Sun Ra & His Arkestra - Space Probe

MY BROTHER THE WIND, recorded in 1969 (and released in 1970) is one of several albums that showcase Sun Ra's early reckonings with the recently unveiled Moog synthesizer. Although the Astro Infinity Arkestra is credited on most copies of the original LP, only three sidemen were on the session—Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, and Danny Davis, with Moog performance pioneer Gershon Kingsley serving as synth programmer and technical consultant.

Sun Ra was not seeking to reproduce existing music with the Moog; he saw the device (and electronic instruments generally) as futuristic, offering ear-opening—and galaxy-traversing—possibilities. In 1969 Apollo 11 had landed on the moon; Sun Ra made alternate travel arrangements. "I wasn't using any gasoline. I'm using sound," he explained. "You haven't reached that stage on this planet yet where you can use sound to run your ships and run your cars and heat your house. Your scientists haven't reached that yet. But it will happen. Where you can take a cassette and put it in your car and it will run it—with the right kind of music, of course. And it won't explode."

The Moog would help Sun Ra achieve lift-off.

With the Arkestra Sunny could occasionally revisit and reinvent music of yesterday; the Moog was about tomorrow. This approach ran counter to the initial commercial trend of the instrument. During the late 1960s and early 1970s countless high-profile LPs featured Moog-based interpretations of everything from the Beatles to Bach to Bacharach. There were exceptions (e.g., Paul Bley, Perrey & Kingsley, Beaver & Krause, even the Monkees), but the prevailing aesthetic was to apply this novel instrument to familiar tunes. Such albums took minimal risk, but they helped popularize the invention by adapting hits and standards, thus broadening the Moog's appeal.

Sun Ra had broader horizons. Given access to a Moog modular system at Kingsley's New York studio, Ra embarked on a sonic adventure. The original Saturn LP featured four tracks, properly sequenced here. For this expanded release, we feature three complete session takes of "The Perfect Man." The third take was issued in 1974 (and reissued in 1983) on a Saturn 45 rpm single, and included on the Evidence 2-CD set The Singles in 1996. The alternate takes have not been previously issued.

This expanded edition also features the monumental "Space Probe," a solo Moog work recorded around the same time—and possibly performed on a Minimoog. This track was originally released in 1974 on the Saturn LP Space Probe, which later appeared in a number of hybrid configurations.

The LP and CD editions include liner notes by Moog historian Brian Kehew. Historical and technical liner notes are provided by noted jazz historian Ben Young, who restored and remastered the album with his Triple Point Records partner Joe Lizzi.

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