Sun Ra

What can be said that hasn't been said already about the #1 space traveller, Mr. Ra himself. "Extensive catalog" is an understatement, to say the least. Many phases, too many classics, too much things to explain. I can say that I'm still exploring, rummaging through it all. And one of the things that recently caught my attention is a stream of small scale EPs/mini-albums/what-have-you, released during the early 80's.
Sun Ra is known for having his own record label for independently releasing the Arkestra's records, and for the (generally) lo-fi sound of these. During the 70's a deal was struck with Impulse!, one of the biggest Jazz labels, specially for the time, which gave the world a couple of great, classic records, and a bunch of reissues. You would think that, "wow, he's big now, only high-fi and big distribution from now on", but no, the deal was short lived. He kept on transmitting (from another planet, obviously) many, many more records after the fact, through his own label (that constantly changed names, by the way) and other ones, until the day he left us (to explore other planets, obviously).
Anyway, as I mentioned, during the early 80's there was a number of small scale records (rarely, or never repressed afterwards), many of those with plain white covers (drawn on, sometimes), mostly collecting a number of (edited, I presume) live recordings, hardly going past the 30 minutes mark, and displaying a vast array of his different styles and approaches. Very unique recordings, going from acapella Doo-Wop numbers, to noisy synth freak outs. I'm gonna share my favorite ones, but I urge you to go after all the other ones, released by El Saturn mostly, during the 80's, as they're quite the sight to behold (or better saying, to hear).

Oblique Parallax

Quite the minimal affair this one, featuring mostly Ra with his organ and synth duo, joined occasionally by some horns, until the last track... which is the freak out to end all freak outs! He gets into some serious Industrial Noise vibe, which puts Throbbing Gristle to shame (remember, this was released in '81)!

Aurora Borealis

Solo piano mode. It's nothing what you would expect (I sure didn't expect it). Much better than his first solo piano record, aptly titled "Solo Piano - Volume1", which is very tame and conventional compared to this one. With only 4 songs, and clocking 23 minutes, it features Ra at (one of) his most beautiful and also unhinged moments. The first one, "Prelude in C# minor", does not lie, it's indeed all minor-y and with a noticeable Classical influence, which keeps going until the end of the record. Quite unique one, even among his discography. Think Chick Corea's "Piano Improvisations Vol. 1" but way far out there. I also very much like how he really likes the bass keys, I don't think much Jazz pianists venture there too often.

Hiroshima

This one is actually a reissue which changes the track order, and which I feel works better. Also quite the singular one, with Ra playing a pipe organ (!!!), which sounds absolutely amazing (recorded in a large theatre in Atlanta, apparently), on the first side, followed on the flip side by an also amazing and beautiful little live cut called "Stars that shine darkly pt. 1" featuring an all-star cast (Archie Shepp, Don Cherry) recorded in Montreaux. Like, really, I'm totally impressed by this melodic, minor, slow burner side of Sun Ra, just another reason as to why he was so great.

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