Black Sun Ensemble

Black Sun Ensemble

Whirlpool Ocean

San Jacinto

***First time on vinyl for these incendiary hard psych rock tracks, which made their only other appearance in Australia in 1999 on CD as part of the “Sky Pilot” compilation released by Camera Obscura Records.With each passing year since his death, the intense and inspiring musical legacy of Jesus Acedo is in danger of slipping into darkness. That’s where we at Lion Productions come in — together with Rich Hopkins and San Jacinto Records — to do our utmost to keep the Lambent Flame burning, so to speak. All of the music on “Whirlpool Ocean” originates from the troubled and bizarre sessions for the album Acedo made under the name Black Sun Legion — and then destroyed, when his struggles with schizophrenia overwhelmed him. Fortunately, Hopkins had the masters, or this LP would not exist today, and some of Acedo’s most brilliant music would be lost. Happily, not the case. We have this album and other recordings of Acedo's through which to remember and admire his genius.

Black Sun Ensemble

s/t Vol. 2

Return To Analog International / Lion Productions

***A 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 no 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 Acedo; 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 (LION LP-193) with a black cover, as per the original, is just that: the original 1985 Pyknotic LP reissued for the first time. This second LP (LION LP-194),...