Grooving, spaced-out, late-seventies jazz-funk, which first surfaced in 2006 on the Inedit 79 compilation. Same super-classy spaceway as Fantasy by Earth Wind & Fire. That Raekwon knows a tune when he hears one.
Likely recorded in Chicago around 1956; originally released on Saturn. Ra is co-composer of both sides; it could be him playing the harmonium.
‘I had two main vocal groups at the time,’ Ra once recalled. ‘One was called the Cosmic Echoes. And the Cosmic Rays, too. It was around the same time that John Gilmore joined the band. I saw the possibility that they could be really great so I began to coach them; they were connected with a barber shop, but I taught them other things.’ ‘We’d go down to the barber shops and rehearse some groups,’ added John Gilmore. ‘Sun Ra had them singin’ some beautiful stuff. I think he probably was saving them from themselves. He heard them, heard their potential, snatched them off the street, and started making them do something constructive.’
Killer balladry for the Lowrider massive.
Great, great soul music: authentically, rawly heartfelt and emotionally generous; beautifully expressed.
Conwell leads the Exits in a Northern favourite, on the flip.
Hotly recommended.
Tremendous.
High-drama, dubwise Channel One, with deadly guitar and congas, and fatter-than-Fat-Albert trombone.
Beautifully presented in die-cut, screen-printed jackets, with printed inner sleeves.
‘Two versions of one of Ra’s most enduring compositions. The classic take featuring vocals by David Henderson, and an alternate instrumental version never before released on vinyl, featuring the almighty John Gilmore on the drum kit!’
Tiny run.
Two contrasting, bolshie, try-a-thing dubs, bristling with ideas and energy.
‘Ambulance Dub creeps along like John Carpenter laying down a dubplate special at Firehouse. The Bigger Tutti is full-on, punky-reggae-party steppers.’
Hand-stamped.