Monday, January 10, 2011

Sun Ra - God's Private Eye (1980/2000)

Sun Ra & the Omniverse Jet Set Orchestra
God's Private Eye
[no label (His Story); 2 CD set, 2000]
limited, numbered edition of 400 sets

Sun Ra and the Arkestra played eleven concerts over a week at this Detroit location, culminating in three complete shows on New Years Eve 1980/1 during which nearly 100 Sun Ra compositions were performed in a single night.

The complete Detroit Residency is available on Transparency in a 28 CD box that (if still available directly from Transparency) is remarkably affordable. God's Private Eye is a 2 CD set comprised of selections from these dates and though the sound quality does not match the Transparency release, it is a good introduction to this historical event.

Thanks again to our generous friend Paul W for another rare Sun Ra artifact.


God's Private Eye
1-1. Cosmo Drama incl. Private Eye in the Sky 32:54
1-2. Over the Rainbow 3:57
1-3. Fate in a Pleasant Mood 3:16
1-4. Cosmo Drama incl. I Have Sparks, Happy New Year!, Auld Lang Syne 20:21
1-5. The World of Africa 0:54
1-6. Halloween in Harlem 10:56
2-1. Cosmo Drama incl. The Sound Mirror 23:22
2-2. Over the Rainbow 2:34
2-3. Untitled Improvisation 3:08
2-4. We'll Be Together Again 6:24
2-5. Cosmo Drama incl. Journey to Saturn - Saturn's Rings 17:18
2-6. Space Loneliness 4:12
2-7. Strange Worlds - Black Myth 7:34
2-8. Cosmo Drama incl. The Satellites Are Spinning 9:19

FL AC  (2 files)
320k
Posted by at

13 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2011 at 10:54 AM

    sugarmegs.org has many live concerts of sun ra in all incantations.. just click database interface..then look under shows by band

    ReplyDelete
  2. nikosJanuary 10, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    I bought a copy of "God's Private Eye" years ago - no. 317! It is a nice, if shambolic, sampler of the Detroit residency (Dec. 26, 1980 - Jan. 1, 1981), but as you say, it has now been superseded by the massive set on Transparency which includes all the music from "God's Private Eye", "Oblique Parallax" and "Beyond The Purple Star Zone", except for three workshop tracks on BTPSZ.
    A useful post this! - hopefully, folks who hear this set here will be tempted to go for the Transparency set, which (if still available) really IS surprisingly affordable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. yotteJanuary 10, 2011 at 5:18 PM

    Thanks anon! I frequent Sugarmegs and have snatched up several of those shows. I only wish I knew more about converting them and dividing them into tracks. I've only used Macs for this sort of thing and have no experience (or software) for monkeying with those wma files.

    I sure appreciate your kind consideration for sharing the sugarmegs info, though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Br. CleveJanuary 10, 2011 at 10:12 PM

    yotte - download EasyWMA from http://www.easywma.com (duh!). It's $12.99, but totally worth it. I use it on a Mac and have had 100% success with it. You can convert the whole file, then use an editor like Audacity to divide it up into individual tracks (Command-B will do it at each track break....then use Export Multiple to export all the individual tracks, as wav, mp3 or whatever). You can make a CD or put them into itunes from there. Thanks for the great blog! I've been an Arkestra fan since the 70's and its so great to have these rare recordings in my ipod.

    ReplyDelete
  5. nikosJanuary 11, 2011 at 2:19 AM

    Please help! I also tried the sugarmegs site, but didn't even get to the wma files: when I click a download link all that happens is that a blank page loads - no download begins. What am I doing wrong?!

    ReplyDelete
  6. DuxilandJanuary 11, 2011 at 3:52 AM

    Another great upload, thanks a lot!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. yotteJanuary 11, 2011 at 5:10 AM

    Thanks BR. Cleve! EasyWMA sounds like just the ticket. I'll check it out.

    Nikos, you should see a white page with a horizontal bar across the center of the page (streaming audio). When you click 'download' you will actually be streaming the show. Click the tiny triangle at the left to play. To download the file (save it to your hardrive), right-click or alt-click (mac) on the download link.

    Duxiland, glad you like it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. nikosJanuary 11, 2011 at 7:48 AM

    Thank you Yotte, I got it now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Butch SonginJanuary 12, 2011 at 10:20 AM

    Yotte, thanks for all the Sun Ra material. You never know what you're going to get from his band, anything from Ellington to free jazz. I'm listening to King Porter Stomp (!) right now.

    I do have the Transparency set from another source, not my rip, but it's in FLAC. Contact me privately if you're interested.

    ReplyDelete
  10. yotteJanuary 12, 2011 at 11:00 AM

    Thank you, Butch! Thats a very VERY kind offer!

    I have the Detroit Residency set and may wind up ripping/posting it sometime in the future. Currently, I'm focusing on recordings not otherwise available.

    I'd hate to step on Transparency's toes - Michael has been very kind to me in the past.

    Also, you're absolutely 100% right on the money about Ra's Super-Sonic diversity - this is OMNIVERSE MUSIC!

    ReplyDelete
  11. 6D MusicFebruary 3, 2011 at 8:13 AM

    Terrific. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousApril 11, 2015 at 5:38 AM

    Could you reupload this album? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  13. MeanMrKiteMay 29, 2016 at 10:59 PM

    another plea for thee from mee... a seed in need indeed, but far bee it from mee to thank you again for the magic music rhythmic equations for the more recent links that do indeed workee

    sorry, i'm a bitt loopey from the AWESOME Ra I've d/l'd already, and absoulutely cannot thank you enuf. but these older posts...man, it there is ANY way to re-acuate these gems you know i'd escape my hiding place deep and dark in outer space

    what does this mean? all llove to you and everyone involved, that' what!

    peace,
    mmk

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)