Sun Ra - Strange Strings

Although there is a lot to admire with Strange Strings, the album nicely exhibits (at least for me) the contrast between experimentalism with care and precision, and just experimentalism.

Recorded in 1966, no one need doubt that the first track (Worlds Approaching) is yet another monster cut from the same cloth as Heliocentric Worlds. Running at 10 minutes, it seems from an entirely different session as the rest of the material here, and should be heard by all Sun Ra fans.

It is with less enthusiasm that I address the remainder. Heard as something akin to AMM, it might, at least in parts seem significant. There are some great moments, but between those moments...

OK, so let's get down to what Strange Strings really is. Using amplified string instruments, the Arkestra commenced to improvise on said strings for 30 minutes. No one in the Arkestra had any sort real prior experience with stringed instruments. Again, there are parts I like--when it does work, it is mostly saved by its percussive nature and interesting use of various objects to produce all sorts of sound, but there doesn't seem to be much care taken with the overall product.

In very blunt terms, my general feeling is that I have probably spent more times combing over Strange Strings trying to think of a way to review it than the Arkestra spent making it. Instead, the recording seems all novelty. Yay! 30 minutes of improvised scraping. OK, I've spent a lot of my listening years listening to a lot worse, but regardless of reviews praising Strange Strings, I actually consider the whole thing as close to a 'fuck off' album as Sun Ra ever got. It took me a long time to review Magic City because the album DEMANDS careful attention. Careful and Strange Strings don't go together. Instead, 'novelty' and 'footnote' come to mind.

And then, there's Door Squeak (a bonus track on the Atavistic CD). 10 minutes of Sun Ra messing around with a squeaky door. The band does attempt to accompany it. I'd love to pass judgment, but of course music like this along with the two pieces which make up the 'Strange Strings' improvisation are the sort of art that might somewhere, possibly, be considered brilliant. Unfortunately I don't hear the brilliance myself. Maybe I've just been jaded by so many other people attempting similar things (*cough*even myself*cough*) and at this late date find it pretty dull, especially when set next to Ra's composed efforts or large scale 'constructed' improvisations.

So here's where I'd like to put Strange Strings aside. There's a lot of great material to come, and I feel like I've been stuck on this one album I don't really care for very much. Once again, fans of noise (not harsh noise), AMM and MEV might feel some kindred spirit here, but seriously, those bands are doing it far better than Sun Ra's afternoon-pretending-to-be-a-noise-artist.