Made in 1972 and first released in 1974,
Sun Ra
's film Space Is the Place is a bona fide cult classic as well as a defining work of Afrofuturism. Equal parts science fiction, Blaxploitation, and musical performance with a dose of surrealism, the movie stars
Ra
on a mission to recruit young Black Americans for a space colony, using music as the vessel. He plays a card game with a pimp called the Overseer in order to determine the fate of the human race, and he opens an Outer Space Employment Agency at a youth center in Oakland, eventually transporting numerous people on his spaceship. Though it was made around the same time as
's essential
Space Is the Place
album, the two otherwise have little in common, and the film's soundtrack wasn't properly issued until 1993. The soundtrack itself is nearly as crucial to the
legacy as the film or album of the same name, and it has perhaps the best opening of any album ever, with
June Tyson
leading
the Arkestra
in the unforgettable chant "It's after the end of the world! Don't you know that yet?!" over
's ominous, whirring organ. Instrumental selections like "Under Different Stars" are on the trippier side of
's repertoire, with murky electronics and acidic trumpets flailing in deep space. But there's also plenty of cosmic big band and the celebratory drum marathon "Watusa."
Arkestra
staples like "Calling Planet Earth," "Satellites Are Spinning," "Outer Spaceways Incorporated," and "We Travel the Spaceways" all tie into the film's plot, and these are some of the best readings of the songs.
himself makes poetic declamations during the free-form chaos of "I Am the Brother of the Wind," and the album ends with the wide-eyed, uplifting "We'll Wait for You" and a more concise version of the playful title track than the sprawling one from the 1973 studio album. ~ Paul Simpson