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Heliocentric Cosmic Chaos

Heliocentric Worlds, Vols. 1-2
Sun Ra
Manufacturer: Esp Disk Ltd.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Heliocentríc Worlds, Vol. 3
The Magic City
Atlantis
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy/Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow
Angels & Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia

ASIN: B000EBGERS
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Tracks:

Heliocentric
Outer Nothingness
Other Worlds
Cosmos
Of Heavenly Things
Nebulae
Dancing in the Sun
Sun Myth
House of Beauty
Cosmic Chaos

Album Description

"...Considered to be among Sun Ra's most groundbreaking [albums]...the compositions that comprise Heliocentric Worlds are examples of the free or anti-structure jazz that became synonymous with a majority of Sun Ra's extensive cannon - boasting well over 100 titles. One unifying factor is the percussive nature of not only this particular band, but also on the seemingly unduplicable compositions that Ra and company were exploring in the mid-`60s...one of Sun Ra's best recordings." - ALL MUSIC GUIDE

1965 was an important year in the shaping of the definitive music formula for the Sun Ra Arkestra. These recordings brought Sun Ra to the forefront of the free improvisation movement as a leader and an innovator. Features Jimhmi Johnson, Robert Cummings, Chris Capors, Bernard Pettaway, Danny Davis, Pat Patrick, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Ronnie Boykins, Teddy Nance, Marshall Allen, Walter Miller, Roger Blank.

Customer Reviews:

Heliocentric Cosmic Chaos.......2006-05-21

The first two volumes of Sun Ra's "Heliocentric Worlds" recordings (both originally released in 1956) have been combined into several different editions on CD. This latest package from ESP-Disk has apparently reached a pinnacle in sound quality, while the CD booklet forwards the work of biographers who seem to have organized the chaotic snippets of information (and, legend has it, deliberate misinformation) about Sun Ra's recording sessions. Only true collectors and experts will argue over whether this particular CD edition is better or worse than any of the others. But in any case, serious music enthusiasts, who are interested in the history of jazz, and the explorations of its far outer reaches, will be hard pressed to find a more astounding and mindboggling piece of work than the Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra.

The enigmatic Saturnian big band leader seems to have based his work during this period on hard bop, though he and his band took the music to distant interstellar regions that it had never been to before, or since. The Heliocentric sessions consist primarily of exploratory and heavily eccentric solos by Sun Ra's crack troupe of jazz astronauts. The woodwinds and percussion of Marshall Allen are especially ear-catching, as are Sun Ra's mystical meanderings on exotic instruments like marimba and celesta. The first seven tracks here, comprising Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1, are comparatively dark and subdued, with all of the expert musicians laying down introspective solos, and coming together occasionally for skronky freakouts like the one that concludes "Other Worlds" One such jam in "Dancing in the Sun" is topped off by a brainmelting sax solo from Danny Davis. The sessions for Vol. 2, represented here by tracks 8-10, are much freakier, and the centerpiece of the project, if not the whole multi-decade multi-galactic Sun Ra experience, has got to be "The Sun Myth," which is overflowing with bizarre sonic explorations that are decades ahead of their time and light years from home. It's hard to get a handle on what Sun Ra was doing during his innovative and cutting-edge career, and he and his gang of outer space virtuosos surely reached one of their many peaks with Heliocentric Worlds. [~doomsdayer520~]

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"Heliocentric" is my favorite Paul Weller album of them all...
A FINE ALBUM
I guess the title should go here, but 2day I won't conform !
Older but not Old
Shockingly Bad

Heliocentric
Paul Weller
Manufacturer: Ume Imports
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Illumination [Limited Edition w/ Bonus DVD]
Stanley Road
As Is Now
Days of Speed
Catch-Flame!

ASIN: B00004SD3C
Release Date: 2000-05-09

Tracks:

He's The Keeper
Frightened
"Sweet Pea, My Sweet Pea
Back In The Fire
A Whale's Tale
Dust And Rocks
There's No Drinking After You're Dead
With Time & Temperance
Picking Up Sticks
Love-Less

Album Description

UK edition of fifth solo album from ex-Jam/Style Council front-man. Includes the first single 'He's The Keeper', an homage to Ronnie Lane (Small Faces). 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Album Details

Paul Weller's Back with his First Collection of New Material for Three Years! the Album Marks a Return to Paul's Song Writing Best - Reflecting More About his Own Style Than Other Influences.

