Crystal Spears

Solar guided improvisations of unbridled cacophony!

Recorded in 73 and rejected by tin-eared major label execs in 75, Crystal Spears (or Crystal Clear as it appears on the tape box) subsumes a cathartic brawl between Minimoog and Yamaha combo organ, with percussionists providing tonal textures, and plaintive oboe colliding with roaring electronic keyboards over waves of rollicking marimba, devilishly chattering below the fray. Crystal Spears is Ras once lost aural cinematheque! Includes a quad-ra-color Sun Ra poster!

Crystal Spears, intended for release in 1975 by ABC/Impulse! And assigned catalog # AS-9297, was ultimately rejected by the label. Ra and business manager Alton Abraham retained the rights, rechristened the album Crystal Clear and assigned Saturn Records catalog # 562but they never got around to issuing it. The first three tracks on this album were mastered from that tape, a 1/4-inch four-track (15 ips) brand favored by home recording enthusiastsand generally disfavored by pro engineers. The sessions took place at Variety Recording Studio in New York on February 3, 1973, a month before the Ark returned on March 8 to record Cymbals, as well as tracks issued decades later under the title Sign Of The Myth (and perhaps even Pathways To Unknown Worlds).

Why was Crystal Spears rejected? A year or two after Ras signing, reigning ABC management was swept out and new execs rolled in. Its quite probable that the new execs didnt comprehend what was happening on these recordings. For the uninitiated, this was not jazz as they knew it, but unbridled cacophony. But is it? Sun Ra always had a method to his madnessand a madness to his method.\\n\\nAlmost 50 years later Crystal Spears hits the earthen bins on RSD Black Friday 2018 and now its available on black vinyl with a quad-Ra-color poster, or compact disc. Both equipped with extensive liner notes and a stunning previously unpublished cover.