Black Sun Ensemble - Black Sun Ensemble Vol. 2 vinyl lp (due to size and weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed)
SKU
18-Lion 194 LP
Critically acclaimed, very early, psychedelic, desert rock band from Tucson, Arizona, who released this in 1985. This is a limited hand-numbered reissue of an alternative version of their debut album. 500 hand-numbered copies on black vinyl. Comes with an 8 page booklet.
"The music here still sounds as gorgeous to me as it did when I first stumbled across it. The magnificent weight of Jesus’ guitar work is always a surprise. From the midst of the most gently-drawn sand waves, he rises with his scimitar gleaming black in the hot desert sun to fulfill a mission whose orders only he can hear. What more could you ask for? I mean, really?" —Byron Coley
Lion’s second volume of the Black Sun Ensemble’s recordings for their classic first album contains an alternate version of that album, including the tracks from the Camera Obscura label CD (c. the year 2000) version of that album — well, sort of.
When sifting through the masters while preparing the Lion reissue of the real, actual first Black Sun Ensemble album — as issued in 1985 on Pyknotic — it became clear that many of the original LP tracks were also on the Camera Obscura CD release, but under the wrong names. Others were present, but in versions which differed from the Pyknotic LP versions — and again, under the wrong names. So, for example, ‘Mayan Dance’ on the CD is actually the same theme as the Pyknotic LP ‘Heart of the Sky’, but not the same take. Here’s the kicker: some of the tracks on the Camera Obscura CD share a name with a track from the Pyknotic LP, but are in fact completely new recordings, with nothing comparable on that original LP. ‘Blue Thunder’, ‘Red Ocean,’ and ‘Mandolin Winds’ are three such compositions. This means that there are basically two quite different ‘Blue Thunder’s written by Jesus; two utterly different ‘Red Ocean’s; and two absolutely not-the-same ‘Mandolin Winds’ too.
As a result, there are two separate Lion LP releases of Black Sun Ensemble’s debut recordings: volume one with a black cover, as per the original, is just that: the original 1985 Pyknotic LP reissued for the first time. This second LP with a white cover, contains alternates and new tracks, as released on the CD reissue of BSE’s debut. We felt it was important to keep the Pyknotic LP separate, to do justice to the original vision Jesus Acedo had when he self-released that music, and (eventually) found a segment of the world very willing to embrace it. But the other variations of that music are equally excellent and important, thus this second, separate LP for those gems.”