Lanquidity


Lanquidity is a 1978 studio album by American jazz musician Sun Ra.

Music

The album was recorded by Bob Blank and Joe Arlotta at Blank Studios, entirely on the night of July 17, 1978. Stylistically, the album is markedly different from Sun Ra's earlier recordings, drawing heavily on funk, R&B and jazz fusion. Lanquidity is also unusual in featuring two guitarists, which were seldom used in the Arkestra. "That's How I Feel" features a tenor sax solo by John Gilmore, Sun Ra's sideman from the 1950s until Sun Ra's death in 1993.

Critical reception

Spin magazine called Lanquidity "a beautiful place to enter Ra's psych-jazz omniverse", while Alternative Press wrote that it is "impossibly funky": "Often compared to Miles Davis' heaviest jazz-rock-funk fusion, Lanquidity is dense, rhythmic and curiously hypnotic". Music journalist Robert Christgau is a fan of the album.
DownBeat gave the album 4.5 stars. Reviewer Larry Birnbaum wrote, "Ra’s genius for orchestration has never been more sumptuously manifest, as he floats deep bottomy vamps over a slow-motion backbeat from a disco party on Atlantis. The frenzied wailing of past Ra incarnations has given way to nostalgic reverie, updated with funky rhythms and Ra's consistently outside sensibility".

Reissues

The album was first released in 1978 with a reflective foil silver cover. In 2000, it was reissued on HDCD by Evidence Records, with a light grey cover.
In 2021, Strut announced a reissue of the album. Four editions were made available: a remastered version of the original album on digital and as a single LP, and a "Special Edition" version as a 2xCD and 4xLP box set, including rare alternate mixes by Bob Blank. In addition, record club Vinyl Me, Please, pressed a limited run of 750 copies of the single-LP version on red vinyl.

Track listing

The 2021 "Special Edition" contains the above tracks, followed by Bob Blank's alternate mixes for a total of ten songs.

Personnel