Sun Ra on Norton? It will make perfect sense after you hear
Yochanan the Spaceage Vocalist, who isn't far from
Screamin' Jay Hawkins on the crazy scale.
Rocket Ship Rock contains all of
Yochanan's Saturn sides as well as alternate takes on almost all of them and a couple previously unissued studio tracks. It's all swingin', upbeat R&B with some hot backing from
Sun Ra & the Arkestra and some wild vocals from
Yochanan. The collection is rounded out by a smattering of other blues/R&B
Ra-related sides.
Little Mack (Gordon) offers "Tell Her to Come on Home," while
Lacy Gibson gives us the slightly stranger "I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman."
Ebah (
Akh Tal Ebah) reprises
Gibson's tune in a considerably more unhinged vocal performance at a
Ra home rehearsal, while
Don (Dino) Dean gives the only performance not backed by the Arkestra with "Space Stroll." Yes, a handful of these tracks were on the Sun Ra Singles Collection, but the previously unreleased stuff here is just great. Apparently, this is from
Sun Ra's personal cache of recordings given by
Ra to former Arkestra drummer and archivist-designate Michael Anderson (one of three comps from this source released by Norton at the same time).
Sun Ra fans rejoice.