Of Mythic Worlds - Sun Ra (1LP Vinyl)

Of Mythic Worlds by Sun Ra.

Few artists have ever occupied a space quite like Sun Ra, and "Of Mythic Worlds" is a fine reminder of why his music continues to pull listeners into its orbit. Recorded in Chicago, the city where Sun Ra first began building his cosmic vision, this record captures the bandleader in a mode that is at once earthy and otherworldly, rooted in tradition yet reaching well past it.

The A side opens with "Mayan Temples," a title that signals the ancient and the far away, the sort of thematic reach that defined so much of Sun Ra's catalog. From there the record moves into "Over The Rainbow," a familiar standard that Sun Ra reimagines through his own singular lens, taking a song most listeners know by heart and letting it drift somewhere unexpected. "Inside The Blues" closes out the first side, grounding the sequence in the deep well of feeling that runs beneath even Sun Ra's most adventurous work.

Flip the record over and the tone shifts again. "Intrinsic Energies" leads off the B side with a title that reads almost like a statement of purpose, a nod to the currents of sound and spirit that Sun Ra spent his life channeling. The album then arrives at its centerpiece, the title track "Of Mythic Worlds," a piece that gathers up the themes hinted at across the whole record and gives them their fullest expression.

What makes this album so compelling is the way it balances contrasts. There is the familiar and the strange, the blues and the cosmic, the standard and the wholly original. Sun Ra never treated these as opposites so much as neighbors, and "Of Mythic Worlds" lets them speak to one another across its two sides. The result is a listening experience that rewards patience and repeated spins, revealing new textures each time the needle drops.

This particular pressing comes courtesy of Scorpio, whose reissue brings this music back into circulation for collectors and newcomers alike. For anyone building a Sun Ra collection or simply looking to explore the wilder edges of jazz, it is an accessible way to bring a piece of his mythology home.

Hold this one in your hands and you hold a document of a musician who believed music could carry us beyond the ordinary. From the Mayan temples of the opening track to the mythic worlds of the finale, the record charts a journey outward, and it makes a worthy addition to any shelf where the strange and the beautiful are welcome.

Pressing Details:
Recorded in Chicago.

Reissued by Scorpio.

Track Listing:
A1. Mayan Temples
A2. Over The Rainbow
A3. Inside The Blues
B1. Intrinsic Energies
B2. Of Mythic Worlds

Artist: Sun Ra

Format: 1LP

Genre: Jazz

Label: Philly Jazz (3)

Catalog Number: PJ1007

Release Year: 2012

Country: United States

Condition: Sealed (New)