From the late 1970s, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SUN is full
of spirit and strength. I invite you to check the great
personnel which fuels this edition of the Arkestra, that
you may know the masters by their most joyful sound, ever
around...

I'm glad this is in print, but it's far from being Ra's best work from this time frame. This is a fairly traditional album that will have more appeal for middle-of-the-road jazz consumers than for Ra's usual target audience. All in all a very "normal" album.