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Originally Posted by ZEROpumpkins
Ahh yes, Sun Ra, that's one of the one's I was gonna check out. I hear Atlantis is very good, yes?
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Atlantis is amazing, my second favorite album after Bad Moon Rising by anyone. Unlike Moshe, I love the way it was recorded. Perfectly suitable for music about lost continents and sunken worlds.
Space is the Place is incredibly good as well. Parts of it are some of Ra's most accessible space themed music, but there's nothing wrong with that either. June Tyson's vocals are just perfect. This is one of his most lyrical albums. You should really watch the movie as well, which is totally incredible.
Other essential Ra albums: Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy (his most "out" record probably, music like nothing else by nobody else), Heliocentric Worlds (in 3 parts now, all great), My Brother the Wind (in 2 parts), Concert for Comet Kohoutek, Cymbals & Crystal Spears (two separate albums but released on cd by Evidence as "The Lost Albums"), Disco 3000, Astro Black, and on and on and on
The only Ra record I wasn't into was Reflections in Blue which is just straight jazz standards with Ra playing a very digital sounding synth.
Other Free Jazz stuff I love:
John Coltrane - Om (arguably his most out and admittedly a difficult listen even for fans, but worth it), Ascension, Meditations, Inerstellar Space
Alice Coltrane - Lord of Lords, Universal Consciousness, practically everything
Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Forms & Sounds (this one is a mix of free jazz and modern classical composition), At the Golden Circle (Pts. 1 & 2, usually two albums but I think recently packaged together), more (some of his 80s stuff has a fusion influence which you might like if you dug Bitches Brew)
Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity, Ghosts, At Slugs Saloon, really anything else you find
Since you like Bitches Brew, you should really grab On the Corner by Miles, and the Herbie Hancock album Headhunters. I really like Herbie's '80s electronic funk influence trilogy too Future Shock, Sound System, and Perfect Machine (I've been listening to that one a lot the past few days and my 9 month old son loves dancing to the funky beats).