Lanquidity

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

Lanquidity
Studio album by Sun Ra
Released	14 August 1978[1]
Recorded	17 July 1978[2]
Studio	Blank Tapes Studios, New York City
Genre	Jazz fusion • Avant-Garde Jazz
Length	43:33 (Original LP) 91:20 (Special Edition)
Label	Philly Jazz
Producer	Sun Ra
Sun Ra chronology
Visions (1978) Lanquidity (1978) Sound Mirror (1978)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	favorable[3]
AllMusic	[4]
Alternative Press	[5]
JazzTimes	favorable[5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[6]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[7]
Spin	favorable[5]

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.^[3] "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".^[5] Music journalist Robert Christgau is a fan of the album.^[8][9]

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.^[10]

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.^[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sun Ra.

Original LP

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Lanquidity"	8:19
2.	"Where Pathways Meet"	6:30
3.	"That's How I Feel"	8:09

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Twin Stars of Thence"	9:30
2.	"There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)"	10:58
Total length:		43:33

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

Personnel

• Sun Ra: organ, synthesizer, piano, arranger, keyboards, Hammond organ, electric piano, vocals, bells, Arp, Fender Rhodes, orchestra bells, Mini Moog
• John Gilmore: tenor saxophone
• Danny Ray Thompson: flute, baritone saxophone
• Eddie Gale: trumpet
• Michael Ray: trumpet, flugelhorn
• Marshall Allen: flute, oboe, alto saxophone
• Luqman Ali: percussion
• Michael Anderson: percussion
• Artaukatune: drums, tympani
• Disco Kid: ( Slo Johnson ) guitar
• Dale Williams: guitar
• Atakatun Odun: congas
• Elo Omoe: Flute, bass clarinet
• Julian Pressley: baritone saxophone
• Richard Williams: bass
• James Jacson: oboe, basson, flute, voices
• June Tyson: voices