SUN RA – Hidden Fire (Strut Reissue) – 2LP – Vinyl

2LP – Standard Edition Black Vinyl. Remastered from original sources and presented with archival photos, new liner notes by Paul Griffiths, and restored artwork inspired by the original Saturn editions.

Strut Records proudly presents the official reissue of Hidden Fire Volumes 1 & 2, the final album released by Sun Ra on his El Saturn label in 1988.

Captured live over three nights at the Knitting Factory in New York City, these performances mark the closing chapter of a 33-year odyssey of radical, independent music-making. Originally issued in tiny quantities with minimal packaging and cryptic artworkoften featuring hand-written labels or Ras own handmade designsHidden Fire was among the most elusive entries in Sun Ras vast discography.

Musically, these recordings stand apart from Ras other ’80s compositions. Here, Hidden Fire plunges into darker, more dissonant territory. Ra performs exclusively on the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser, pushing its digital sound palette into alien dimensions. The Arkestra lineup is uniquely configured, featuring a rare and heavy string section with three violins, including the legendary Billy Bang, and the singular space vocalist Art Jenkins, whose eerie textures and vocalisations had not been heard so prominently since the early 1960s Choreographers Workshop sessions. The music is raw, unsettled, and often overwhelming.

Retrospect / This World Is Not My Home opens with a palindromic riff that evokes Ellington before unraveling into a stark sermon from Ra, warning of deaths dominion over Earth-bound minds. Hidden Fire Improvisation is a furious explosion of tone science, with Marshall Allen, Billy Bang, and John Gilmore delivering fire-breathing solos over relentless drumming and Ras cascading synth clusters. Hidden Fire Blues offers a warped, electrified version of Ras familiar blues feature, led by Bruce Edwards on guitar and Rollo Radford on electric bass, transformed through the haze of DX7 textures. My Brothers The Wind And Sun #9 evokes the experimental weight of The Heliocentric Worlds with its crashing percussion, pulsing synth-vocal duets, and string- driven chaos that seems to spiral into oblivion.

Even the quieter momentssuch as Hidden Fire II, a duet between Ra and Art Jenkinsfeel thick with unease and shadowy beauty. These performances represent a Sun Ra less concerned with cosmic joy or outer-space swing, and more focused on conjuring portals to the unknown.

Remastered from original sources and presented with archival photos, new liner notes by Paul Griffiths, and restored artwork inspired by the original Saturn editions, this reissue offers a definitive window into the last creative surge of one of musics most visionary figures across two Vinyl LPs.

Tracklist:

A1. RETROSPECT – THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME
A2. HIDDEN FIREIMPROVISATION

B1/B2. HIDDEN FIRE BLUES

C1/C2. MY BROTHERS THE WIND AND SON #9

D1. HIDDEN FIRE I
D2. HIDDEN FIRE II