TERRY RILEY

After composing and then practicing and performing this piece for three or four years--sometimes in the context of all- night concerts--Terry finally gets to render this unto vinyl. Columbia (CBS) Records orchestrated this recording in Buffalo, New York at the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at State University of New York, Buffalo with a significant number of overdubs occurring in the editing and mixing processes. While Columbia Records' release date of this album has been a real challenge to track down (it continues to elude me), we know it was recorded in March. We can only assume it had a 1968 release. (Columbia Records could be equally fast or notoriously slow in releasing their recorded pieces.) I can find absolutely no information on how well this album sold, but we know it fell upon the ears of members of The Soft Machine and The Who for their "Out-bloody- rageous" and "Baba O'Riley" songs, respectively. Like the famous influence of Velvet Underground's debut album, I have a feeling that this is one of those albums that few people heard but those who did were strongly affected and/or influenced.

1. "In C, Part 1" (23:50) 2. "In C, Part 2" (19:10)

Total time 43:00

While many find Miminalist music dull or boring, I LOVE it! It reminds me so much of Bali's Gamelan music, which I ADORE! I find the hypnotic mathematical forms and patters mesmerizing, relaxing, and often tremendously engaging and interesting--especially the way the tracks of polyrhythmic instruments blend and flow, alternate between conflict and then falling conciliatorily into the weave, how new instruments can be surreptitiously snuck into the weave while others mysteriously go missing, over and over. Fascinating! In C definitely registers as not only a landmark album in the history of music but a masterpiece in a new genre that would go on to inspire so many prog artists including the Berlin School, Brian Eno, all members of the 1981 incarnation of King Crimson, modern loopers and electronica, Post Rock, and Tech/Extreme Metal artists.

A Rainbow in Curved Air by Terry Riley is, to me, frankly, a great example of an album, the universal critical glorification of which was shaped purely by the fact that it is "an important album" and not really its contents. Critics (especially the Progarchives ones) rave about its innovativeness and significance in the evolution of progressive or electronic music... and I'm like: ok? So, is it a good album after all?

The answer is: No. Not at all.

The album's fatal flaw IMO is the fact that its compositional side is simply not very captivating. If you throw away all the circumstances in which it was recorded, it's essentially a session of organ noodling that goes nowhere. The challenges Riley faced in '69 to design soundscapes never before heard on tape, don't instantly make it a masterpiece.

In conclusion, probably the most critically overpraised album ever made without a real reason other than the fact it was a technological marvel, at least for its era. Huge disappointment.

Recognized, justifiably, throughout the music world as a landmark album in the evolution of music, Terry Riley had been working on these pieces in live performances (sometimes all-night) for several years before finally rendering more concise versions of "In C," "Rainbow" and "Poppy" to tape and vinyl--and the radio listener and record consuming population has benefitted tremendously. Imagine if only live concert-goers were to have been the only individuals to have ever heard these pieces! While the classical staccato minimalism of "A Rainbow in Curved Air" contributed tremendously to the solidification of the genre of music that John Adams, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, and Michael Nyman and, truthfully, a whole host of Berlin School electronic artists would make famous, the drones, loops, and overdubs of "Poppy Nogood" were also quite revolutionary. Everyone knows the effect In A Rainbow in Curved Air had on The Soft Machine during the composition/recording sessions of their album, Third--how Mike Ratledge's "Out- Bloody-Rageous" came out of this effect--but it's hard to imagine how long it would have taken Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, the members of Kraftwerk, and so many Ambient, New Age, and electronic artists to develop their sounds and styles without the advantage of hearing and learning from this ground-breaking album! While I may not consider the two songs to be great listening or greatly sophisticated compositions requiring virtuosic musicianship, they certainly provide nice background music for the home/workspace.

