atlantis (1969) – sun ra & his astro-infinity arkestra: impulse records 1973 re-issue, as-9239

Sun Ra’s story is almost too wild to be true. It seems more like something David Lynch or Jim Jarmusch would conjure as a movie script than a real life.

Briefly:

Born into the segregation and Jim Crow of 1914 Alabama, a sensitive, creative, and musically gifted young black boy named Herman Blount deals with the coldness and cruelty of life in the south by creating alternative histories and realities for himself, and finding solace in music.

As he grew he developed his musical skill and in his teens found himself leading local big bands and finding influence in the work of cutting edge musicians like Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.

Then, in his early 20’s, young Herman Blount unexpectedly found himself on Saturn. In his own words:

“My whole body changed into something else. I could see through myself. And I went up... I wasn't in human form... I landed on a planet that I identified as Saturn... they teleported me and I was down on [a] stage with them. They wanted to talk with me. They had one little antenna on each ear. A little antenna over each eye. They talked to me. They told me... I would speak [through music], and the world would listen. That's what they told me.” 

And so, Herman Blount began to slowly become Sun Ra*

With a backstory like that, one would expect the music to express a similar weirdness. And one is definitely not disappointed.

Atlantis was my introduction to Sun Ra, and continues to remain my favorite of all his albums.

Side 1: Mu Lemuria Yucatan Bimini
Side 2: Atlantis

Okay, first thing’s first – this stuff is really cool. That is, once you can actually start to dig it. I mean, Sun Ra’s music may be accused of many things, but being easily accessible certainly isn’t one. Perhaps the biggest understatement is that Sun Ra is not for squares. But then again, it isn’t really for those pointy-headed intellectual slimeballs or trend-hopping hipsters, either. It really does go beyond because it really is just so different.

And the inaccessibility makes a lot of sense because if the music truly is the result of interplanetary inspiration, it really oughtn’t be easy to get. Heck, it’s difficult enough trying to grok music from different cultures, much less from a different planet. So, you can imagine that trying to describe the music would also be difficult. People have called it avant garde, free-form, extraterrestrial, experimental, exploratory, and subversive.

Me? I just call it far out.

Perhaps the best way to describe Sun Ra’s music (especially the material from the 50’s through the early 70’s) is abstract expressionist. It seems to be an auditory version of a Jackson Pollock or Kandinsky painting. On the surface it may sound as if all of the musicians are playing completely at random, without any guidance or idea of what they ought to play – but as you listen and allow yourself to become immersed in the music, there is a definite cohesion. It’s as if Sun Ra creates an intangible sound that reaches into one’s emotional cortex to elicit a primitive, almost protozoan response. Something one is unable to express in any way, but which is not only genuine, but also powerful.

Atlantis is one of those records that I find myself drawn toward at seemingly random times. Sometimes it requires dedication to really get into the different shapes and levels of the sound, and other times it’s simply a soothing soundtrack in the background. But one thing’s for sure – it’s always a reminder that weirdness is something to celebrate and embrace.

Up next: Hey, you got your beat-poetry mixed up with my punk rock!

*Okay, obviously there is a lot more to the Sun Ra story, and I encourage anyone reading this to go online and learn more about this cat.