Customer Reviews:

"Heliocentric" is my favorite Paul Weller album of them all..........2005-10-06

I've thought about this album and review quite a bit and feel compelled to just say that this is what I consider to be Paul Weller's finest moment. Period. I've read reviews where people didn't connect with "Heliocentric" or thought he lost a step or whatever. I just don't get it. The melodies on this album and just fantastic and the vibe it produces as a whole is just so comfortable. Maybe it's just where I'm at in life now that I'm 38...I don't know. I don't feel compelled to always need loud, thrashin' energy in my music music like I did as a youth. Now, I find myself playing music that enhances (or changes) my moods more and more. This album does that every time. From the moment I bought "Heliocentric" five years ago to this day it has never left my car's CD changer (6-discs...). I have listened to this album from start to finish too many times to count and just absolutely dig the sound and vibe it produces.

I also appreciate the Style Council more and more, so maybe that tells where where I'm coming from. I have to say, that if you are reading this review, then you are contemplating buying this record. Just do it. You will dig it. I promise. Paul departs from much of his typical style and really kind of goes back and digs up somewhat of a '60's vibe that plays like a theme from start to finish. I'm not crazy about "There's No Drinking...," but even it has a place on here. I prefer tracks such as "With Time and Temperence," "Dust and Rocks," as well as "Out of the Fire," and on and on.

That's more than anough out of me. Yeah, this review is all over the map. What I'm trying to say is: I love this album and I just can't understand how anyone who is a fan of Weller doesn't see this album as an incredible effort, if not his all-time best. (by the way, his first solo album is also unreal and has aged like a fine wine....you gotta buy that one, too!).

A FINE ALBUM.......2005-02-21

Ranks up there with Wild Wood, Stanley Road, and Illumination. Paul is still too cool for school. He hasn't lost his touch yet. The exciting thing is that he is so young and still turning out great albums. Who knows how many more classics he has in him.

I guess the title should go here, but 2day I won't conform !.......2001-06-08

A bare bones review. I think only Weller fans will fully appreciate this album, I think the first six songs are quite catchy, in fact when I first listened to the album I though, keep-em commin', but they didn't, after the 7th, 'No drinkin' when your dead' or something, it takes a downward turn.

I don't know, I guess there must be something in the musical water because really great bands aren't coming out with really great music any more, such as Mr Weller & radiohead is another artist/band which comes to mind. Ah-well, I guess all think's must come to an end !!

Older but not Old.......2001-03-03

The Cappucino Kid's best effort yet. Okay, so I'm getting older. Costello with Bacarach. Latest XTC. Like 'em all. But I like to think that I would have loved this album even in my younger and more angry days. Like Paul Westerberg, Mr. Weller keeps getting better. Voice is fuller and more varied. Liked "Sweet Pea" (third track) so much it was our First Dance song at my recent wedding.

Shockingly Bad.......2000-08-22

I have to start by saying that I have been a huge fan of every sound Paul has ever recorded since In The City (which I still listen to on vinyl.) That being said, this isn't just a bad Paul Weller album; it would be a bad Winger album. I kept listening to it, trying to find a redeeming quality. Sorry Paul, it seems we both failed.

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1

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Intergalactic Travel On A Budget
Outstanding, outlandish, original, out there
Sublime
Prepare to Be Amazed
Sun Ra's Obscure Masterpiece

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1
Sun Ra
Manufacturer: Get Back Italy
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000JNA2
Release Date: 1999-08-11

Tracks:

Heliocentric
Outer Nothingness
Other Worlds
Cosmos
Of Heavenly Things
Nebulae
Dancing in the Sun

Album Description

Reissue of the avant-garde jazz virtuoso's 1965 album for ESP, his first for the label. Features 'Space Chord', his further exploration of 'outer nothingness', and six other tracks. Each of the 1,000 numbered copies pressed up for this limited edition release comes in a miniaturized LP sleeve with the original cover art intact. 1998 Get Back Records release.

