Details
Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. Foggy Day, A - (with The Nu Sounds)
2. Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie - (demo, with The Cosmic Rays)
3. Dreaming - (with The Cosmic Rays)
4. Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie - (with The Cosmic Rays)
5. Bye Bye - (with Le Sun Ra & Arkestra/The Cosmic Rays)
6. Somebody's in Love - (with Le Sun Ra & Arkestra/The Cosmic Rays)
7. Medicine For a Nightmare - (previously unreleased, alternate take, with Le Sun-Ra & His Arkistra)
8. Saturn - (with Le Sun-Ra & His Arkistra)
9. Supersonic Jazz - (with Le Sun-Ra & His Arkistra)
10. Happy New Year to You! - (with The Qualities)
11. It's Christmas Time - (with The Qualities)
12. Muck Muck (Matt Matt) - (The Space Age Vocalist, with Yochanan)
13. Hot Skillet Mama - (The Space Age Vocalist, with Yochanan)
14. Great Balls of Fire - (with Le Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
15. Hours After - (with Le Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
16. Teenager's Letter of Promises - (with Juanita Rogers/Mr. V's Five Joys/Lynn Hollings)
17. I'm So Glad You Love Me - (with Mr. V's Five Joys/Juanita Rogers)
18. Sun One, The - (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra/Yochanan)
19. Sun Man Speaks, The - (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra/Yochanan)
20. Sun Man Speaks, The - (previously unreleased, alternate take, with Sun Ra & His Arkestra/Yochanan)
21. October - (with Sun Ra & His Astro Infinity Arkestra)
22. Adventure in Space - (with Sun Ra & His Astro Infinity Arkestra)
23. Message to Earthman - (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra/Yochanan "A Space Age Vocalist")
24. Message to Earthman - (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra/Yochanan "A Space Age Vocalist")
25. State Street - (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
DISC 2: 1960 - 1962:
1. Blue Set, The - (with Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra)
2. Big City Blues - (with Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra)
3. Tell Her to Come on Home - (with Little Mack)
4. I'm Making Believe - (with Little Mack)
5. Bridge, The - (with Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra)
6. Rocket #9 - (with Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra)
7. Blues on Planet Mars - (with Sun Ra & His Astro-Solar-Infinity Arkestra)
8. Saturn Moon - (with Sun Ra & His Astro-Solar-Infinity Arkestra)
9. Sky Is Crying, The - (with Lacy Gibson)
10. She's My Baby - (with Lacy Gibson)
11. I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman - (with Lacy Gibson)
12. I Want an Easy Woman - (with Lacy Gibson)
13. I'm Gonna Unmask the Batman - (with Sun Ra & His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra)
14. Perfect Man, The - (with Sun Ra & His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra)
15. Journey to Saturn - (with Sun Ra & His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra)
16. Enlightenment - (with Sun Ra & His Astro-Galactic Infinity Arkestra)
17. Love in Outer Space
18. Mayan Temple
19. Disco 2100 - (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
20. Sky Blues - (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
21. Rough House Blues
22. Cosmo-Extensions
23. Quest - (with Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra)
24. Outer Space Plateau - (with Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra)
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Sun "Mr. V" Ra (keyboards); Danny Davis, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Pat Patrick (vocals, saxophones); Lacy Gibson (vocals, guitar); Yochanan, Roland Williams, Calvin Barron, Juanita Rogers, Lynn Hollings, Little Mack, David Henderson, James Jacson, Sam Bankhead, June Tyson (vocals); Bobby Fields, Danny Ray Thompson, Mickey Boss, James Spaulding (saxophones); Art Hoyle, Lucious Randolph, Michael Ray, Walter Strictland, Phil Cohran (trumpet); Julian Priester, Tyrone Hill (trombone); Buddy Guy (guitar); Ronnie Boykins, Richard Evans, Wilburn Green, Stafford James (bass); Clifford Jarvis, Robert Barry, Jon Hardy, Luqman Ali (drums); Jim Herndon, Tito (percussion); The Nu Sounds, The Cosmic Rays, The Qualities.
Compilation producer: Jerry Gordon.
Principally recorded in Chicago, Illinois and New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Michael Shore, Robert Pruter, Robert L. Campbell & John F. Szwed.
THE SINGLES, a collection of self-released 45s spanning his entire career, will undoubtedly raise anyone's esteem of the legendary band leader. Aside from putting out his own records long before artist-run labels became de rigeur, living and dressing by his own celestially-inspired code (later adopted as George Clinton's funk mythology), and claiming he was from Saturn, the former Sonny Blount had a voracious musical appetite that consumed nearly every post-war style. So while he was mostly renowned for a swinging mixture of suave Ellingtonian grooves and Ornette's freedom-enhanced modernism, THE SINGLES shows off the sizzling R&B, small-group lounge jazz, glorious doo-wop and straight-up Chicago blues sides of Ra's resume.
THE SINGLES also includes tracks where Ra's credited only as pianist, arranger, composer, etc. Recorded under a handful of witty sci-fi-related pseudonyms, these don't just capture Ra's diverse repertoire; they highlight his ability to naturally glide amongst seemingly incompatible moods, between the punkish, juke-joint R&B of a "space age" blues jumper named Yochahan, the street-corner serenade of Ra's vocal arrangements of Gershwin tunes for The Nu Sounds, and The Arkestra's patented South Side swing. These singles make up a secret history of one of jazz' giants--history well worth knowing.
Industry Reviews
4.5 Stars - (out of 5) - Prepare yourself: This is one of the major archival projects of the decade....this excursion into Ra's extensive and virtually unkown work as a producer of seven-inch, 45-rpm singles lets listeners in on several heretofore shrouded zones in his seemingly boundless musical omniverse...
Down Beat (01/01/1997)
...lots of beautifully bizarre nuggets....offbeat even by Sun Ra standards, this is not the place to start for Sun Ra neophytes. But for hardcore fans, how can you get along without it?
Option (11/01/1997)
...equal parts big band swing, blues, R&B, performance art, black vaudeville, twentieth-century harmony and Afrocentric rythm-n-ning, animated by a folksy vision of the cosmos and a generous dollop of hokum...
Musician (02/01/1997)
8 (out of 10) - ...too uneven to provide the ideal introduction to Ra's omniverse...it's still a treasure trove of mischief, and an inspiring way of mapping the many rings of wound visited by America's most intrepid astral traveler...
Spin (01/01/1997)
...lots of beautifully bizarre nuggets....offbeat even by Sun Ra standards, this is not the place to start for Sun Ra neophytes. But for hardcore fans, how can you get along without it?
Option (11/01/1997)
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