Day 31 Sun Ra - Heliocentric Worlds

I am skipping ahead slightly to 1965, and will return shortly to the magnificent 'featuring Pharaoh Sanders' disc. It is time for Heliocentric Worlds, and to be certain this is a huge undertaking. Not that 1965 is particularly far ahead of things like Coltrane's Ascension, but Heliocentric Worlds is its own work, still mostly unplumbed by other artists. It is certainly one of the Sun Ra greats! For completists, ESP now offers a 'volume 3' which is mostly a outtakes, but is certainly worth discussing.

Volumes 1 & 2 belong to different periods, but their approach to the music is close enough that grouping them together makes sense. In this case, volume 1 is from April while volume 2 is from November. Both discs feature an apparently 'improvised' sound, that was in fact composed by Sun Ra. I imagine there are elements of both; just as King Crimson's Starless period involves composed arrangements that were generated by and large out of improvisation.


Volume 1 is to my ears a little more difficult and less amazing than volume 2, but this should not keep you from hearing it. The tracks are shorter, but no less abstract and abrasive. In philosophy they are similar to Brotzmann's Machine Gun--which is to say there are huge symphonic blasts of dissonance, staggered between introspective moments (mostly low end and primal.) Although the tracks are shorter, it is possible to move from one track to the next with no sense of a break Unlike volume 2 there is no use of electronics, and with the heavy use of low-end instruments, the overall character of the album is a kind of heavy organic beast. It honestly has little parallel anywhere else in jazz or elsewhere.

By Other worlds, the tone seems to shift because of Ra's piano playing, but it is still punctuated by sustained blasts from the band and an overall frantic nature not present on earlier releases. Things finally do break with The Cosmos when the vibe becomes a primary focus--something that will remain true through the rest of the series and provide a gateway for volume 2's dreamy otherness.

If music has another mostly unexplored element, one of textural and tonal quality, where this pallet can be expressed akin to abstract art or the heights of cinematic expression, then it is hard to think of a better choice for exploring these elements of music (so far removed from the world of beat, lyrics and melody) then this pairing of albums. The latter tracks abandoning the 'blasts' of the first half and floating in a more subtle realm of color and mood.

Volume 2 is probably the superior of the two albums, although even having an opinion in this matter is worthless! Both need to be heard. Volume 2 is only 3 tracks, of which the 3rd (Cosmic Chaos) is similar in nature to volume 1 (fantastic!) The album as a whole differs from volume 1 because Ra's electric/electronic keyboard is audible and at times dominates. The other instrumentation is quite similar otherwise. Heavy use of low-end strings and bizarre percussion. In fact, it remains impossible to comment on this percussion as it bares no real parallel to anything else--I even stretched my musical memory to Indonesian Gamelan music, but it doesn't draw parallel to much of anything I know from non-western, traditional musics. Ultimately this is Sun Ra music and makes no concessions.

The first track, The Sun Myth, clocks in at 18 minutes and is dominated mostly by string and haunting keyboard, but the work is shifting and dense, so most descriptions will fall short. This is IMO one of the best works among the heliocentric worlds, utilizing at times near silence and a very large arkestra to explore just about all there is to explore.

Regardless, House of Beauty still floors me. After so many minutes of challenging music, somewhere in its short running time, Ra gives up and starts playing a bit of jazz, but its a strange, distorted view into some other world. The vision last only a few seconds and is again obscured. This is not earth, just a momentary dream of earth. Before all is said and done here, the raging red spot storm of Jupiter returns from volume 1, though now Ra's Jazz chops hold the tides in check, half melody, half madness.

Somewhere (I'm not sure where), House of Beauty turns into Cosmic Chaos. It is the coda for volume 1, but now a far superior creature through the strings and foreign percussion (cymbals of some sort, reminding me of Haino's Tenshi No Gijinka.) Ultimately the album ends where volume 1 began with orchestral blasts, and quiet introspective pauses.

I do not think there is even a hint of melody between the two albums. It is an incredible artistic victory and it is also fortunate that while these two are among the most heard Sun Ra recordings, they actually stand among his best; though they aren't representative of his overall output in anyway.

I know I've promised to review volume 3 here, but that's going to have to come on a future evening. It is not so spectacular as volumes 1 & 2 and may not deserve much more than footnote status, though it is certainly a good album. More to come...