Customer Reviews:

Intergalactic Travel On A Budget.......2005-11-18

I once saw Sun Ra & his Arkestra in a venue so small there were more people on stage than in the audience. Costumes, gongs, chimes, multiple drummers, dancers, assorted horns, he didn't so much put on a show as create an overwhelming transcendent experience. What seemed like cacophony to some was in fact a creative outpouring managed with the precision of a Marine Corps drill. Dressed as ever for interplanetary ambassadorial assignments, Sun Ra conducted this rowdy ensemble with nods and glances so that the entire troupe played as if sharing one mind.

The originality of Sun Ra's vision enjoys almost mythical status, and of all his CDs Heliocentric Worlds Vol.1 arguably does the best job of capturing it. The individual tracks knit together into an integrated whole. Many people attempt to marginalize Sun Ra, and with those clothes, it's tempting. But to do so really misses the point. No lesser a light than John Cage looked to Sun Ra, he was a pioneer in the best sense. Sun Ra wasn't just a marvelous eccentric, he was just plain marvelous.

Outstanding, outlandish, original, out there.......2004-07-27

Yes I'm a Sun Ra fan and this is the album that made me one. I first heard/saw Sun and the Arkestra on Saturday Night Live and thought that it was the worst music I'd ever heard in my life, so bad in fact that I taped it on my sisters' portable cassette player so I could play it back for my friends (I wish I had that tape now) I still remember it vividly, the Arkestra's costumes, Suns poetry, the dancers, the huge horn/percussion section and the seemingly chaotic, yet rhythmic nuttiness comming from the black and white tv. Well some 20 years later, after playing free improvised music and listening to a great variety of different sounds I figured I'd give Sun another chance. So I plunked down my bucks for this album not quite knowing what to expect. Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1 is magnificent. It sounds like an amalgam of twentieth century classical music, free and composed jazz. Its really beyond my abilities to describe. There are huge dynamic shifts from the beginning piece that starts quietly then grows in tension when the trombones and horns start an ominous drone to the controlled intense seeming chaos of (I think) The Cosmos. The various pieces comprising Heliocentric Worlds flow into one another to make what is in effect a large suite, and what a journey it is. Complex, dynamic, exciting, abrasive but never boring, this album has to be heard to be appreciated, words are impossibly limited. Sun used his entire band to improvise/create this music. There is freedom given to the individual musicians but there are also intensely complex unison lines and textural nuances that only a very well disciplined band could pull off. The kind of loyalty and practice schedule that Sun Ra demanded from his musicians was necessary to make an album this daring and complex. This music is intense and sublime, but not everybody is going to like it, in fact most people will run screaming from the room. I know this from first hand experience. But if you are a Sun Ra fan or if you enjoy more adventurous music I recommend getting this immediately. I find it his most satisfying large-scale work.

Sublime.......2004-04-06

Though I have been listening to (and relishing) Sun Ra for 6 or so years, I feel I'm still just scratching the surface of potential appreciation and comprehension. This is my second favorite of the (unfortunately only) 13 or so Sun Ra albums I possess (my favorite is still _Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy_.) I wish I could describe this CD as eloquently and intelligently as the other two reviews here, but I can't.
This is still experimental jazz of course, and not for those who will measure everything by Kind of Blue (Miles Davis). Yet for all its sometimes wild and bombastic, sometimes restrained experimentation, the sounds here are not a mere free-for-all explosion (like parts of The Magic City). They seem [to me] more like voices of a jazz-opera, arranged masterfully by band leader Sun Ra. Percussion abounds on this 1965 album, punctuated by little fits of instruments colliding, spaced by solos where only one instrument plays.
"The Cosmos"--one of my all-time favorite Ra pieces--stands out with playful personality.

Prepare to Be Amazed.......2002-08-21

This ESP disk, along with it's companion volume, has not been obtainable for many years now. As a result, people have not been able to hear two of the finest Sun Ra albums that exist. This work documents Ra's first steps into truly "out" playing, but characteristically, this is controlled "out" playing, not a typical NYC 60s freakout. Ra is not about freedom, he is about structure and control, even on an album as seemingly free as this.

