Sun Ra "Sleeping Beauty" LP

A number of sessions recorded by Sun Ra from 1978 to 1980 - issued on the albums Lanquidity, On Jupiter, and Sleeping Beauty - reflect the influence on Ra of commercial musical and production trends of the mid-and late-1970s, especially heavy, studio-enhanced dance floor grooves (traceable from soul and funk to disco), and atmospheric New Age "dream" pieces. But Ra neither surrendered to nor fully embraced these styles - he simply added these techniques to his toolkit, always stretching beyond the genres. The only aspect that eluded him was commercial success.