Sun Ra - Destination Unknown (1992)

“Destination Unknown finds Sun Ra unbowed in spirit and still incisive on piano and synthesizer. The band is exuberant, romping through show tunes and moonwalks." Recorded in 1992 in Switzerland, this was Sun Ra’s last recording on this planet.
-The Jazzloft

Recorded late in Sun Ra's life in concert, this version of the Arkestra was a good one, but far from the band who could make worlds quake in its presence. Featuring Michael Ray, Marshall Allen, Buster Smith, Ahmed Abdullah, Bruce Edwards, and a few others, these 11 men took the music to the people with the usual impeccable arrangements, but without the improvisational fire that was indicative of Ra's band at its zenith. The program of ten tracks, about an hour in length, features well-known Arkestra favorites such as "Theme of the Stargazers," "Calling Planet Earth," "Interstellar Lo-Ways," and "Echoes of the Future," as well as the closer, "We Travel the Spaceways," and the standard nuggets "Prelude to a Kiss" and "S'Wonderful," along with Will Hudson's "Hocus Pocus." The feel is there, but the fire isn't; the groove is in place, but the fierceness of attack is absent; the playing is impeccable, but the chaotic edge has been rounded. There is certainly much to enjoy here if one is listening in a vacuum, but if one has to compare, as one can and should in a line of musical and historical continuity -- especially the one Sun Ra provided so willingly and insistently -- this album pales.
-AMG Review by Thom Jurek

739. [482]  Sun Ra and his Omniverse Arkestra

Destination Unknown

Sun Ra (p, syn); Ahmed Abdullah (tp, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc); Tyrone Hill (tb, voc); Marshall Allen (as, fl, cowbell); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Inf-d, cowbell, voc); Bruce Edwards (eg); Jothan Callins (eb); Earl "Buster" Smith (d, announcement); Stanley Morgan [Atakatune] (cga); Elson Dos Santos Nascimento (surdo grande, perc).

Moonwalker Club, Aarburg, Switzerland,
March 29, 1992

Carefree (Ra)
Untitled (Echoes of the Future) (Ra)
Prelude to a Kiss (Ellington) [MR, AA voc]
Hocus Pocus (Hudson)
Theme of the Stargazers (Ra) [ens voc]
Interstellar Lo-Ways (Ra)
Calling Planet Earth
[Destination Unknown] (Ra) [ens voc]
[The] Satellites Are Scanning
[Spinning] (Ra) [ens voc]
'S Wonderful (Gershwin-Gershwin)
[Space Is the Place/]
We Travel the Spaceways (Ra) [ens voc]

Enja 7071, Destination Unknown, was released on CD in 1992.  There is also a Japanese CD issue, Enja CRCJ-1017.  All information from the CD leaflet.  Some of the titles are in error; corrections by Ralph Pleshar and rlc.  Also, Marshall Allen is incorrectly credited with a vocal.  The CD appears to consist of one complete set (or nearly so).

Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Phish performs 'Carefree' in Atlanta, April 26, 1994


'Carefree' from Destination Unknown

Destination Unknown (1992)
Sun Ra and his Omniverse Arkestra
Enja 7071 [CD]

1.  Carefree   10:19
2.  Untitled (Echoes Of The Future)   6:24
3.  Prelude To A Kiss   6:50
4.  Hocus Pokus   2:55
5.  Theme Of The Stargazers   6:08
6.  Interstellar Lo-Ways   4:40
7.  Calling Planet Earth   5:41
8.  Satellites Are Scanning   3:31
9.  S'Wonderful   4:56
10. We Travel The Spaceways   4:45

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