“Norton recently took a rocket ride into the vaults of El Saturn Research and arrived back on Earth with a motherlode of unissued early R&B, doo wop, soul and general weirdness featuring Sun Ra and his Arkestra backing a variety of artists. This series consists of two albums of Doo Wop from Saturn and Beyond entitled Interplanetary Melodies and The Second Stop Is Jupiter plus a set of totally twisted sides called Rocket Ship Rock featuring Yochanan ‘The Outer Space Vocalist’ (with his demented Saturn 45 Muck Muck/Hot Skillet Momma) and his way out friends backed by Sun Ra and his Arkestra! Atomic outer space genius from yet another Norton turban headed star!” – Norton

Track listing:
Cosmic Rays – Daddy’s Gonna Tell You No Lie
Cosmic Rays – Dreaming
Cosmic Rays – Bye Bye
Cosmic Rays – Somebody’s in Love
Cosmic Rays – Summertime
Crystals – Honey in the Bee Box
Nu Sounds – Spaceship Lullaby
Nu Sounds – I’m Through with You
Nu Sounds – Africa
Nu Sounds – Dabba Dabba Dabba Du Bay
Qualities – It’s Christmas Time
Qualities – If Only I Hadn’t Sinned
Juanita Rogers – Love Letters Full of Promises
Juanita Rogers and Lynn Hollings – Teenager’s Letter of Promises
Sun Ra – Tony’s Wife

“Norton recently took a rocket ride into the vaults of El Saturn Research and arrived back on Earth with a motherlode of unissued early R&B, doo wop, soul and general weirdness featuring Sun Ra and his Arkestra backing a variety of artists. This series consists of two albums of Doo Wop from Saturn and Beyond entitled Interplanetary Melodies and The Second Stop Is Jupiter plus a set of totally twisted sides called Rocket Ship Rock featuring Yochanan ‘The Outer Space Vocalist’ (with his demented Saturn 45 Muck Muck/Hot Skillet Momma) and his way out friends backed by Sun Ra and his Arkestra! Atomic outer space genius from yet another Norton turban headed star!” – Norton

Track listing:
Cosmic Rays – Somebody’s in Love
Cosmic Rays – Daddy’s Gonna Tell You No Lie
Cosmic Rays – Dreaming
Cosmic Rays – There’s a Small Hotel
Cosmic Rays – The Second Stop is Jupiter
Nu Sounds – Spaceship Ullaby
Nu Sounds – Honeysuckle Rose
Nu Sounds – Baby Won’t You Please Be Mine
Nu Sounds – Black Sky and Blue Moon
Nu Sounds – Dreams Come True
Qualities – Happy New Year to You!
Qualities – She’s My Moonglow
Crystals – Little Sally Walker
Juanita Rogers – I’m So Glad You Love Me
Juanita Rogers – I’m So Glad You Love Me
Sun Ra – Stuff Like That There

"Three volumes of incantations by Sun Ra and his cohorts, sent to sparse music backdrops, 1957-1982. Unknown, unhinged- let alone unheard recordings from the mystic mind of Sun Ra. This recently unearthed and meticulously restored series compliments our previous trio of early Sun Ra rarities." - Norton Records. "Our third volume of Sun Ra spoken word opens with a rare space story that I discovered on an unmarked five inch reel of tape. When I played the recording, I discovered an incredible story recited by an unknown artist, with Sun Ra going beyond the call of duty on keyboard. Included are two complete lengthy performances from this 1967 session.... The group recitation, The Outer Darkness, is a reworking of the poem I Seek A Better World originally recited by Ray Stubbs on the first volume.... We close this interplanetary poetry series with an extended piece, The Cosmic Visitor, incorporating This Is My Day, The Scheme Of Words, Black Holes In Space, and A Better World, performed live on-air on April 11, 1977 at radio station WXPN-FM... Sun Ras poetic incantations are accompanied by percussive musical arrangements or by a deliberate organ soundtrack, working with the rhythm of his words." - Michael D. Anderson, The Sun Ra Music Archive.

"THIS PLANET IS DOOMED serves up a traumatic torrent of future shock from Afrofuturist Sun Ra—deeply personal and critical commentary and unsettling advice to the people of Earth, who fail to acknowledge this planet’s role in the universe. 

"These lost poems, culled from the vaults by Sun Ra Music Archive director Michael Anderson, are available for the first time in this hip pocket paperback from Kicks Books. Poet Amiri Baraka’s estimable foreword, together with science fiction historian Bhob Stewart’s revealing introduction, set the stage for the heavy dose of the real and the unreal, which are delivered in the pages of THIS PLANET IS DOOMED. This book was collected from tape recordings and transcriptions culled from the Sun Ra Archives by director Michael Anderson, who worked with Norton Records to compile a total of six albums -- three collections of rare and unissued music recordings (on LP and CD) plus a trio (vinyl only) of unissued spoken word Sun Ra LP's. This Planet Is Doomed was expanded with the addition of several key 'lost' poems which appear here for the first time." 124 pages; softcover." - Norton / Kicks

I do believe the late great Nathaniel Mayer might’ve referred to the rough-and-tumble R&B numbers on this record as “raggely”. It’s largely comprised of late ‘50s recordings of Sun Ra collaborating with another eccentric visionary – Yochanan, the Space Age Vocalist. Miriam Linna describes the Muck Muck as “a wailing opus that makes Screamin’ Jay Hawkins sound like a milquetoast Mantovani.”  Not to be outdone, a singer known as Ebah howls through an epic “I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman” at what sounds like the tail end of one of Sunny’s 36-hour rehearsals.

Track listing:
Yochanan – Muck Muck
Yochanan – Hot Skillet Momma
Yochanan – Rocket Ship Rock
Yochanan – Is That Me?
Yochanan – Hot Skillet Momma
Yochanan – Muck Muck
Yochanan – The Sun Man Speaks
Yochanan – Message to Earthman #1
Yochanan – Message to Earthman #2
Little Mack – Tell Her to Come on Home
Lacy Gibson – I am Gonna Unmask the Batman
Ebah – I am Gonna Unmask the Batman
Don (Dino) Dean – Space Stroll

"The soundtrack to the legendary Space Is The Place movie featuring some of Sun Ra's most adventurous and uncompromising compositions ever: vocal chants, harsh synthesizer and organ blasts along with film dialogue, heavy percussion and just all around weirdness. Featuring front cover design by Curtis Schreier (a founding member of the Ant Farm art collective). An amazing, and important piece from the extensive Sun Ra catalog and a must have for Sun Ra and avant-garde cinema collectors alike." 180 gram vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve. - Sutro Park

"Three volumes of incantations by Sun Ra and his cohorts, sent to sparse music backdrops, 1957-1982. Unknown, unhinged- let alone unheard recordings from the mystic mind of Sun Ra. This recently unearthed and meticulously restored series compliments our previous trio of early Sun Ra rarities." "This first volume includes a 1961 performance of Yochanans Message To Earthman, the only recordings vocalist Roy Stubbs did with the Arkestra (1962), 1957/58 recordings made in Chicago and a 1966 poetry suite." - Norton Records

"Three volumes of incantations by Sun Ra and his cohorts, sent to sparse music backdrops, 1957-1982. Unknown, unhinged- let alone unheard recordings from the mystic mind of Sun Ra. This recently unearthed and meticulously restored series compliments our previous trio of early Sun Ra rarities. Featuring 1982 recordings made for WXPN-FM, a 1966 medley of six poems and a 1968 NYC recording of "If You Are Not A Myth." - Norton Records.