Sun Ra – Lanquidity (2024 Strut / Art Yard 25th Anniversary Special Edition Vinyl LP)

Originally released in 1978 and now reborn in this 2024 Strut 25th Anniversary Edition, Lanquidity remains one of Sun Ra’s most hypnotic and accessible voyages. Recorded with the Arkestra at the height of their electric period, the album melts cosmic jazz, funk, and deep-space groove into a sound that feels simultaneously grounded and galactic.

Here, the Philly Jazz sessions are presented with ECM-like precision but channeling something wilder: Sun Ra guiding a vast ensemble through slow-burning, trance-like improvisations. Where Pathways Meet and That’s How I Feel shimmer with warm Fender Rhodes tones, liquid Moog textures, and brass arrangements that seem to float in zero gravity. On There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of), June Tyson’s celestial voice leads the group into spiritual freeform territory — part sermon, part dream.

The personnel reads like an Arkestra constellation: John Gilmore and Marshall Allen on saxophones, Michael Ray and Eddie Gale on trumpet, and a rhythm section of Richard Williams, Luqman Ali, and Artaukatune grounding the chaos in earthy pulse. The result is radiant, communal, and unmistakably Sun Ra — a band orbiting in perfect disorder.

Pressed on premium European vinyl and housed in a tip-on metallic foil sleeve with obi strip, poster, and new liner notes by Tom Buchler and Arkestra members Danny Ray Thompson and Michael Ray, this special edition captures the richness of one of Sun Ra’s most enduring works.

For collectors of avant-garde jazz or the ever-expanding Sun Ra vinyl universe, Lanquidity is essential — the sound of outer space filtered through Philadelphia soul.