Nothing Is...

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Nothing Is...
Live album by
Sun Ra
Released1970
RecordedMay 1966
GenreJazz
Length39:42 (original release)
LabelESP-Disk
ESP 1045
ESP 4024 (2005 reissue)
ESP 4060 (2010 reissue: College Tour Volume One: The Complete Nothing Is...)
Sun Ra chronology
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two
(1965) 		Nothing Is...
(1970) 		Strange Strings
(1966)

Nothing Is... is a live album by the American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Sun Ra, recorded in 1966 and released on the ESP-Disk label in 1970.[1] In 2010 ESP-Disk released College Tour Volume One: The Complete Nothing Is... an expanded 2xCD edition, restoring the full concert on disc one and adding part of the second set and some tracks from the sound check on disc two.

Reception

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The AllMusic review by Lindsay Planer stated: "Sun Ra and his Arkestra issued only a handful of titles on the groundbreaking indie ESP-Disk label. Each title respectively contains some of their most expressive musical statements to date".[2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStarHalf star[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record GuideStarStarStarStarStar[3]
Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10[4]

Track listing

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All compositions by Sun Ra

Original LP

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Side A

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  1. "Dancing Shadows" – 9:50
  2. "Imagination" – 1:53
  3. "Exotic Forest" – 9:50

Side B

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  1. "Sun Ra and His Band from Outer Space" – 1:58
  2. "Shadow World" – 13:48
  3. "Theme of the Stargazers" – 0:40
  4. "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" – 1:42
  5. "Next Stop Mars" – 0:38
  • Track lengths on cover differ significantly from actual playing times given above.
  • This version is also available on CD (without the bonus tracks below) as ZYX/ESP 1045-2.

2005 CD bonus tracks

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  2. "Velvet" – 7:20
  3. "Outer Nothingness" – 15:43
  4. "We Travel the Spaceways" – 1:30
  • Recorded live on tour of New York state colleges May 18, 1966.

College Tour Volume One: The Complete Nothing Is...

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Disc one (05/18/1966 – first set)

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  1. "Sun Ra and His Band from Outer Space" – 14:02
  2. "The Shadow World" – 4:40
  3. "Interpolation" – 2:18
  4. "The Satellites Are Spinning" – 1:17
  5. "Advice to Medics" – 2:50
  6. "Velvet" – 8:16
  7. "Space Aura" – 10:26
  8. "The Exotic Forest" – 9:43
  9. "Theme of the Stargazers" – 1:52
  10. "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" – 2:24
  11. "Dancing Shadows" – 9:45
  12. "Imagination" – 0:40
  13. "The Second Stop Is Jupiter" – 1:12
  14. "Next Stop Mars" – 0:41

Disc two (05/18/1966 – partial second set and sound check)

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  1. "The Satellites Are Spinning" – 9:08
  2. "Velvet" – 7:10
  3. "Interplanetary Chaos" – 4:35
  4. "Theme of the Stargazers" – 1:30
  5. "The Second Stop Is Jupiter" – 11:16
  6. "We Travel the Spaceways" – 1:42
  7. "Nothing Is" – 6:13
  8. "It Is Eternal" – 12:37
  9. "State Street" – 8:21
  10. The Exotic Forest" – 4:32

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Sun Ra discography accessed July 20, 2010
  2. ^ a b Planer, L. Allmusic Review accessed July 20, 2010
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 186. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 386.