{"product_id":"strange-strings-expanded-edition-2","title":"Strange Strings (Expanded Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e is a remastered album with bonus tracks. Liner notes by Irwin Chusid, and an expanded essay by David Toop are included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFans of \u003cstrong\u003eSun Ra's\u003c\/strong\u003e Space Bop and genre-bending jazz were in for a shock with \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e. Even in the eclectic and sometimes baffling \u003cstrong\u003eSun Ra\u003c\/strong\u003e catalog, \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e is an outlier. It's primitive, it's sophisticated, but it's not a gradient of either. It's brutal, yet highly sensitive. Is it music, or just noise? Or noise as music? John Cage could not be reached for comment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor this album, \u003cstrong\u003eSun Ra\u003c\/strong\u003e collected an arsenal of exotic string instruments and handed them out to his Arkestra on the precept that \"strings could touch people in a special way.\" That the Arkestrans didn't know how to play or tune these instruments was not beside the point- it was the point. \u003cstrong\u003eRa\u003c\/strong\u003e framed it as \"a study in ignorance.\" The result was primitive, yet sophisticated; brutal, yet highly sensitive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn his essay for this expanded edition of the 1967 Saturn LP, musician-curator David Toop calls \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e \"saturated in mystery.\" The original 1967 Saturn LP version of \u003cem\u003eStrange Strings\u003c\/em\u003e was monophonic, contained three tracks, and suffered distortion in the mastering (perhaps due to the high-decibel studio performance and excessive reverb). Yet some sessions were captured in stereo. A dozen strange-string works have been located, five of which are included on this remastered edition. (The others have been released on other labels; see discography inside gatefold.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNo track titles appeared on the original Saturn LP verso, but the three works issued were later identified as \"\u003cem\u003eWorld's Approaching\u003c\/em\u003e,\" the LP title track, and an inversion of the title, \"\u003cem\u003eStrings Strange\u003c\/em\u003e.\" A belatedly discovered tape box listed the third recording as \"\u003cem\u003eStrange Strange\u003c\/em\u003e,\" a title which has been used in this edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cosmic Myth","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50403997843787,"sku":"2218439","price":47.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50403996598603,"sku":"2218435","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_d68bc5e8_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726565582","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/products\/strange-strings-expanded-edition-2","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}