According to the liner notes, there was very little in-studio preparation for this session. Much of the material is improvised. Ra's tendency at the time was to "improvise with the Arkestra", to select soloists by a system of hand signs and to greatly limit how they blew and the textures they used. As a result, there is very little wild soloing on this album, though the solos that exist are mind bending. Mostly, this album is "chamber jazz", dominated by deep sonorities, such as the bass clainet, Ra on bass marimba, various Arkestra members on tympani and the marvelous strong bass of Ronnie Boykins, who, next to Ra himself, is the strongest presence on the CD. Ra also appears on several cuts on the electronic celeste, sometimes sounding ethereal and dissonant, and sometime, as in Nebulae, sounding like Mr. Roger's Trolley on acid!

Sometimes it is said that Ra stopped swinging in the mid 60's. Just listen to Of Heavenly Things and you will know that's a lie. Boykins morphs the piece into a wonderful avant-blues groove, with acidic comping by Ra and a fiery solo by Gilmore. And the final Dancing in the Sun has an almost Ellingtonian feel.

This is Ra at his most controlled and creative. Later 60's recordings started to wander too far along the spaceways. (Listen to the live set from Donaueshingen. Moments of brilliance and moments of meandering.) In the 70s Ra seemed to regain his equilibrium, with this sort of controlled group improvisation mixing with traditionally composed tunes and even Ellington standards. But this album doesn't wander. It is focused brilliantly, and reminds you that Ra was from Chicago and perhaps a greater influence on the musicians of the AACM than has been previously ackowledged. The structural control and use of "small percussion instruments" along with the motivic control exhibited by the soloists is much closer to the AACM goal than the music of Ayler, late Coltrane, and other members of the New York energy jazz school. Energy jazz couldn't keep up the pace and burnt out in a few years (except for Cecil Taylor, and he is all about structure too), but the path Ra paved hear has been taken up fruitfully by countless subsequent musicians.

Pick this one up quick. Who knows when it'll be in print again!

Sun Ra's Obscure Masterpiece.......2001-01-04

This is abstract chamber music in the same vein (while much more organized) as The Magic City. The ensemble, while containing much bombastic soloing, functions, as the liner notes point out, as a solo instrument in and of itself. The entire albums consists mainly of rich, deep cosmic tones provided by bass marimba and percussion, while other jazz instruments (saxophone, flute, trombone) sound mainly in orchestral sections, with Ronnie Boykins on bowed bass throughout. The electronic celeste that Sun Ra plays gives a more mellow heavenly sound to contrast the ethereal and somtimes eerie sounds which characterize the album. The music heard here is all in short (no longer than eight minutes) sets which vary greatly over the album, and while none have the intense build-up of some of his longer pieces, they still connect to each other thematically and could therefore be listened to as an album rather than single songs. "Heliocentric" and "Outer Nothingness" both rely heavily on percussion, bass marimba, and calculated silence, with erratic outbursts by the rest of the band. "Other Worlds" is an excellent piece showcasing Sun Ra's proficiency on piano and celeste, with the rest of the members spouting controlled chaos. "The Cosmos" contains some incredible bowed bass and soaring swinging saxophone (John Gilmore), and gentle, atonal celeste. "Of Heavenly Things" is much like the first two tracks in structure. "Nebulae" features Sun Ra soloing on celeste and piano. "Dancing in the Sun" contains the most cohesive and conventional piece of jazz on the album. The album provides the cosmic tones included in all subsequent recordings, though still containing more conventional work, and serves as an excellent introduction to this period of Sun Ra's work.

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Arkeology

Heliocentríc Worlds, Vol. 3
Sun Ra
Manufacturer: Esp Disk Ltd.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Heliocentric Worlds, Vols. 1-2
Nothing Is
Other Planes of There
One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note
Sound Grammar

ASIN: B0007WQE7Y
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Tracks:

Intercosmosis
Mythology Metamorphosis
Heliocentric Worlds
World Worlds
Interplanetary Travelers

Customer Reviews:

Arkeology.......2005-08-25

During the time when Sun Ra was recording his most creative music, only three disks were being distributed, and you were pretty lucky to find any of them at even the most exotic record shop. The label was ESP, which distributed his two Heliocentric Worlds sessions (along with the live Nothing Is). Considering how much his reputation rode on these titles, it is more than fortunate how well they represented the mystery and adventure of the mid-60's arkestra. Even as many dozens of other recordings eventually found their way onto CD's, Heliocentric Worlds remains part of his core catalogue.

