The quartet of Sun Ra, John Gilmore, Michael Ray and Luqman Ali performed at Teatro Cilak in Milan on January 23, 1978, apparently at the very end of their extended stay in Italy. While their exact movements are poorly documented during this period, they were certainly back in the states on or before January 29, where the Arkestra appeared at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore (see Campbell & Trent pp.247-250). The Teatro Cilak concert was recorded and portions were released later in the year as Disco 3000 (Saturn LP CMIJ78) and reissued by Art Yard in 2009. Prior to this, though, Art Yard released the entire Milan performance on two compact discs as The Complete Disco 3000 Concert (CD 001) in 2007. As with Media Dreams, these welcome reissues not only make available some of the rarest of all Saturn LPs, but also provide additional material that puts these weird and wonderful recordings into a wider context.
The concert opens with “Disco 3000” and, right away, you can tell the small band has really started to gel after several weeks working together. While Media Dreams is dominated by Ra’s electronica (wonderful as it is), Disco 3000 is much more of a cohesive group effort. There’s still plenty of mad-scientist keyboard extravaganzas, with the Crumar Mainman organ and cheesy rhythm box establishing an uneasy, mutant disco vamp—but here, Ali locks in comfortably with the beat and the horns are given plenty of space across its epic twenty-six minutes. About five minutes in, they suddenly launch into “Space is the Place,” but, curiously, not in the re-arrangement found on Media Dreams. After a couple of minutes of chanting, things take off again, with some absolutely killer tenor saxophone from Gilmore and hypnotic, quasi-ambient keyboard effects from Ra. It’s tempting to just say “Disco 3000” is the crowning achievement of the quartet’s brief existence and leave it at that. A classic Sun Ra track.
Not that there isn’t more great music on these discs! After a short drum solo, “Sun of the Cosmos” continues in the guided improvisation vein, including more crazed keyboard work from Sonny and another outrageous tenor solo from Gilmore, where he explores the entire range of extended techniques from altissimo screams to impossible split-tone multiphonics. Whew! Ra then moves to the piano for “Echos [sic] of the World,” a pretty ballad with Gilmore in the lead. “Geminiology” picks up the tempo with some jaunty swing and a riff-based head arrangement but Ra takes it way out: thunderous low-register tone clusters and furious parallel runs, just a total assault on the piano. Then it’s suddenly back to the cheery jazz feel for Ray’s extended solo on warm-toned trumpet. “Sky Blues” is exactly as the title suggests, a swinging blues riff, with Gilmore delivering the sermon. Lord have mercy! This is another incredible Gilmore solo, a blues history lesson: from honking, hokey gutbucket to dizzying post-bop harmonic labyrinths to the most out-there avant garde wailing—all without losing the thread of tradition and ending with an emphatic flourish. Dammmnnn.
Disc one concludes with six minutes of “Friendly Galaxy,” given an angular and dissonant rearrangement, fading out on Ray’s muted trumpet solo. Disc two then fades up some time later (the reel flip evidenced by the increased wow-and-flutter at the beginning of the track) and, after about a minute of noodling on “Friendly Galaxy,” Ra signals “Third Planet.” The two horns sound super-tight and Gilmore once again plays a mind-bendingly great tenor solo, this time accompanied only by the drums. Ali is uncharacteristically aggressive here, swinging like a mo-fo while Gilmore blows the doors down. No wonder Sonny picked this track for release on the original Disco 3000 LP! “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” was also included on the original LP and it’s another spaced-out electronica-fest, with Gilmore and Ray putting down the horns and picking up percussion instruments. Even so, the expanded rhythm section struggles a bit trying to follow along with the crude electric drum box. Even so, Ra’s keyboard playing is otherworldly and the crowd eats it up, bursting into rapturous applause at the end.
