Sun Ra

Outer Space Employment Agency (Total Energy)
by Jon Sarre

This space-case avant jazzbo co-authored “Starship,” an icky gone-on-too-long-now-make-it-stop endurance test, which is the only unlistenable track on the MC5’s Kick Out the Jams. It’s no surprise then that their former manager (and poet and record producer of little note), John Sinclair would be the agent responsible for this hour-long experimental bigband stronkfest (especially since he was probably the guy who turned the blue collar greaser 5 onto Sun Ra). What ya have here is lotsa people tryin’ to work it out like they were a much smaller outfit. There’s lotsa percussion and calls and responses, mostly re some Marcus Garvey-but-in-space trip. Ra lets his organ (farfisa, that is) run the show at least on the four “songs” they do here. It sorta grew on me, but my cats still can’t stand it.
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