2nd Chance: Sun Ra - Out Beyond the Kingdom Of (1974)

By 1974, the Impulse! deal was starting to bear fruit, with almost a dozen LPs coming out during the course of the year, including several reissues from the old Saturn catalog. In addition, the Saturn label had been resurrected and new releases were being pressed in tiny editions for sale at gigs and at select record stores. Given the fact that all this product was suddenly flooding the marketplace, it is not surprising very few new recordings were made during the year. Much like 1973, 1974 is rather sparsely documented (relatively speaking), but most of what’s there is worth a listen.

In Feburary, shortly before Sonny’s sixtieth birthday, the Arkestra travelled to Mexico for an extended tour at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture—an invitation which dated back to the Fête de l’Humanité fiasco in September 1973, where Sun Ra’s music quelled a near riot and allowed for a triumphant performance of Ballet Folklórico de Mexico. While the musicians were given “plush accommodations,” by the grateful Mexican government, the musician’s union protested and prohibited them from performing—as musicians. The Actors Union interceded and the shows went on as “Sun Ra and His Cosmo Drama.” Szwed writes: “Sun Ra told the band that an earthquake would even the score, and later it was said that the Union’s office building had been leveled [in 1985]” (p.338). The Arkestra stayed in Mexico two or three months, playing two concerts at the Pallacio de Bellas Artes, a two-week stand at the Teatro Hidalgo, as well as concerts at Chapultepec Park (“where they played on a little island while people rowed around them in boats”) (Id.), the University of Mexico, and in front of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán. The Arkestra also appeared on TV in Mexico City on Siempre en Domingo, “a variety show rather like Ed Sullivan’s” (Campbell & Trent, p.206). According to Francisco “Ali” Mora, a Mexican drummer who joined the band during the tour, concert tapes probably exist (Id.) but no recordings have surfaced to date.

On June 16, the Arkestra performed at Hunter College in New York City and the concert was recorded, possibly by the college itself (the sound quality is remarkably good). Portions were compiled by Ra for release as Out Beyond The Kingdom Of (Saturn 61674) later in the year (although some copies are titled Discipline 99) (Id.). The first thing you notice is the school has provided Sonny with a decent grand piano, and he relishes in the opportunity to tickle the ivories. “Discipline 99” is given a stately, confident reading by the band and features a long piano solo, alternating pretty harmonies with flurries of dissonant tone clusters. The following medley of old standards (an impossibly romantic ballad, “How Am I To Know?” and the up-tempo, “(Keep Your) Sunnyside Up”) allows Ra to show off his inimitable, inside/outside comping skills behind John Gilmore’s big-hearted, languorously swinging tenor solos. “How Am I To Know?” is a thing of rare beauty and the presence of Ronnie Boykins on bass and Clifford Jarvis on trap drums gives new life and humor to the old-fashioned rhythms of “(Keep Your) Sunnyside Up.” Good stuff!—and a harbinger of things to come: a mini-set of jazz standards would increasingly become a fixture of the Arkestra’s live sets as the ‘70s rolled on.

Side two shifts gears, with an emphasis on space chants and ensemble freak-outs and is, frankly, a lot less interesting to my jaded ears. But to be fair, this record must be considered in context, as a historical artifact. An obsessive collector in the year 2011 will have heard these routines many times before, but in 1974, live recordings were scarce. Sonny was shrewdly filling the gap, documenting the Arkestra’s current show for eager fans. Considered in that light, Out Beyond The Kingdom Of was exactly what it needed to be: a souvenir you could take home with you from the Cosmo Drama. As such, side two is fun, with June Tyson and Ankh Tal Ebah at their soulful, hortatory best and Boykins and Jarvis keep things grooving nicely. The highlight is “Cosmos Synthesis,” a wild group improvisation for horns and free-bashing rhythm section which stays heavy longer than usual. But Sun Ra himself is inaudible for most of the side until the very end of “Journey To Saturn,” when some spooky organ chords fade up and fade down.

(continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday)

215. [188]  Sun Ra and his Outer Space Arkestra

Out Beyond the Kingdom Of

Sun Ra (p, org, Mini-Moog syn, recitation); Akh Tal Ebah (tp, flg, mell, voc); Kwame Hadi (tp, perc); Marshall Allen (as, fl, picc, ob, perc); Dany Davis (as, fl, acl, perc); John Gilmore (ts, perc, voc); Danny Ray Thompson (brs, fl, libf, perc); Pat Patrick (bars, eb); James Jacson (bsn, Inf-d, voc); Ronnie Boykins (b); Clifford Jarvis (d); unidentified (d); June Tyson (voc, dance).

