Great Compact Discs: Sun Ra
A discography split into three sections (studio, concert, and compilation/ archival), accompanied by (if applicable) scans of either C. D. surfaces, hype stickers, or obis. The arrangement within each section is chronological by recording date with exceptions: in the case of the "two-for" reissues put out by the Evidence label in the early Nineties, the two albums in question are in some cases placed together, even if they were originally recorded in different years; in the case of other albums, the recording date is not known exactly, leading to an arrangement that makes sense thematically: in other words, the album's place helps explain the development of Sun Ra's music generally.
This is the second Sun Ra discography in a series, the first being ‘Tonal Views of the Atonal: Twelve Hybrid and–or Variable Sun Ra Albums’ at my personal website, the World's Wide Web. To a (much) greater extent than that discography, this page is a work in progress.
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studio recordings - Chicago
Sun Song
Recorded July 12th, 1956; originally entitled Jazz by Sun Ra Vol. 1, released 1957 (Discogs); retitled 1967; reissued 1990 (Discogs) with one bonus track: ‘Swing a Little Taste’ (originally released on the various-artists compilation Jazz in Transition (Discogs))
A: ‘Brainville’ ‘Call for All Demons’ ‘Transition’ ‘Possession’ ‘Street Named Hell’
B: ‘Lullaby for Realville’ ‘Future’ ‘New Horizons’ ‘Fall Off the Log’ ‘Sun Song’
Compositions credited to Sun Ra except ‘Possession’ (Harry Revel) and ‘Lullaby for Realville’ (Richard Evans)
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Le Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Super-Sonic Jazz
Recorded 1956 (and, in the case of ‘Advice to Medics’, 1957, according to the official page for the 2014 download reissue); originally released 1957; reissued 1991 (Discogs); reissued 2025 (Discogs) with a bonus disc
A: ‘India’ ‘Sunology’ ‘Advice to Medics’ ‘Super Blonde’ ‘Soft Talk’ ‘Sunology - Part 2’
B: ‘Kingdom of Not’ ‘Portrait of the Living Sky’ ‘Blues at Midnigh’ ‘El Is a Sound of Joy’ ‘Springtime in Chicago’ ‘Medicine for a Nightmare’
Compositions credited to Sun Ra except ‘Soft Talk’ (Julian Priester)
‘Soft Talk’ and ‘Super Blonde’ released as a 45, credited to Le Sun-Ra and His Arkistra, as such reissued on the Strut version of Singles
‘Sunology - Part 2’ (later inscribed ‘Sunology Part II’) despite its title could more accurately be called an alternate take of ‘Sunology’
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Sun Ra and the Arkestra, Sound of Joy
Recorded 1956 or 1957; originally released 1968 (Discogs); reissued 1994 (Discogs) with two bonus tracks; this album's content overlaps with that of Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth; see the discography of hybrid and partial Sun Ra albums at the World's Wide Web
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Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Jazz in Silhouette
Recorded 1958; originally released 1959; reissued 1991 (Discogs)
Reissued 2023 (Discogs) with a bonus disc and a total of 14 bonus tracks, six of which comprise the stereo version of the album Sound Sun Pleasure!!
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Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, Sound Sun Pleasure!!
