I already have the 40th Anniversary version of the Space Is the Place film and soundtrack, so I have no plans to get this new release, but I have been listening to the previously unlreleased tracks (which I believe are on a separate album in the vinyl version) via streaming, and it's quite nice. All of the tracks are basically Ra vocal diatribes and poetry. On "The Mathematics of the Altered Destiny" he is echoed by June Tyson while the band goes all over the place in the background. Tyson ends the tracks with the melodic refrain of "We're living in the space age..." as it fades out.
All of the tracks are heavily percussive. "Listen Intently to the Things I Do Not Say" is also heavy on the bass clarinet (Eloe Omoe?) and has about three minutes of free blowing from the Arkestra before the vocals come in. This is the strongest cut, closest in spirit to "The Bridge" (not the poetry so much as the musical responses to each line).
Keyboards and oboe are featured more prominently on "Creation Is Fabrication," which also has some kind of percussive echo effect that sounds like a ball being dropped on a drum head, almost but not quite annoyingly. It opens with a beautiful instrumental passage that goes on for about four minutes until the vocals come in. This one reminds me of some of the passages on The Antique Blacks. "My World Is the Space Way" continues this style in a slightly more subdued fashion, with trumpet lines (Akh Tal Ebah, I think) engaged in a duet with Ra's declamations as other horns and percussion gradually filters in.
"The Idea of the Greater Age" begins and ends with solo percussion (Atakatune?), with the whole piece basically a back-and-forth between drum and Ra's voice, echoed again by June Tyson's.
There are plenty of live performances from this era that cover similar territory, but it's really nice to hear clear studio recordings of these pieces.
No comments:
Post a Comment