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

STILL WAITING

Jerry Dammers probably has a good reason. He doesn't owe anybody anything. But jeez, come on. He put together his Spatial AKA Orchestra back in 2009 and has yet to release anything with them, if they even exist anymore. The probably don't. Their website and the Wikipedia page appear to be last updated around 2010. Regardless, I wish there was something, because the live videos that are out there are just my kind of thing, that being a combination of all kinds of things.

Here's a couple mp3s taken from a live television appearance, some live videos, and some stuff from his days in the Specials, assorted what not and what have you.

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

Listen:
Jerry Dammer's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Soul Vibrations mp3 at Eezy Weebly
Jerry Dammer's Spatial AKA Orchestra with Francine Luce - I'll Wait For You mp3 at Eezy Weebly
The Specials - A Message to You Rudy mp3 at Evil Vince
The Specials - Guns of Navarone mp3 at Plain or Pan
The Specials - Ghost Town mp3 at Midwestern Housewives
Video:
Jerry Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra - Ghost Planet at YouTube
Jerry Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra - Soul Vibrations of Man at YouTube
Jerry Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra Four Videos at Jerry Dammers
Visit:
Jerry Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra at Wikipedia

WEIRD WINS

Every band has at least one guy who just won't tow the line, not forever anyways, who never read the mission statement. When that person happens to be the brains behind the operation, the main songwriter, and a founding member, the post-break up shake can be telling. When the Specials broke up in the early eighties, you had two separate camps, the Fun Boy Three and Special AKA. I don't want to get into a long thing about the differences, and which one I thought sucked, but Special AKA had Jerry Dammers, and that's when I started paying attention. Dammers has always been the most interesting ex-Special, his most recent combo, Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra, is his most challenging; heavily influenced by the Sun Ra Arkestra, which is to say other worldly and weird. And that makes more sense to me than the reunited Specials (still touring) playing their songbook from thirty years ago. It the battle of weird versus nostalgia, weird wins every time.

I've posted about Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra before, but I just ran into a couple mp3s which weren't online the last time. In fact, these are the first I've been able to find at all. I don't think the band has ever recorded, and Dammers' site doesn't mention any releases. These were ripped from a Jools Holland appearance, and having been recorded in a TV studio, they're pretty clean.

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

Listen:
Jerry Dammer's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Soul Vibrations mp3 at Eezy Weebly
Jerry Dammer's Spatial AKA Orchestra with Francine Luce - I'll Wait For You mp3 at Eezy Weebly