Now ESP has released some extra material from the second Heliocentric session, nearly four decades after the fact. Scraps that were pruned from stronger material? There are a couple of short link tracks where this seems the case, but much of this recently excavated stuff is arguably on par with the original, only more energetic with stronger ensemble interaction. That's certainly true of the seventeen minutes of intercosmosis, that sounds much more like Magic City than the dreamy Heliocentric II. Ra sticks to piano here and fights it out with Gilmore, Patrick, Allen and Boykins, all of whom are on top of their game. world worlds sounds very much like the kind of red meat power charting that Ra would occaissionally toss into his live shows as a change of pace. interplanetary travelers is a wonderful music box of a piece that weaves both dreamy and energetic into a quick rondo.

hard to really put this stuff into perspective after one spin. i think the long piece may be great. certainly any '65 Ra deserves careful study. felicitations to the Good Doctor.

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The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1
Sun Ra
Manufacturer: Esp-Disk / Caliber
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000HRME96

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2

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The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2
Sun Ra
Manufacturer: Esp-Disk / Caliber
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000HRME9G

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Spiritual Sky (Remixes)
Heliocentric World
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000L03VZK

Product Description

Limited edition, released 1993. Track listing: Spiritual Sky (Part 1) (7" Edit) (3:35) | Spiritual Sky (Part 3) (7" Edit) (4:10) | Spiritual Sky (Part 1) (12" Version) (6:20) | Spiritual Sky (Part 2) (12" Version) (5:50) | Spiritual Sky (Part 3) (12" Version) (7:01)

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Heaven - Hi Hel-lo
George Elliott
Manufacturer: Heliocentric
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0001E5GWW
Release Date: 2004-01-27

Tracks:

12-12
Thunderstuck
Out Of Time
Fightday
Victorious Secret
She Loves Me (Not)
Frag Waltz
Dark Night
She Hates Me (Not)
Then Was When
The Change
Get Over It
Find
Broken Hearted Blues
6 Guitars
The Last Time...
MLK
Fading Away

Album Description

The re-electrified George Elliott, vocals and instrumentals.

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An Heliocentric Saltbox
Syncopated Elevators Legacy
Manufacturer: Ambivalence Lens
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00005B2VV
Release Date: 2001-05-29

Average customer rating:

a different place in space
Very Sublime

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2
Sun Ra
Manufacturer: Get Back Italy
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000JNA0
Release Date: 1999-08-11

Tracks:

Sun Myth
House of Beauty
Cosmic Chaos

Album Description

Reissue of the avant-garde jazz virtuoso's second album for the ESP label, originally released in 1965. The record's three tracks find him expanding on his amazing piano style. Each of the 1,000 numbered copies pressed up for this limited edition release comes in a miniaturized LP sleeve with the original cover art intact. 1998 Get Back Records release.

Customer Reviews:

a different place in space.......2001-04-12

This is a case of being very far off the deep end. Whilst I don't own volume 1, I think vol 2 can stand well on its own. It opens w/ a deep dense tone that sounds like a cello but 1 isn't listed so I imagine it's Robert Cummings' bass clarinet. The Sun Myth takes up all of the 1st side & is relatively epic @ 17 minutes, wherein Ra explores the depths of his tuned bongos & the triple horns of Marshall Allen, John Gilmore & someone whose name escapes me create a very intense moody atmosphere that is the very opposite of the catchy chants of Rocket #9 & Space Is The Place, needless to say it's completely instrumental. A House of Beauty features high pitched flute action & is the short track @ 5 minutes, acting as the build up to the eruption that is... COSMIC CHAOS! 13 minutes of total skronk jazz to the outer reaches of any galaxy of yr choice. Overall it's an uncompromising listening experience whose appeal will be probably be limited, though apparently it's the most popular Sun Ra disc currently. I got the LP reissue from Italy's Base Record company & it's very clear + the superb artwork stiucks out. You also get a poem calle THERE on the back which should probably be read aloud whilst the music plays for full effect, & of course a great picture of the man himself in full regalia. the session was 1 day in late 1965 & released in '66. of course it's in a world of its own.

Very Sublime.......2000-10-14

I love this one - it's mellow and soothing at moments and raucous at others. Many prefer Volume I, but Volume 2 has more color and texture. Sun Ra's work on the electric bongos is a great underpinning to the rest of the action.

Difficult to find but highly recommended!

Music:

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