1. "A Rainbow in Curved Air" (18:40) nice minimalist overlaying of electronic keys (speeded up?) and percussion. (36.5/40)

2. "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" (21:40) very pleasant and mesmerizing weave of looped, echo-effected, and overlayed saxophone riffs, bursts and flourishes. Terry proves that one human can be a one man big band/wind orchestra! (36.125/40)

A-/five stars. Though perhaps only a minor masterpiece of progressive rock music, A Rainbow in Curved Air stands as a major contribution to the birth and development of progressive electronic music.

This is in many ways on album of opposites or, rather, dualities. Let's see.

As a whole it sounds very much of its time (late 60s) yet it's somehow unexplainably ageless. It utilizes technology (tape loops, delay fx...) yet it's very warm, earthy and spiritual. It also works great as deep listening as well as background music. (Deep listening is of course recommended as usual.)

Comparing the two tracks, title track is hectic and detailed, latter Poppy Nogood etc. much calmer. Title track is also, to me, for sunny days and the other is for nights. Light vs dark, etc.

Title track is, as said, hectic and multi-layered yet it has a soothing effect when you concentrate on listening to it.

A wonderful album filled with rich details, a true tapestry of sound. Handcrafted with heart, vision and skill. Some of the details I want to bring up are the part with tambourines on the first track and on the second the bit with alternating forwards and backwards sax loops.

Criticism? It's over too soon and the title track's abrupt ending is annoying. Still, full five stars is in order here.

I think it's really odd I am writing first review about this album, that is also said masterpiece! Don't quite understand, why it's not add in PA at first place when making Riley's sites. Riley is anyway in it as strong part as Cale. Anyway I hope this review will woke at least some PA-members who haven't heard this before. As many of us already know, John Cale was in the avantgarde/experimental music circles before forming the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed. I believe if he didn't met Terry Riley that time, he anyway influenced by him highly those times. About Velvet's 'All Tomorrow Parties' he had said about it's keyboard part it's inspired by Riley. On the other hand Terry Riley as a minimalist composer was interested also pop/rock music and young musicians, so it wasn't so amazing these two decided to collaborate and record this album. Maybe for the record company commarcial failure fearing the album was released year after it's recorded.

Have to say A-side of the album is the greatest instrumental music I've heard a long time! The title track opens album really great way, it has really strong drum working for both drummers, also believe Riley is one who made really great solo working both on organ & sax when Cale made just a great background in this. Next 'the Hall Of Mirrors In the Palace Of Versailles' is so absolutely beautiful piano piece with Riley soloing in two saxes! But the b-side is not much weaker, it starts with the only vocal piece 'the Soul Of Patrick Lee'. Adam Miller is doing really great vocals in this piece that I think would have had also commercial potential if released as single. The ending part is not as great as the other part of album, but quite interesting anyway. 'Ides Of March' is maybe a little bit too long improvisation of two pianos and two drums, but again great drum work keep the interest up. Ending piece is quite rocky improvisation piece for piano where drums, guitar & bass creates strong base. The most interesting in this is short noise in the end.

I thought long time, will I give this five stars (just because I think many people give today in PA too easily five stars) but I have to join to the group of those who say this album masterpiece. Only reason not giving it is those two ending pieces, but they're not that bad they would low the unique greatness of the rest album. I am just getting into Riley's music more, but I believe this will be great opener to those, who haven't listened his music, just because this has also elements from pop/rock music!

This published material between Terry Riley And Amelia Cuni - The Lion's Throne (2019), was taken from live recordings (no recorded applauses) in the United Kingdom and Italy in between 1999 / 2006 and showcases both Riley's and Amelia Cuni's connection with Classical Indian music and its juxtaposition with modern Western canons and tunings.

The Lion's Throne is a 5 track album, its first three tracks ( Lion's Throne, Arica & Crazy World) are piano/vocals based compositions. Their surprise and thrill beyond their enticing transmuting piano structures relies on the female/male counterpointing vocal patterns and their respective lyrical experimentation on ancient and modern texts.

The last 2 tracks are played on different instruments therefore written for a different style of music and a different vocal approach, which to put it in PA's category list of terms, fit easily in the (contemporary) Indo-Prog/Raga (less the Rock plus its rare experimental side, plus again the lyrical reinterpretentions on ancient and modern texts.), sub-genre.

