Music Arcades: Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra: Second Star to the Right (Salute to Walt Disney)

I got this at the same time as Sun Ra's Calling Planet Earth set, straight from the Recommended Records mail order catalogue. It was as if, since I was getting full three-piece suit, I might as well also get a pair of novelty spats to set it off. Though I don't think there was a sales promotion deal on the two together.

I didn't know what to expect. Would Ra elaborate and embellish the original Disney themes — including High Ho! High Ho! [sic] and Whistle While You Work — to the point of unrecognisability, in the manner of so many post-Coltrane jazzers (you mean that was My Favourite Things?!)? Or would he deconstruct and mash up the originals, au Zorn? It turns out that he and the Arkestra retain the cartoon spirit of the songs pretty closely, even if, as the sleeve notes claim, the songs become "metaphysically elevated" in the process. Sure, they extend and fiddle with them a bit, but overall — on this recording that derives from an audience bootleg — it just sounds like eavesdropping on a party.