Sun Ra - Space is the Place: Music for the Film (1972/2019)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 244 MB | Tracks: 16 | 350:15 min
Style: Jazz, Avant-Garde | Label: Enterplanetary Koncepts
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 244 MB | Tracks: 16 | 350:15 min
Style: Jazz, Avant-Garde | Label: Enterplanetary Koncepts
Call it what you will—Blaxploitation flick, Afrofuturistic science fiction, low-budget surrealism, Black-power manifesto—SPACE IS THE PLACE is the only film written by, scored by, and starring Sun Ra. Directed by John Coney, produced by Jim Newman, filmed in 1972, and released in 1974, it remains an iconic part of Ra's deeper cultural legacy and a touchstone for his fans. In too many cases, the title (also the title of an unrelated 1973 album on Blue Thumb) is the only thing uninformed Earthlings know about Sun Ra. It has become the Ra ur-cliché, a not-so-secret handshake. If all you know about Sun Ra is "Space is the Place," you don't know Ra.
Despite being called as much in its original 1993 issue, this album is NOT the soundtrack of SPACE IS THE PLACE. This is the music that was recorded by Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra FOR the film. Most of the music on this album is not heard in the film except in short excerpts, and there's music in the film which is not on this album. Hence, this is not a soundtrack album. It's a first-rate Sun Ra studio album that stands on its own, apart from the film.
The film was produced while Ra and his entourage were based in Oakland CA. The bandleader booked a recording session at an unidentified studio originally thought to be in that city. However, Jim Newman told Sun Ra discographers Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent that the studio was “on Connecticut Street at the foot of Potrero Hill in San Francisco." The album features a mix of reworked Ra evergreens (e.g. "We Travel the Spaceways," "Satellites Are Spinning," "Watusa," and "Love in Outer Space") as well as tracks used in the film and appearing nowhere else (e.g. "The Overseer," "Cosmic Forces," and "Mysterious Crystal").
Singer/dancer June Tyson offers sparkling lead vocals on "Outer Spaceways Inc.," "Satellites Are Spinning," and "We Travel the Spaceways," as well as impassioned declamations on "Black Man." John Gilmore, one of the greatest tenor saxophonists of his generation, largely served as drummer on these sessions. Ra provides his customary cosmic pyrotechnics on a battery of electronic keyboards.
These tracks were first issued on CD in 1993 by Evidence Records; the package was subtitled "Soundtrack to the film" and featured different cover art. That CD is long out of print, but can be purchased on the secondary market. The contents of the album were issued on LP by Sutro Park in 2010, and they created new cover art. (So did we.) Yet another CD edition was included (along with a DVD of the film) in the 40th Anniversary coffee-table book published in 2014 by Harte Recordings.
The audio for this digital release has some minor improvements over the Evidence and Harte CDs (including the reduction of 60Hz electrical hum during quiet passages), but the respective editions are largely comparable. Wherever the tracks were originally recorded, they were well-recorded. However, according to Jim Newman, the original master tapes were destroyed in a studio fire. All that remains is a quarter-inch stereo mixdown tape.
Tracklist:
01. It's After the End of the World
02. Under Different Stars
03. Discipline 33
04. Watusa
05. Calling Planet Earth
06. I Am the Alter-Destiny
07. Satellites Are Spinning
08. Cosmic Forces
09. Outer Spaceways Incorporated
10. We Travel the Spaceways
11. The Overseer
12. Black Man – Love in Outer Space
13. Mysterious Crystal
14. I Am the Brother of the Wind
15. We'll Wait for You
16. Space is the Place
FILE: 01. It's After the End of the World.flac
Size: 11712849 Hash: D72C717B15E7A2BF22BC6B3D88BDBE44 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 457F0B955CF56C5018DF4981E2A0088B8739014D
FILE: 02. Under Different Stars.flac
Size: 13518167 Hash: A3489258D5812CD08747972425400E55 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 1FE5688353E9A794573E0D9E2760ADEFBF54FFED
FILE: 03. Discipline 33.flac
Size: 13157417 Hash: 5A046100F1585C80CBB86D946D1A642F Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: 2D4C7D1A3268587A941E0FF4CC1E1CE373F3B167
FILE: 04. Watusa.flac
Size: 26344657 Hash: D4A4648689C9B53B837F0E9236337FD2 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: 6B9CB5390BC3F3D0C73E4E36F38445D026E3BDE5
FILE: 05. Calling Planet Earth.flac
Size: 10396726 Hash: 31836E2DB745B4D2C8988083CC483759 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 86%
Signature: 7CDB4C14FEA3B20814ADB4546E2D559C48044300
FILE: 06. I Am the Alter-Destiny.flac
Size: 4489006 Hash: EF9FE5960FDFEB46681948C8C9BD0FCF Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 59A33AD43E41696C7E2B9B7BB156B187181DD008
FILE: 07. Satellites Are Spinning.flac
Size: 9290225 Hash: D75F5D2D5703EF49EB5239F6C964F336 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 7F595AFB3AD6204C550196BCA07D39F05D28E903
FILE: 08. Cosmic Forces.flac
Size: 9038498 Hash: 30F5EACFB6674363B659137C8BE34319 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 58%
Signature: C9D0703AA9DB3F7B1CF7B7D1EC0ED2364D751F1D
FILE: 09. Outer Spaceways Incorporated.flac
Size: 11095024 Hash: 00FBFFFC509A62241987190F6046CE56 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: C06EEB8A4B3708DE83907EAEA6A132198AE3740A
FILE: 10. We Travel the Spaceways.flac
Size: 7513326 Hash: 358A37E5595D353D4D46A7D242E96CEE Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: 512DEBC38F56D4BDA11DAFF5C754C44E6307C2D1
FILE: 11. The Overseer.flac
Size: 10867181 Hash: 48913D5675955E9E1388A547D825121D Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 11EBE4D5CA9F5B644AF0F393DDFC16440CB357E9
FILE: 12. Black Man – Love in Outer Space.flac
Size: 57808644 Hash: 7A367EAB30C0B4BEAE2ECBCFD0622353 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 11FC297AB1C26F60D1978BFB2287491D69DACD3E
FILE: 13. Mysterious Crystal.flac
Size: 19289419 Hash: 1419F26313F77C230E6292CF9954DAD6 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: C910AD9563096F09DC05AD1D2237E0600719A375
FILE: 14. I Am the Brother of the Wind.flac
Size: 20618634 Hash: A66EAFF2C4100AF7AFAFCC326FA8C73C Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 1B6045D6DDBBC910D1CAA53B0E7DC112440C05AC
FILE: 15. We'll Wait for You.flac
Size: 16096334 Hash: F4FED4A5ED720C6F3BE02492D89D9BDE Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 4906B46056E8450FE222CEB4098785242B10D041
FILE: 16. Space is the Place.flac
Size: 14592103 Hash: 9C6063078E52B022E2D3751A85790467 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: E59D380370A757EF68166824CA84C942DEB9F1FF