Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cybals & Crystal Spears

The second CD, Crystal Spears, uses the horns more extensively, along with a battery of percussionists. Drummer Clifford Jarvis and two conga players often build up extraordinary polyrhythms at slow and medium tempos, and there's a processional or ceremonial feel to much of the music. Sun Ra's use of the mini-Moog synthesizer is particularly creative on the album's original title track. "The Embassy of the Living God" matches his dirgelike organ with the horns' brilliantly chaotic collective improvisation. There are fine solos throughout by trumpeter Akh Tal Ebah and the trio of Gilmore, Danny Davis, and Marshall Allan on reeds. The original LPs were mixed in Quadraphonic Sound, and Cymbals, like many Sun Ra recordings, has muddy sound and considerable mike distortion on Sun Ra's keyboards and the horns. Evidence Music has done heroic work in cleaning up the sound to the extent that they have. --Stuart Broomer