Hunter College, NYC, June 16, 1974

1st set:
unidentified improvisation [freakout ens; d]    audience tape 1
Outer Space (Is Such a Pleasant Place) (Ra)
[JT voc]
Astro Black (Ra) [JT voc]
Tapestry from an Asteroid (Ra) [JT voc]
untitled improvisation [freakout ens; Allen, as]
Discipline 27 (Ra)
untitled improvisation [syn; ens]
Enlightenment (Dotson-Ra) [JG, JT voc]
Love in Outer Space (Ra)
The Satellites Are Spinning (Ra) [JT, ATE, ens voc]
The Shadow World (Ra) [inc]

2nd set:
Solar Ship (Ra)                   
unidentified title [Gilmore, ts,
with p accompaniment; inc]
What Planet Is This? (Ra) [SR, ATE, ens voc]
Discipline 27-II (Ra) [dirge tempo] /
I Roam the Cosmos (Ra) [SR, JT, ens voc]
If You're the Truth, You're a Bad Truth (Ra) /
Right Road, Wrong Direction (Ra) /
Take Me to Your Leader (Ra) /
This Is Not Life (Ra) /
I Use Planets for Stepping Stones (Ra) /
Where'd You Come From? (Ra) /
Immeasurable (Ra) [SR, JT, ens voc] /
Out Beyond the Kingdom Of (Ra)
[SR, JT, ATE declamation;
incl. You've Lost Your Right and
It's After the End of the World]
Cosmos Synthesis (Ra) /
Outer Space Employment Agency (Ra)
[SR, JT, ATE voc] /
Why Go to the Moon? (Ra) [SR, ATE, JT voc] /
Neptune (Ra) [JT, ens voc; inc]
Journey to Saturn (Ra) [JT, ens voc]
Rocket Number Nine (Ra) [ens voc] /
Second Stop is Jupiter (Ra) [ens voc]
Angels and Demons at Play (Boykins-Allen)
[inc]
How Am I to Know? (King-Parker)
(Keep Your) Sunnyside Up (DeSylva-Brown)
unidentified title (Ra)
[bars riff; p; ts; Hadi, tp]
Sun Ra and his Band from Outer Space (Ra)
[ens voc]
closing announcement       

Saturn LP 61674, Out Beyond the Kingdom Of, was released on the Philadelphia label in 1974.  Some copies are titled Discipline 99.  Location courtesy of Glenn Jones.

At least three different Saturn labels were used on Out Beyond the Kingdom Of.  There is a Purplish Chicago Saturn label with a 1974 copyright date; these were sold in a generic "Acropolis" cover (Peter Roberts).  There is a  photocopied Chicago label (black on white) with typed-in titles; on this label, "Outer Space Employment Agency" has been truncated to "Outer Space Em."  These recycled Chicago labels are probably of Philadelphia origin!  In later years the prevailing label was a yellow Philadelphia with titles typed in a script typeface (see Geerken and Hefele's book for photos of the second and third labels).

There is a 95-minute audience tape that includes most of the first set, then (as we now realize) jumps to the end of the second set.  This is referred to as "tape 1" above.  A second audience tape ("tape 2"; this one is 105 minutes long and was obviously taped by a different person) was brought to our attention by Roy Morris after the first edition was published.  It reveals that "Angels and Demons at Play" through "Sun Ra and his Band from Outer Space" come from the end of the second set, not the first set.

"Solar Ship" was the introduction to the second set (it includes the emcee announcing the band's reappearance), but, as it appears only on the Saturn release, our placement of the untitled number and "Discipline 99" immediately after it, at the beginning of the second set, is somewhat conjectural.  They could have been from the end of the first set.  By contrast, the long sequence that begins with "What Planet Is This?" and "Discipline 27-II" is material that was almost always used at the beginning of a set.

Tape 2 shows that "Cosmos Synthesis" was edited on the Saturn release.  Both tapes reveal that "(Keep Your) Sunnyside Up" was faded at the end of John Gilmore's solo (solos by Kwame Hadi, Pat Patrick, Ra on piano, and Ronnie Boykins, plus the final ensemble, were cut, probably because Hadi was off-mike during his solo).  We previously identified the baritone sax soloist on this number as Charles Davis, but the electric bass line on "Angels and Demons" would indicate Pat Patrick.  A long, bowed bass solo on "Discipline 27" is the work of Ronnie Boykins, and Danny Thompson can be heard on the Neptunian libflecto during "The Shadow World."  A second trap drummer is audible on "Angels and Demons."  All unissued titles identified by rlc and ct; personnel rlc and ct.

"Angels and Demons at Play" (an arrangement called "Pre-Egyptian March" at several other points in the first edition) was incorrectly identified in the first edition as "Watusi."  Thanks to Ahmed Abdullah for correcting us.

from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra and his Outer Space Arkestra
Out Beyond the Kingdom Of
(Discipline 99)
Saturn 61674 (1974)

1. Discipline 99   12:12
2. How Am I to Know? - Sunnyside Up   9:35
3. Solar Ship   1:50
4. Out Beyond the Kingdom Of ...   4:32
5. Cosmos Synthesis   5:40
6. Outer Space Employment Agency   4:27
7. Journey to Saturn   10:26

-FLAC-

Mega

RS

HF

or

-320-

Mega

RS

HF

Many Thanks to Paul W for sharing his rip of this rare album.