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I, Pharaoh has some fine material, but the less than perfect sound quality detracts somewhat from the experience. "Rumpelstiltskin" is a solo piano piece that starts out pretty noisy but gets quite pretty fairly quickly. Ra switches to organ for "Images", where he is joined by a swinging horn section with prominent baritone sax and flutes. Then it's time for a fantastic Gilmore tenor solo. The beginning sounds like he's practically unaccompanied, but that's just a problem with the instruments being poorly recorded (the bass is particularly difficult to hear). Ra's organ joins in for the comping, but this one belongs to John Gilmore. "I, Pharaoh" is a side-long cut with that great mysterious vibe featuring wonderful flutes over percussion and a spare baritone horn line. Then Ra delivers a long vocal/recitation on Egypt and the Pharaohs. Again, sound quality detracts somewhat, but pieces like this, where Ra blends history and myth, are always interesting. I, Pharaoh is a decent album, but probably not worth the prohibitive cost of most Saturn LP's to all but the most serious Sun Ra fans.

I Pharaoh review by allmusic.com