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Lights On a Satellite Image
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The latest full-length release from the 24-member avant-garde jazz ensemble Sun Ra Arkestra was led by 100-year-old Marshall Allen.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Dec 16, 2024
    80
    This is a fresh, meticulously arranged but still casual-sounding big band outing.
  2. Dec 16, 2024
    80
    On Lights on a Satellite, you get both sides of the Ra legacy from an immaculately recorded 24-piece band. .... Alternately exuberant and mysterious.
  3. Uncut
    Dec 16, 2024
    80
    The album is a fantastic ride along well-travelled spaceways, balancing Ra compositions with an eclectic mix of early 20th-century American music. [Jan 2025, p.30]
  4. Mojo
    Dec 16, 2024
    80
    Studio-recorded in a single sitting, the Arkestra honour their mentor’s methods by keeping everything moving, seemingly to infinity. [Feb 2025, p.89]
  5. The Wire
    Feb 4, 2025
    80
    Those arrangements, many drawn from Ra’s own vintage charts but others assembled by Allen, have an urbane lushness, the 24-piece ensemble swinging hard in tight formation, only occasionally letting their freak flags fly. [Mar 2025, p.44]
  6. Record Collector
    Jan 2, 2025
    80
    The album's highlights range from toe-tapping big band swingers (Big John's Special) and serene Ballads (Tapestry For An Asteroid) to more Outre pieces like the epic Friendly Galaxy and the otherworldly Reflects Motion. [Jan 2025, p.92]
  7. Feb 10, 2025
    80
    The Sun Ra Arkestra’s sonic vision transcends time and space for these keepers of the cosmic flame, and that vitality comes through loud and clear with Lights on a Satellite.

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