“Spontaneous Simplicity” is given an electrified rearrangement with lots of wild keyboard effects and some blasting trumpet work from Ray, but is perhaps overlong at fourteen-some minutes. This segues into “Images,” which is given a tighter reading than on Media Dreams. While Gilmore’s solo is probably not the equal of “Twigs at Twlight,” it’s still pretty freaking awesome. Although the packaging says this includes “Over the Rainbow,” it actually appears on the following track, “When There Is No Sun,” which is given a gentle, gospelized feel, with Gilmore and Ray sweetly singing and Ra accompanying the on churchy organ. Then Sonny erupts into another electronic frenzy before slipping over to the piano for a brief sketch of “Over the Rainbow.” Finally, the concert ends with a reprise of “Space is the Place,” with Ra vamping on piano for a while before joining in on the chant. Interestingly, this rendition shares the quickened phrasing of the unique rearrangement heard on Media Dreams, but lacks the horn parts and countermelodies.
(continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday)
The concert opens with “Disco 3000” and, right away, you can tell the small band has really started to gel after several weeks working together. While Media Dreams is dominated by Ra’s electronica (wonderful as it is), Disco 3000 is much more of a cohesive group effort. There’s still plenty of mad-scientist keyboard extravaganzas, with the Crumar Mainman organ and cheesy rhythm box establishing an uneasy, mutant disco vamp—but here, Ali locks in comfortably with the beat and the horns are given plenty of space across its epic twenty-six minutes. About five minutes in, they suddenly launch into “Space is the Place,” but, curiously, not in the re-arrangement found on Media Dreams. After a couple of minutes of chanting, things take off again, with some absolutely killer tenor saxophone from Gilmore and hypnotic, quasi-ambient keyboard effects from Ra. It’s tempting to just say “Disco 3000” is the crowning achievement of the quartet’s brief existence and leave it at that. A classic Sun Ra track.
Not that there isn’t more great music on these discs! After a short drum solo, “Sun of the Cosmos” continues in the guided improvisation vein, including more crazed keyboard work from Sonny and another outrageous tenor solo from Gilmore, where he explores the entire range of extended techniques from altissimo screams to impossible split-tone multiphonics. Whew! Ra then moves to the piano for “Echos [sic] of the World,” a pretty ballad with Gilmore in the lead. “Geminiology” picks up the tempo with some jaunty swing and a riff-based head arrangement but Ra takes it way out: thunderous low-register tone clusters and furious parallel runs, just a total assault on the piano. Then it’s suddenly back to the cheery jazz feel for Ray’s extended solo on warm-toned trumpet. “Sky Blues” is exactly as the title suggests, a swinging blues riff, with Gilmore delivering the sermon. Lord have mercy! This is another incredible Gilmore solo, a blues history lesson: from honking, hokey gutbucket to dizzying post-bop harmonic labyrinths to the most out-there avant garde wailing—all without losing the thread of tradition and ending with an emphatic flourish. Dammmnnn.
Disc one concludes with six minutes of “Friendly Galaxy,” given an angular and dissonant rearrangement, fading out on Ray’s muted trumpet solo. Disc two then fades up some time later (the reel flip evidenced by the increased wow-and-flutter at the beginning of the track) and, after about a minute of noodling on “Friendly Galaxy,” Ra signals “Third Planet.” The two horns sound super-tight and Gilmore once again plays a mind-bendingly great tenor solo, this time accompanied only by the drums. Ali is uncharacteristically aggressive here, swinging like a mo-fo while Gilmore blows the doors down. No wonder Sonny picked this track for release on the original Disco 3000 LP! “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” was also included on the original LP and it’s another spaced-out electronica-fest, with Gilmore and Ray putting down the horns and picking up percussion instruments. Even so, the expanded rhythm section struggles a bit trying to follow along with the crude electric drum box. Even so, Ra’s keyboard playing is otherworldly and the crowd eats it up, bursting into rapturous applause at the end.