Recorded 1958, 1959, or 1960; originally released 1970, reissued 1991 (Discogs) with seven bonus tracks, collectively originally released as side A of the album Deep Purple; see the discography of hybrid and partial Sun Ra albums at the World's Wide Web; see also Jazz in Silhouette for a reissue of the stereo version of this album
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Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra, Angels and Demons at Play
Recorded 1956 (side B) and 1960 (side A); originally released 1965 (Discogs)—both the download reissue's official page and Campbell/Trent give the '65 release date, not the commonly-cited 1967; reissued 1993 as one of a "two-for" (Discogs) with The Nubians of Plutonia
A: ‘Tiny Pyramids’ ‘Between Two Worlds’ ‘Music from the World Tomorrow’ ‘Angels and Demons at Play’
A: ‘Urnack’ ‘Medicine for a Nightmare’ ‘A Call for All Demons’ ‘Demon's Lullaby’
‘Medicine for a Nightmare’ and ‘Urnack’ released as a 45, credited to Le Sun-Ra and His Arkistra; this version of ‘Medicine’ is either the Angels version, as older discographies state, or the version originally considered to be a previously-unreleased alternate (as claimed in the notes for the Evidence version of Singles); the Strut version of Singles features this "alternate" take; the "alternate" is also included on the bonus disc of the deluxe edition of Super-Sonic Jazz
‘A Call for All Demons’ and ‘Demon's Lullaby’ released as a 45, credited to Le Sun-Ra and His Arkistra, as such reissued on the Strut version of Singles
‘A Call for All Demons’ also released as the B-side track of an early version of ‘Saturn’, credited to Le Sun-Ra and His Arkistra; both reissued on the Strut version of Singles; ‘Saturn’ also on the earlier Evidence version of Singles
‘Demon's Lullaby’ also possibly released, or at least planned for release, as a 45 with ‘Super-Sonic Jazz’, a song described by Campbell and Trent as similar to ‘Super Blonde’; both reissued on the Strut version of Singles; ‘Super-Sonic Jazz’ also on the earlier Evidence version of Singles
Unlike (three of the four) B-side tracks, the A side of Angels and Demons at Play features recordings otherwise unavailable elsewhere; given that the 45s noted here were released before 1965, the argument can be made that Angels counts as a hybrid album but for now the singles are not being factored into the separate hybrid-album discography
Sun Ra and His Myth-Science Arkestra, The Nubians of Plutonia
Recorded 1958 or 1959; originally released 1966 (Discogs); some editions entitled The Lady with the Golden Stockings; reissued 1993 as one of a "two-for" with Angels and Demons at Play; reissued 2014 as a download (Discogs) with four previously-unreleased bonus tracks
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Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra Visits Planet Earth
Recorded 1956 and 1959; originally released 1966, reissued 1992 as one of a "two-for" (Discogs); this album's content overlaps with that of Sound of Joy; see the discography of hybrid and partial Sun Ra albums at the World's Wide Web
Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra, Interstellar Low Ways
Recorded 1960; originally released 1967, reissued 1992 as one of a "two-for" with Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra Visits Planet Earth
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Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, Holiday for Soul Dance
Recorded July 1960; originally released 1970, reissued 1991 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra, We Travel the Spaceways
Recorded 1960-1961 except one track recorded 1956; originally released 1967, reissued 1992 as one of a "two-for" with Bad and Beautiful (Discogs) [see below]
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Sun Ra and His Myth-Science Arkestra, Fate in a Pleasant Mood
Recorded June 1960; originally released 1965; reissued 1993 as a "two-for" with When Sun Comes Out (Discogs) [see below]; reissued 2014 as a download with one bonus track (Discogs)
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studio albums - New York
Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Bad and Beautiful
Recorded 1961; originally released 1972, reissued 1992 as one of a "two-for" with We Travel the Spaceways [see above]; reissued 2014 (Discogs) as a download with one bonus track
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Sun Ra, The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra
Recorded October 10th, 1961; released 1962 (Discogs); some editions entitled We Are in the Future
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Sun Ra and His Myth-Science Arkestra, When Sun Comes Out
Recorded November 1962; originally released 1963; reissued 1993 as a "two-for" with Fate in a Pleasant Mood [see above]; reissued 2014 (Discogs) as a download with two bonus tracks and the unabridged edit of the track ‘Circe’
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Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra, Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
Recorded 1963; originally released 1967, reissued 1992 as one of a "two-for" (Discogs); reissued 2014 (Discogs) as a download with one bonus track possibly recorded later, 1964 or 1965
Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra, Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow
Recorded 1961 or 1962; originally released 1965, reissued 1992 as one of a "two-for" with Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy; reissued 2014 (Discogs) as a download with one bonus track and one track, ‘Cluster of Galaxies’, unabridged
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Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra, When Angels Speak of Love
Recorded 1963; originally released 1966, reissued 2000 (Discogs)
Reissued 2019 with three bonus tracks (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra, Other Planes of There
Recorded 1964; originally released 1966, reissued 1992 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1
Recorded April 20th, 1965; originally released 1965, reissued 2010 as part of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra (Discogs)
Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 2
Recorded November 16th, 1965; originally released 1966, reissued 2010 as part of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra
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Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra, The Magic City
Recorded spring and September 24th, 1965; originally released 1966, reissued 1993 (Discogs)
Reissued 2017 Discogs) with two bonus tracks
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Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, Strange Strings
Recorded 1965; originally released 1967; reissued 2007 (Discogs) with one bonus track; reissued 2024 (Discogs) without the bonus track on the 2007 reissue but with four different additional bonus tracks, one of which, a studio out-take, had been released on the 2014 download-only version of the reissue; of the remaining three bonus tracks, one is an additional out-take, another is a concert recording, and the last is a Sun Ra interview excerpt
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Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, Atlantis
Recorded 1967, 1968, or 1969; originally released 1970; reissued 1973 (Discogs) with an alternate version of the track, ‘Yucatan’; reissued 1993 (Discogs) with both versions of ‘Yucatan’ and one additional bonus track
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studio albums - early Philadelphia years - Impulse recordings
Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, My Brother the Wind
Originally released 1970, reissued 2018, titled My Brother the Wind Vol. 1 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra, The Night of the Purple Moon
Originally released 1970, reissued 2007 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, My Brother the Wind Vol. II
Originally released 1971, reissued 1992 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra, Monorails and Satellites
Originally released 1973, reissued 1991 (Discogs) and 2019 [below]
Sun Ra, Monorails and Satellites Volume II
Originally released 1974, reissued 2019 [see below]
Sun Ra, Monorails & Satellites: Works for Solo Piano Vols. 1, 2, 3
Released 2019 (Discogs); in addition to the first and second Monorails albums, on the first disc, includes a previously-unleased third volume, on the second disc
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Sun Ra and His Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra, Discipline 27-II
Originally released 1973, reissued 2017 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra, Astro Black
Originally released 1973, reissued 2018 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, Pathways to Unknown Worlds
Originally released 1975, reissued 2000 as part of a "two-for" with the previously-unreleased album Friendly Love (Discogs) [see disc image below]; reissued 2019 (Discogs)
Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, Pathways to Unknown Worlds + Friendly Love
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studio albums - after Impulse
Sun Ra and His Arkestra - The Antique Blacks
Recorded August 17th, 1974; released 1974; reissued 2009 (Discogs), billed as Sun Ra and His Myth Science Solar Arkestra, with one bonus track; reissued 2015 as a download (Discogs) with the same bonus track included but the entire album resequenced to correspond to the original performance; note that, like Of Abstract Dreams, this album documents a radio performance (at WXPN, Temple University) and as such is included among the studio albums
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Sun Ra - Cosmos
Recorded August 1976; released 1976 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Arkestra - Some Blues but Not the Kind That's Blue
Recorded October 14th, 1977, released 1977; some editions entitled My Favorite Things; reissued 2008 (Discogs) with three bonus tracks, one of which is from the same session as the album and two of which are concert recordings from May 3rd, 1973
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Sun Ra - Solo Piano Volume 1
Recorded May 20th, 1977; released 1977 (Discogs); note that the concert album St. Louis Blues: Solo Piano could be considered Volume 2, as both albums were relased by Improvising Artists Inc.
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The Sun Ra Quartet Featuring John Gilmore - New Steps
Recorded January 1978; originally released 1978; reissued 2014 as a download (Discogs)
The Sun Ra Quartet Featuring John Gilmore - Other Voices, Other Blues
Recorded January 1978; originally released 1978; reissued 2014 as a download (Discogs)
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Sun Ra - Lanquidity
Recorded July 17th, 1978; originally released 1978; reissued 2000 (Discogs)
Reissued 2021 (Discogs) with a bonus disc featuring an alternate mix of the album
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Sun Ra and His Arkestra - The Other Side of the Sun
Recorded November 1978 and January 1979; originally released 1979, reissued 2001 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra - On Jupiter
Recorded May and October 16th, 1979; originaly released 1979; reissued 2008, credited to Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra (Discogs); reissued 2021 as a download (Discogs) with one bonus track, a concert recording from 1978
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Sun Ra and His Arkestra - Sleeping Beauty
Recorded June 1979; originally released 1979; reissued 2008, billed as Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra (Discogs); reissued 2022 as a download (Discogs) with the three tracks that comprise Strange Celestial Road as bonus tracks, plus two additional bonus tracks, both concert recordings, from 1978 and 1980
Sun Ra - Strange Celestial Road
Recorded June 1979; originally released 1980 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra, God Is More than Love Can Ever Be
Recorded July 1979; originally released 1979; some editions entitled Days of Happiness; reissued 2018 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra, Omniverse
Recorded September 13th, 1979; originally released 1979; reissued 2021 (Discogs) with two bonus tracks, both concert recordings, from 1977 and 1979
