Track Listing

1. Lanquidity
2. Where Pathways Meet
3. That's How I Feel
4. Twin Stars Of Thence
5. There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19638 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The 1978 session Lanquidity, coming relatively late in Sun Ra's creative history, is another extraordinary venture into uncharted musical terrain. As the name suggests, it's a liquid and languid musical state, from the lounge area of Ra's cosmos, but it can also be resiliently funky and subtly dissonant in ways unheard outside the orchestra's precincts. The rhythm section of electric bass, two guitars and three drummers creates deep pulsing grooves for Sun Ra's assortment of ethereal organs and synthesisers and a horn complement of two trumpets and five reeds that are used sparingly for maximal effect. There are some elements of commercial crossover funk and even Miles Davis's electric period, but this is highly original music, an acid jazz prototype in which groove and electronica intersect with muted brass and a heady assortment of reeds and percussion. Sudden squiggles of funk guitar mix with strong improvisation from Sun Ra and his regular soloists, including saxophonists John Gilmore and Marshall Allen, who are always ready to bend the music into some new pitch zone. The lyrical title track bears a resemblance to Mingus's "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," and "There Are Other Worlds" is supplemented by overdubbed "Ethnic Voices" and additional percussion and electronics, creating an eerily engaging tapestry. Recorded in a New York studio with the sound further improved by Evidence, this is unusually well recorded for Sun Ra music of the period; a warm bath in music both lush and exotic. --Stuart Broomer

CD Description
By the time this album was recorded in 1978, Sun Ra and hisArkestra had been living in Philadelphia for a decade. Theyjourneyed to New York City to record this project for the Philly Jazz Label. The rhythmic bearing of the music, as wellas Sun Ra's use of a Fender Rhodes electric piano (especially on the nine-and-a-half minute "Twin Stars Of Thence"), align this music with some of the post-BITCHES BREW releases by Miles Davis.
Ra even brought along two electric guitarists for the date, Dale Williams and Disco Kid. As late '70s fusion-flavoured jazz goes, this stands up extremely well, with its rhythmic sensibilities harking back with gusto to earlier decades in the century. The album closer is the chant-filled "There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)"--11 minutes of ever-undulating and gently propulsive groove.Ra's piano playing is gorgeously ethereal on this number.

Customer Reviews

the crazy gang are on top form on this, the most accessible
The long wait for the reissue of Sun Ra's funk album, 'Lanquidity', is over! Recorded in 1978, this is the most accessible of Ra's cosmic explorations. Despite being more groove-orientated than much of his other work it will not disappoint even the hardiest fans of his further out recordings. No Pat Patrick on this one unfortunately, but the rest of the crazy gang are very much in evidence, including Marshall Allen and John Gilmore. The album contains all the greatest elements of Ra's sound. The creeping, interweaving horns, dramatic, tumbling percussion, ethnic chants and of course the keys of the original Afronaught himself. 'Lanquidity' finds Ra at his eerie and atmospheric best. Overdubbing flowing piano lines with creepy moog stabs to great effect. 'Where Pathways Meet' is a rollicking funk workout, with booming horns riffing under spellbinding soloists. 'There are Other Worlds ...' is an amazing soundscape blending echoey electric piano, synth washes and long winding solos. Overdubbed by members of the Arkestra sharply whispering, 'there are other worlds they have not told you of..' which, at two in the morning when you're a bit worse for wear is frankly terrifying. This record is really compelling record, an absolute must have that you won't be able to stop listening too. Welcome to the loving freedom of Ra's jail.

Hidden galaxies
It's sulphuric rivers on far away planets, shooting stars darting across the stratosphere, our minds bent to see and hear other things.
Ra's Languidy conjures up so many images, so many foreign emotions as it slowly tip-toes along, creeping under your skin.
"Where pathways meet," is where things come alive, a jumping tumult, all behind that croaking beat laid down by the sax. There's chance far all types of fun and games, plenty of sneaky witchcraft on the guitar.
"That's how I feel," is a so wonderfully lonesome, its baseline insipid, enternal. The whole record fit together nicely with the vocal on the languorious,"There are no other worlds."
A relative newcomer to Sun Ra's music I chose this as a starting point having headed the advice of the reviewer below. A gateway to other galaxies indeed

superb
I've only recently got into Sun Ra, but have already become at least partially familiar with the full range of the material from his early, more conventional, phase through to his very experimental stuff (which at its most extreme i must admit i struggled with). But this album is just right, completely absorbing grooves that are heavily atmospheric, and although Sun Ra's characteristic 'spaceiness' is well in evidence, it's best described in my mind as the soundtrack to 'Taxi Driver' that never was, that feeling of the big sleazy city at night time, with endless possibilities and the feeling that the night will never end.

It's still quite experimental, particularly on the first track, but never overwhelmingly so, and once it warms up it's superb.