Space Is the Place [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Deluxe Edition]

by Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra, Sun Ra

Overview

Made in 1972 and first released in 1974, Sun Ra's film Space Is the Place is a bona fide cult classic as well as a defining work of Afrofuturism. Equal parts science fiction, Blaxploitation, and musical performance with a dose of surrealism, the movie stars Ra on a mission to recruit young Black Americans for a space colony, using music as the vessel. He plays a card game with a pimp called the Overseer in order to determine the fate of the human race, and he opens an Outer Space Employment Agency at a youth center in Oakland, eventually transporting numerous people on his spaceship. Though it was made around the same time as Ra's essential Space Is the Place album, the two otherwise have little in common, and the film's soundtrack wasn't properly issued until 1993. The soundtrack itself is nearly as crucial to the Ra legacy as the film or album of the same name, and it has perhaps the best opening of any album ever, with June Tyson leading the Arkestra in the unforgettable chant "It's after the end of the world! Don't you know that yet?!" over Ra's ominous, whirring organ. Instrumental selections like "Under Different Stars" are on the trippier side of the Arkestra's repertoire, with murky electronics and acidic trumpets flailing in deep space. But there's also plenty of cosmic big band and the celebratory drum marathon "Watusa." Arkestra staples like "Calling Planet Earth," "Satellites Are Spinning," "Outer Spaceways Incorporated," and "We Travel the Spaceways" all tie into the film's plot, and these are some of the best readings of the songs. Ra himself makes poetic declamations during the free-form chaos of "I Am the Brother of the Wind," and the album ends with the wide-eyed, uplifting "We'll Wait for You" and a more concise version of the playful title track than the sprawling one from the 1973 studio album. ~ Paul Simpson

Product Details

Release Date:	05/26/2023
Label:	Modern Harmonic
UPC:	0090771826718
Rank:	51486

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Sun Ra   Primary Artist,Organ,Piano,Voices,Clavinet,Mini Moog,Rocksichord,Farfisa Organ,Moog Synthesizer
Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra   Primary Artist
Pat Patrick   Bass,Sax (Baritone)
Ahk Tal Ebah   Vocals,Trumpet,Flugelhorn
John Gilmore   Drums,Vocals,Percussion,Sax (Tenor)
Lex Humphries   Drums,Percussion
Marshall Allen   Kora,Oboe,Flute,Bassoon,Cowbell,Percussion,Sax (Alto)
Kwame Hadi   Congas,Trumpet,Vibraphone
Danny Davis   Sax (Alto),Flute,Percussion,Sax (Alto),Clarinet (Alto)
Danny Thompson   Sax (Baritone),Flute,Percussion,Sax (Baritone)
June Tyson   Bells,Vocals
Stanley Morgan   Percussion
Wayne Harris   Trumpet
Cheryl Bank   Vocals
Alzo Wright   Drums,Percussion
Harry Richards   Percussion
Russell Branch   Percussion
Lamont McLamb   Trumpet,Percussion
Ken Moshesh   Congas
Eloe Omoe   Bongos,Percussion,Clarinet (Bass)
Larry Northington   Congas,Percussion,Sax (Alto)
Judith Holton   Vocals
Robert Underwood   Percussion
Ruth Wright   Vocals

Technical Credits

Ihnfinity Inc.   Producer
John F. Szwed   Liner Notes
Jerry Gordon   Producer
Roger Seibel   Engineer,Pre-Mastering Engineer
Sun Ra   Arranger,Composer,Performer
Alan Nahigian   Photography