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Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra - A Fireside Chat with Lucifer
Recorded September 1982; originally released 1983; reissued 2014 as a download, 2020 on C. D. (Discogs)
Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra - Celestial Love
Recorded September 1982; originally released 1984; reissued 2015 as a download, 2020 on C. D. (Discogs), with one bonus track: ‘Drop Me Off in Harlem’, which had originally been released as the only track unique to the Y Records album Nuclear War, which was otherwise comprised of tracks from A Fireside Chat with Lucifer and Celestial Love
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studio albums - later years
The Sun Ra Arkestra - Reflections in Blue
Recorded December 18th and 19th, 1986; released 1987 (Discogs)
The Sun Ra Arkestra - Hours After
Recorded December 18th and 19th, 1986; released 1989 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra - Blue Delight
Recorded December 1988; released 1989 (Blue Delight)
Sun Ra - Somewhere Else
Recorded December 1988, November 1989; released 1993 (Discogs)
Sun Ra - Purple Night
Recorded November 1989; released 1990 (Discogs)
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The Sun Ra Arkestra - Mayan Temples
Recorded July 24th and 25th, 1990; released 1992 (Discogs)
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concert albums
Sun Ra and His Blue Universe Arkestra - Universe in Blue
Originally released 1972, reissued 2022 (Discogs) with two bonus tracks
Sun Ra and His Astro-Intergalactic-Infinity Arkestra - Dark Myth Equation Visitation (Live in Egypt Vol. I)
Originally released 1972, reissued 2008 as one of a "two-for" with Nidhamu (Discogs) and 2020 as part of Egypt 1971 (Discogs)
Sun Ra and His Astro-Intergalactic-Infinity Arkestra - Nidhamu (Live in Egypt Vol. II)
Originally released 1972, reissued 2008 as one of a "two-for" with Dark Myth Equation Visitation [see above] and 2020 as part of Egypt 1971 [see above]
Sun Ra and His Arkestra - Horizon
Originally released 1972, reissued 2008 (Discogs) with four bonus tracks and 2020 as part of Egypt 1971 [see above], also in the 2008 11-track configuration
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Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Research Arkestra - Planets of Life or Death: Amiens '73
Released 2015 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra - At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977
Released 2024 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra - St. Louis Blues: Solo Piano
Recorded July 3rd, 1977; released 1978 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra - Haverford College Jan. 25, 1980
Released 2023 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra - Ra to the Rescue
Recorded 1982; originally released 1983, reissued 2022 (Discogs) with bonus tracks originally released on an album variously titled When Spaceships Appear, Cosmo-Party Blues, and Children of the Sun, plus two previously-unreleased bonus tracks
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Sun Ra - Excelsior Mill
Released 2024 (Discogs)
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John Cage/ Sun Ra - John Cage Meets Sun Ra
Recorded June 8th, 1986; originally released 1987; reissued 2016 (Discogs), titled John Cage Meets Sun Ra: The Complete Concert June 8, 1986 Coney Island, NY
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compilations and archival albums
Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra, Soundtrack to the Film Space Is the Place
Released 1993 (Discogs)
Reissued 2023 (Discogs) with an additional album, The Mathematics of the Altered Destiny, on the second disc as well as D. V. D. and Blu-Ray copies of the film, with bonus audiovisual content
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Sun Ra, The Singles
Released 1996 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra, The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals & Crystal Spears
Released 2000 (Discogs)
Cymbals reissued 2018 with bonus disc, titled The Cymbals/Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973 (Discogs)
Crystal Spears reissued 2018 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Greatest Hits: Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel
Released 2000 (Discogs)
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Henry Dumas/ Sun Ra, The Ark and the Ankh
Released 2001 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra, Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3: The Lost Tapes
Released 2005 (Discogs), reissued as part of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra [see above]
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Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra, Other Strange Worlds
Released 2014 (Discogs); label hype sticker seen above also used for the other three Roaratorio releases [see below]
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Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra, Sign of the Myth
Released 2014 (Discogs); this album's content overlaps with the bonus tracks found on the reissue, The Cymbals/Symbols Sessions [see above]; see the discography of hybrid and partial Sun Ra albums at the World's Wide Web
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Sun Ra, Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection 1952-1991
Released 2016 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra, The Intergalactic Thing
Released 2016 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Thunder of the Gods
Released 2017 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra, Of Abstract Dreams
Recorded 1974 or 1975; released 2018 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra, Sun Embassy
Released 2018 (Sun Embassy)
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June Tyson, Saturnian Queen of the Sun Ra Arkestra
Released 2019 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Prophet
Released 2022 (Discogs)
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Sun Ra, Inside the Light World: Sun Ra Meets the OVC
Released 2024 (Discogs)