YOU SAY ORCHESTRA, I SAY ARKESTRA

If you ever get frustrated looking for something online (photo, song, band, or whatever) just wait a few years and check again. I'm surprised sometimes when I find shit that wasn't there. I'd grown used to thinking that the global stock of stuff that could be digitized, uploaded and shared had been depleted. Nope.

I ran into an LP by Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra, a Sun Ra tribute. On it, they cover Sun Ra's "Nuclear War". It reminded me that Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra had covered the song as well. I went to find it. Dammers was a founding member of the Specials, followed by Specials AKA, followed by, you guessed it, Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra. If you follow Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra, you know. As far as recorded material, squat. And last time I looked for live videos there were three. But I checked today and, lo and behold, now there are a bunch. So I'm ass deep in that right now. I did manage to find a listing for a 45 released in 2014, one for sale at Discogs. A little rich for my blood ($85). I wish the fuck Jerry Dammers would put out an LP. That all said, I still have a lot of catching up to do. Here goes.

First a short clip of Dammers and crew to wet your whistle. More below, including a link to a Sun Ra documentary by Don Letts for any of you unfamiliar with Sun Ra. Oh, and Sun Ra's own feature length Space Is The Place.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Nuclear War mp3 at Internet Archive
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Somebody Else's World mp3 at Internet Archive
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Everything Is Space mp3 at Internet Archive
Video:
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Ghost Planet/Nuclear War at YouTube
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - [Title unknown] at YouTube
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Samson at YouTube Tommy McCook cover
Sun Ra videos:
Sun Ra - Brother From Another Planet (documentary) at YouTube By Don Letts for the BBC
Space is the Place - Sun Ra (feature length film) at YouTube 1974