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Sun Ra, Screamadelica, and The Red Sun
I’ve wanted to make a Sun Ra shirt for a while now. I’ve been slowly making my way through his discography and it’s insane. Lanquidity has been my favorite so far, and I think it's one of the easier albums to get into. His biography Space is the Place is next on my reading list.
Around the same time, I’d been listening to a lot of early ‘90s alternative and grunge, and Primal Scream popped back into my rotation. I’ve always loved the artwork from Screamadelica. It’s iconic. Alan McGee, the co-founder of Creation Records said the artwork became “The Primal Scream equivalent of The Rolling Stones’ famous lips and tongue logo.” I think that's spot on.
The story behind the Screamadelica artwork is great too. Paul Cannell talked about coming up with the original sun after staring at a damp spot on the ceiling while tripping on LSD. Here's a great article about it.
Bobby Gillespie (founder of Primal Scream and early drummer for one of my favorite bands, The Jesus and Mary Chain) has a deep connection to Sun Ra. He's cited Sun Ra as a major influence on Screamadelica. In 2010, he connected with the Arkestra and invited them into the studio. They ended up playing on “River of Pain” on the 2013 album More Light.
The shirt design actually came before the research. I just thought the Screamadelica sun and Sun Ra were a funny pairing. Then the connections started to make sense.
While putting this together, I started digging through a bunch of Sun Ra album covers and posters. I came across Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a recently reissued live album from 1977. The giant red sun on the cover immediately reminded me of Joan Miró.
As far as I know, there isn’t any direct connection between Sun Ra, Bobby Gillespie, and Miró. It’s just where my brain went. Miró kept coming back to the red sun throughout his work. I kept seeing that same symbol pop up in the Sun Ra world too.
It made enough sense to me.
Anyway, I thought that was a fun connection.
Preorders are live, and you can use the code PrimalSunRa at checkout for 10% off.
Thanks for reading,
- Mark
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