We all know he’s coming back to rescue us!
One of the rarer albums in the Sun Ra canon, RTTR originally entered our orbit in 1983, mystifying listeners and confounding Ra fanatics with the minimal info on the Saturn pressing. Recorded at several locations over several years (including legendary avant-garde arts enclave, the Squat Theater in NYC), the tracks here include everything from Ra’s sci-fi synthesizer insanity, Marshall Allen’s skronking sax, an excellent Arkestra vocal track “They Plan To Leave,” and so much more. Reissued for the first time, and pressed on colored vinyl!
When Ra and his business partner Alton Abraham launched their pioneering independent Saturn label in Chicago in the late 1950s, and on thru the 1960s—by which time Ra had moved to New York—each new album was carefully curated, titled, packaged with a printed, illustrated sleeve, and promoted in ads and catalogs.
By the 1970s, when Ra and his band were based in Philadelphia, this process had begun to unravel. During that decade and the following one, Ra often issued albums without the involvement of Abraham (who had remained in Chicago). These releases—dozens of titles—were often hastily compiled, thematically mismatched, and issued in generic white sleeves adorned with homemade abstract artwork, glued-on photographs, and adhesive stickers. They were pressed in limited quantities and shipped to Rounder Distribution for sale, with a small percentage of the pressing reserved for the merch table at Arkestra gigs. Ra to the Rescue (RTTR, a palindromic acronym) emerged during this latter period.
This Modern Harmonic package is the first time Ra to the Rescue has been reissued on LP or CD. Since, the original Saturn pressing had no official album artwork. The cover for this release was adapted from a 1980s hand-designed sleeve laminated with a shower curtain.
First ever reissues of this coveted LP from deep in the Ra cannon.
Replicates & simulates a handmade Arkestra jacket that was originally laminated with a shower curtain!
On colored vinyl cut and pressed on Earth by Third Man, or CD for the first time!
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"Originally laminated with a plastic shower curtain". I have an album like that by Sun Ra but it's a different album. Night Of The Purple Moon.
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