Track Listing

1. Space Is the Place
2. Images
3. Discipline
4. Sea of Sounds
5. Rocket Number Nine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118524 in Music
• Brand: Sun Microsystems
• Released on: 1998-03-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Customer Reviews

Not a Spinoff, Not the Soundtrack
This is a CD release of the album "Space is the Place," originally on Blue Thumb. It is neither the soundtrack to the film of the same name, nor a spinoff. It predates the film by a couple of years. It is an essential Sun Ra release from the 1970s.

space IS the place
sun ra was an experimental artist and an eccentric--he claimed to hail from saturn--who started out with big band bop in the 1950s, and then gradually moved into his own sound, "space" music, that melded bop with free jazz becoming an influential musician to people like ornette coleman, albert ayler, but also MC5, sonic youth, among others. what caught their ear is apparent here. on the one hand, sun ra stayed true to the standard songs jazz is built upon, engaging improvisationally with melody, chord structures, and modes; but at the same time pushing the envelope as to what constituted music, particularly in light of 20th century classical as well as the radical statements of free jazz. this blending leads to free forms that stay in touch with melody and, for lack of a better term, the singing nature of song structures. the title track reveals this well--it swings with funk, but at the same time is all over the place, somehow holding together, though. it is just plain fun for twenty minutes without getting dull or repetitive. the remaining tracks alternate between boppish tunes and free jazz shouts. to some, it may just sound confused, but with repeated listening and an open ear, there is much to explore and discover.

Outer space is the blessed place
This is beautiful. My curiousity was succumbed to & I picked this up. Space Is The Place itself goes for 21 minutes w/ chanted vocals, spacey if a little bit cheesy keyboards, excellent sax work & a lot of philosophy in the lyrics. Sometimes it gets to be a bit much but I think the purpose is to overwhelm you. Track 2, Images is outstanding jazz & if it had been penned by someone more 'down to earth' might be a standard by now. Truly brilliant stuff. Discipline continues in a similar vein, slightly moodier but definitely well done & communicative. Sea of Sounds is very much free jazz, & the waves are quite turbulent indeed. Rocket #9 [takes off for the planet Venus] should be a big hit, more space themes but more compact @ 2 & 1/2 minutes. This is my 1st Ra album & I'm almost certain that great as this is, there is probably even better stuff out there, I want Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy in particular but in the meantime I'll be more than happy w/ this. Someone recently had an album which tributed both Sun Ra & Funkadelic & that makes sense as both will free yr mind & get you a ticket on the Mothership. all aboard!