The man sits alone behind the piano and gives us Monorails And Satellites, proof that Sun Ra never needed a band in order to lift us off on his spaceship. What's fascinating about this record is that although some of these numbers are worthy of Olivier Messiaien's most complex compositions, others are positively more relaxed and chill. Cogitation and The Galaxy Way, for example, sound incredibly intricate, like the most difficult of modern compositions, while Skylight sounds like it is time to open up a bottle of the bubbly with a loved one by the fireplace (only to be interrupted by the phone). The first two tracks feel like a freaky piano free-for-all, yet somehow, Sun Ra manages to keep things under control and not falling to pieces. I do prefer Sun Ra in a group setting, but Monorails And Satellites remains an important record in my book if only to hear how wide and varied this artist's repertoire was; it's another piece to the puzzle.