Search - Sun Ra & His Solar Myth Arkestra :: Life Is Splendid

Buyer Beware

Byron the Bulb | 02/24/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This CD, documenting Sun Ra and His Solar Myth Arkestra's performance at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival in 1972, transforms what must have been a mind-blowing live performance into a murky, nearly incomprehensible sonic stew. The CD consists of a single long track, the "Space is the Place" suite, a brilliant, complex free jazz performance with blasting horns, high-speed African rhythms, and chanted invocations to space and infinity. Unfortunately, the first section of the piece is cut off because, as the liner notes explain, "a proper mix could not be achieved until several minutes into the performance." The recording quality is also bootleg-quality, with the result that the CD, despite its brevity (37 1/2 minutes), is extremely difficult to listen to. It's a bit like standing in front of a painting that's been destroyed by rot, to the point where only the bare outlines of its figures are still visible. This is without doubt an extremely valuable historical document. However, any but the most dedicated Sun Ra completists are advised to save their pennies."

Sounds fine to me

Funkmeister G | 05/15/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I suppose since I'm a fan of the lo-fi aesthetic maybe I find it easier to say this but I have no problem w/ the sound quality of this release [it's playing right now], I can hear it all quite clearly. This is a quite accessible Sun Ra live recording, not quite as terrifying as some of his more atmosphericly nasty extended pieces. The opening ENLIGHTENMENT makes it highly necessary for any Ra collection, "the sound of joy is enlightenment" sings June Tyson & it's true, elsewhere on an earlier lp this classic tune appears as an instrumental but the lyrics complete it. Love In Outer Space creates a great vibe as a continuous stream of music is made leading into none other than his most famous tune Space Is The Place [this is recorded in 1973, a year after that lp came out] & it's much less annoying than the lp version which admittedly loses some of its charm after 20 minutes of chanting & squeaking. Here the supposedly bad production makes it easier to listen to in my opinion. Also noteworthy is What Planet Is This? pondering the existential question "is this the Planet of Death? if not then why are all the people dying?". There has been a book written called Serious As Yr Life: John Coltrane & beyond, about the avant-garde jazz scene & Sun Ra is 1 of the main people focussed on & rightly so, this is not light entertainment by any means, you have to hurl yrself right into it. There are luckily so many Ra albums out there to choose from that even if you miss out on Life Is Splendid [& w/ good music you could well think so] you will still find a lot of good stuff on others, I think this is a good one though & especially recommend Atlantis, Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy & the 2nd volume of the Heliocentric Worlds of... SPLENDID INDEED!!! [basically if you dig intelligent, challeging & occasionally hipshaking/footstomping music this is for you]"

Sounds fine to me too!!!

Patrick Moriarty | Narnia | 10/31/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Now, granted, I haven't listened to that much sun ra (I only have this one and "Supersonic Jazz") or that much avant guard Jazz for that matter, but this cd pretty much blew me away. Judith Holton, Cheryl Bank, and Ruth Wright do phenomenal things with their voices that will shock a listener who has not heard any music of this kind before. Le Sun Ra has some awesome solos on the "space organ" and keyboard. John Gilmore on tenor sax also has some very cool freakouts. There is a part in "What Planet is This" where the horns mimic the laughing of the singers in a very convincing and artistic way. And all of this is backed up by intense and complex African sounding rythms. This is music that will greatly reward the patient and gifted listener."