somebody with sun-ra "media dreams" drop me a PM?
ariel_calmer
3,762 Posts
I'm trying to figure out if what I got in the mail today is actually media dreams. It has two tracks on one side and one long one on the other. But it's a live recording, so the tracks could just be going into one another. Matrix # slightly different. Can't find listening samples anywhere online. (even for the recent re-release) Could somebody record just the first 30 seconds from it? Or maybe tell me if I record a sample if it's the same as theirs? Help a caucasian out! 
Comments
Media Dream
(Saturn Research)
Saturn 1978; 19783 (matrix CMP 1978 C-A/D-B)
Side A:
Saturn Research (Ra)
Constellation (Ra)
Yera [sic] of the Sun (Ra)
Side B:
Media Dreams (Ra)
Twigs at Twilight (Ra)
An Unbeknowneth Love (Ra)
Sun Ra-org, p; Crumar Mainman-drum box, etc; Michael Ray-tp; John Gilmore-ts; Luqman Ali-d. Live in Italy, January 1978 (maybe 1/9/78)
http://s9.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1RW40EE4NXW9O02M1ITN3AFOOV
i think a plain white sleeve with hand-printed Saturn was the norm, some of them have drawings on them or a piece of paper glued on the front
Very strange, it appears this LP is a totally different track listing than the actual release! The side-long track sounds a lot like "constellation", but is much longer.
It is definitely of that era, and even sounds like it might be from the same session (the crumar drum machine and synths are a dead giveaway), but so far nothing I've heard is on this LP. I bought this off ebay for 50... not much $ for what it is... I guess I'll keep it as an oddity.
Birdman: mine's also a white label. Does yours have two tracks on one side and one long one on the other, too? Mine's matrix # CM 1578....
too many bowls in a workday.
It's got a similar lineup and track configuration (two on one side, one on the other). Plus the matrix # in the discography is very close, which could just be an error (1978 vs. my 1578).
Having interviewed people who were around the arkestra house in philly, I can tell you the "fine art" of putting out saturn label LPs was, how's a nice way to put it, a group process subject to on-the-fly change and revision (hand-drawn covers, alternate titles, low # pressings, second and third pressings not listed anywhere, etc.)... hehe
Yeah, a friend of mine had a pile of releases fresh out the basement/garage handed to him by Ra... it was the 80s too, and those are among the rarer releases as far as I know...
It's wild, right? I think a lot of those saturn LPs are sold on the strength of their covers, as art objects. They had this stuff just laying around. If you were their friend, they'd hit you off with a few LPs. So the blessing in disguise here is a lot of the craziest shit has been well-preserved in the hands of journalists and musicians. Ra's distribution was pretty shady, he would just turn up at stores and sell handfuls of whatever he had pressed up at the time.