Okay, back to Sun Ra (R.I.P., Dr. John!). To give you an idea of the variety of different versions of the same Sun Ra song, here's another studio version of Rocket Number 9, this one from Sun Ra's "Greatest Hits" LP subtitled Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel. As the album was posthumously released in 2000 (Ra passed in 1993), it consists of earlier sessions and dates, and it's impossible to tell what year this particular song was recorded. (Okay, it's not "impossible" to tell, we just don't know, alright? Got a problem with that?)
This version of Rocket Number 9 opens with the song's typical rapid-fire, bebop lines reminiscent of Salt Peanuts, and then gives the band some room to jam, including an outstanding tenor solo by John Gilmore and then some terrific bowed bass from Ronnie Boykins, before Sun Ra brings the solo to a crashing end for a piano interlude and then the song's new closing lyrics, "The second stop is Jupiter." So, we learn more about Rocket Number 9's full itinerary . . .
Variations on a mutated pop song, although once again, not one to be mistaken for something by Lady Gaga.
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