“Spontaneous Simplicity” is given an electrified rearrangement with lots of wild keyboard effects and some blasting trumpet work from Ray, but is perhaps overlong at fourteen-some minutes. This segues into “Images,” which is given a tighter reading than on Media Dreams. While Gilmore’s solo is probably not the equal of “Twigs at Twlight,” it’s still pretty freaking awesome. Although the packaging says this includes “Over the Rainbow,” it actually appears on the following track, “When There Is No Sun,” which is given a gentle, gospelized feel, with Gilmore and Ray sweetly singing and Ra accompanying the on churchy organ. Then Sonny erupts into another electronic frenzy before slipping over to the piano for a brief sketch of “Over the Rainbow.” Finally, the concert ends with a reprise of “Space is the Place,” with Ra vamping on piano for a while before joining in on the chant. Interestingly, this rendition shares the quickened phrasing of the unique rearrangement heard on Media Dreams, but lacks the horn parts and countermelodies.
(continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday)
Although The Complete Disco 3000 Concert (recorded at The Teatro Cilak in Milan, Italy) contains all of the music found on the original LP, Art Yard also released Disco 3000 (CD 101) as a straight reissue (with alternative artwork) in 2009. I’m glad they did because it is a classic—and very strange—Sun Ra album that deserves to be heard in its original form. Moreover, listening to the entire two-hour concert is a considerable time commitment, which, in some ways, dilutes the impact of the original Disco 3000 LP in my opinion.
The first side consists of the twenty-six minute title track while side two contains “Third Planet,” “Friendly Galaxy” and “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens.” While you can my descriptions on my review of The Complete Disco 3000 Concert, what is interesting to me is how much more effective “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” is when it is shorn from its original context, the twisted electronica bookending the album with “Disco 3000.” Or maybe my ears got tired by the time it was played, over an hour into the original concert. Hardcore fans will want both, but Disco 3000 is essential.
In typically Saturnal fashion, Michael Ray’s liner notes (penned in 2007 and contained on both Art Yard CDs) are both enlightening and confusing. “It was here,” he says, “that most of my early dues were paid.”
The first side consists of the twenty-six minute title track while side two contains “Third Planet,” “Friendly Galaxy” and “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens.” While you can my descriptions on my review of The Complete Disco 3000 Concert, what is interesting to me is how much more effective “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” is when it is shorn from its original context, the twisted electronica bookending the album with “Disco 3000.” Or maybe my ears got tired by the time it was played, over an hour into the original concert. Hardcore fans will want both, but Disco 3000 is essential.
In typically Saturnal fashion, Michael Ray’s liner notes (penned in 2007 and contained on both Art Yard CDs) are both enlightening and confusing. “It was here,” he says, “that most of my early dues were paid.”
Sun Ra would tell me “You playing your horn alright but try my way, unless you have some sort of mental block.” “Play that apple. Remember it is round so think of 360 degrees of sound and color. It’s red which means its energy deals with the first chakra, you have to be able to play the vibration.” We rehearsed like this from early in the morning to late at night for days. It was like having someone erase your mainframe and reboot your hard drive! Sunny always said expect the unexpected. “We might have a gig on Mars one day so you got to be swinging on your horn, because they don’t party like earthlings”(continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday)
263. [216] Sun Ra and his Arkestra
Disco 3000
Sun Ra (Crumar Mainman, keyb, p, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc); John Gilmore (ts, timb, voc); Luqman Ali (d, voc).
Teatro Ciak, Milano, January 23, 1978
Disco 3000
(incl Space Is the Place) (Ra) [JG voc]
unidentified title (Ra) [p; balladic ts; p; tp; theme]
Sky Blues (Ra)
Friendly Galaxy (Ra)
Dance of the Cosmo-Aliens
(incl. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child) (Ra)
Spontaneous Simplicity (Ra)
There is an 88-minute audience tape from this concert. Date and location from Hartmut Geerken. Tunes identified by ct.
