Sun Rawk

Not feeling too talkative today, since I’d like to just read & listen to music & write (other things) on this lazy Sunday, but I was reading about the MC5 & got the urge to throw up their adaptation (cover might be a tad too literal) of Sun Ra’s “Starship,” from Kick Out the Jams. Be warned, over eight minutes it moves from their furious spluttering rock mode to their freeform angry-ambient soundscape mode.

And also here’s a slightly more accessible (and also fantastic & freaky) Sun Ra cover, a live Yo La Tengo take on “Rocket Number 9.”

And a couple tracks from Mr. Ra himself. Not completely representative, but then, what two tracks could be? I especially love the brittle & beautiful “Love in Outer Space,” with the rolling piano waves & that expressive horn refrain.

Speaking of which, a certain Hendrix tune has always very much reminded me of “Love in Outer Space,” and said tune even has a sci-fi theme itself. I’ve no evidence, alas, that this is a sign of direct influence rather than simple coincidence. But anyway, I’ll put up a non-canonical live bootleg version (ie a version presumably not owned by a major recorded-music empire with too much time on its hands & a sense of investment in the artist in question). It’s a good version, too, with real solar-flare solos.

• MC5, “Starship”
• Yo La Tengo, “Rocket Number 9” (live)
• Sun Ra, “Outer Spaceways Incorporated”
• Sun Ra, “Love in Outer Space”
• Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Third Stone from the Sun” (live)

(Buy Kick Out the Jams here, some Sun Ra here, some Hendrix here, and some Yo La Tengo here.)