Released 1967 Length 31.53 Producer Alton Abraham Genre Jazz | Recorded 1963, New York Release date 1967 Label El Saturn Records | |
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Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
(1963) When Angels Speak of Love
(1963) Artists Sun Ra, The Sun Ra Arkestra Similar Sun Ra albums, Jazz albums | ||
Sun ra moon dance
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. Recorded in 1963, but not released until 1967 on Sun Ra's own Saturn label, the record has become one of the most discussed of Ra's New York recordings. The record was reissued on compact disc by Evidence in 2000.
Contents
'Cosmic Tones functions as a kind of blueprint for the sort of large-scale jazz weirdness that would inform much of Sun-Ra's subsequent works, featuring the woozy reeds of And Otherness and the afro-jazz experiments of Thither And Yon. On Adventure Equation a space echo treatment on the recording which is reprised for the sax flurries on Voice Of Space making the whole experience even more disorientating than it already would be.'
Originally released in a sleeve with a Sun Ra doodle, the better known cover, designed by Richard Pedreguera, was in place by 1969. Pedreguera also designed the sleeve for The Nubians of Plutonia at around the same time.
Anticipating psychedelia
The album has increasingly been discussed within the context of anticipating psychedelia or pointing towards the funk of George Clinton;
'Clinton's astral ritual seems as inspired by the Nation of Islam as it is by Sun Ra, and when asked about the Ra in 1979, Clinton said, "This boy was definitely out to lunch - the same place I eat at."
When reissued on CD, Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow was added to the disc.
12" Vinyl
All songs by Sun Ra
Side A:
- "And Otherness" - (5.10)
- "Thither and Yon" - (4.01)
- "Adventure-Equation" - (8.26)
Side B:
- "Moon Dance" - (6.34)
- "Voice of Space" - (7.42)
Musicians
First two tracks recorded at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1963. Adventure-Equation, Moon Dance and Voice of Space were recorded at the Tip Top club, Brooklyn, in the same year, at 10 in the morning whilst Tommy Hunter was playing nights there with Sarah McLawler's trio, since the club provided access to a Hammond B-3 organ gratis. Hunter remembers some neighbourhood kids running in during the recording and shouting, "These guys don't know how to play!".
Songs
1And Otherness5:11
2Thither and Yon4:03
3Adventure-Equation8:28