The concert tape picks up at 9:20 into the issued version of "Disco 3000" and continues for another 26:12. It includes material (Ra, Crumar Mainman; Gilmore, outside ts; Ray, tp; concluding applause) past the end of the drum solo that concluded the issued version. There is a performance of "Friendly Galaxy" that runs 7:50 on the audience tape only; the 1:13 reprise was, however, included on the LP just as it appeared during the concert. But the applause between the reprise and "Dance of the Cosmo-Aliens" was edited out of the LP release.
The unidentified title resembles "An Unbeknowneth Love" (from Media Dream) but is not the same performance, according to ct.
The title track (with the ending edited out), "Third Planet," the reprise of "Friendly Galaxy," and "Dance of the Cosmo-Aliens" were released in 1978 on Saturn CMIJ 78, Disco 3000. This LP also circulated in the early 1980s as Saturn Gemini CMIJ 78.
"Disco 3000" was also edited much further down to 2 1/2 minutes (just Ra and Ali, no horns or vocals) by Richard Wilkinson and retitled "Disco 2100." (However, according to Terry Adams, some copies of the single still gave the title as "Disco 3000"). It was released in this form in 1978 as Side A of a 45-rpm single, Saturn 2100 (information from Wilkinson and Peter Roberts); the matrix number was DISCO 2100-A. (The single version was reissued in September 1996 on The Singles, Evidence 22164 [2 CDs]).
"Sky Blues" (which is the first 2:35 of a 9-minute-plus concert performance by the quartet) appeared on Side B of a 45-rpm single, Saturn 2100, released in 1978 (the matrix number was DISCO 2100-B). On some copies, the B side is untitled. Information on this single from Richard Wilkinson and Peter Roberts. This track was reissued in September 1996 as part of the two-CD Saturn singles collection, Evidence 22164, simply titled The Singles.
In the first edition of this discography, "Disco 3000" was taken to be from a studio session -- one rumor had Ra recording in a Rome hotel room. The rest of Disco 3000 was attributed to miscellaneous live concerts in Italy, and so was "Sky Blues." The same incorrect information was included in the Evidence singles set. ct has now established that all of Disco 3000 came from this one live concert. The surviving audience tape (not complete!) contains nothing from The Sound Mirror or Media Dream.
from Campbell / Trent The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.
Disco 3000 Complete Milan Concert 1978
Artyard stereo CD 001 (2007)
Artyard stereo CD 001 (2007)
Disc 1
01. Disco 3000 26:16
02. Sun of The Cosmos 10:23
03. Echos of The World 6:00
04. Geminiology 7:41
05. Sky Blues 10:39
06. Friendly Galaxy 6:07
Disc 2
01. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 8:44
02. Dance of The Cosmo Aliens 11:07
03. Spontaneous Simplicity 14:09
04. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 8:35
05. When There is no Sun 13:25
06. We Travel The Spaceways 6:37
01. Disco 3000 26:16
02. Sun of The Cosmos 10:23
03. Echos of The World 6:00
04. Geminiology 7:41
05. Sky Blues 10:39
06. Friendly Galaxy 6:07
Disc 2
01. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 8:44
02. Dance of The Cosmo Aliens 11:07
03. Spontaneous Simplicity 14:09
04. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 8:35
05. When There is no Sun 13:25
06. We Travel The Spaceways 6:37
Disco 3000
Artyard stereo CD 101 (2009)
1. Disco 3000 26:19
2. Third Planet 6:24
3. Friendly Galaxy 1:17
4. Dance Of The Cosmo-Aliens 11:05
Disco 3000
Artyard Kindred Spirits LP KSAY-1 (2009)
1. Disco 3000 26:09
2. Third Planet 7:24
3. Friendly Galaxy 1:00
4. Dance Of The Cosmo-Aliens 11:05
Artyard Kindred Spirits LP KSAY-1 (2009)
1. Disco 3000 26:09
2. Third Planet 7:24
3. Friendly Galaxy 1:00
4. Dance Of The Cosmo-Aliens 11:05