As I listen to it my personal appreciation falls between my ever growing affection for voiceless/textless music (or of only certain vocal registers or texts) and my utter admiration for Mr. Riley's ever growing and challenging, as always original, musical language.

This recorded recollection of live encounters if anything wraps up pretty much Terry Riley's songwriting scopes and his relentless quest as contemporary composer and underlines Amelia Cuni's evident singing talent and on track four: Cantico her composer's one.

So, as I mentioned, not exactly my cup of tea, but it will be absurd to underrate it due to the same.

4 stars.

Songs for the Ten Voices of the Two Prophets was recorded 'live' in 1982, in Munich, but like Riley's other live albums of the time, it doesn't sound like it was performed for an audience. Rather, 'live' indicates a limitation Riley (and/or the sponsor or record company) placed on the performance, that it would not include overdubs.

The first side of the vinyl is occupied by the 22-minute 'Embroidery,' and the second is comprised of two eleven-minute pieces, 'Eastern Man' and 'Chorale of the Blessed Lady,' but the three pieces aren't especially contrasting; in effect, they constitute a single three-section work. Each piece is a recording of Riley's voice and two synthesizers. (I believe that one of the two is set up as a sequencer.) As was the case with parts of Riley's Descending Moonshine Dervishes, released in 1982, Songs for the Ten Voices of the Two Prophets uses what sound like Indian scales or tunings; Riley's vocal teacher was the Indian vocalist Pandit Pran Nath.

But unlikeDescending, much of Songs of the Ten Voices is vocal. I was surprised that a gifted composer such as Riley was also a decent singer. He'd actually sound even better if he wasn't singing in a style that requires notes to be held for so long; it seems that everyone's voice wavers off pitch if given enough of a chance. The lyrics are also better than I'd've guessed (at least those in English). Riley sticks to relatively straightforward observations (of a 'firefly of changing colors,' for example, he sings that it 'never had a chance to leave the ground like this before').

Riley has legitimate connections to a variety of artists on Prog Archives, from those who influenced him, like Miles Davis, to those with whom he collaborated, like John Cale, to those he influenced, like the Who - - among others. So it's great to see him listed here, even if albums like Songs for the Ten Voices of the Two Prophets and Persian Surgery Dervishes don't (yet) have any written reviews. Of course, another reason for the lack of reviews could also be that these albums are difficult to describe.

Songs for the Ten Voices of the Two Prophets is not an album that I'd put on at any party I've ever been to, nor would I crank it up while driving down the highway. But it's a fascinating album to study, and an easy album to appreciate. I'd suggest it to anyone interested in music as art, and to those interested in modern academic composition. It's not rock, but it's definitely progressive.

This is a live recording made in Berlin on November 29, 1975 but apparently not released until 1982. Especially at the beginning, Descending Moonshine Dervishes bears some similarities to the second disk of Riley's Persian Surgery Dervishes (1972), but it wouldn't surprise me to find that there were additional iterations composed and/or recorded between these two.

Descending Moonshine Dervishes is a much more challenging listen than Persian Surgery Dervishes, if for no reason other than the tuning(s) Riley uses on the electric organ. For lack of more precise terms, I would say that the tuning gives the music a "raga" or Indian feel. But some of the transitions are jarring to my western ear.

Descending is also busier than Persian, using several rhythm-offset tape loops of what sounds like sequencers - - akin, not surprisingly, to the overlapping sequences on The Who's "Baba O'Riley." (Get it?) But at nearly fifty-two minutes, Descending has plenty of time to grow, and by the middle of the piece, a nearly rhythmless serenity has settled in, and a more western tuning has returned. The sequences reassert themselves over the last ten minutes, only to dissolve into a chord at the end.

Although Descending Moonshine Dervishes strikes me as a bit unfocused at times, it is pretty good as a whole. I do wish the sound quality was better, but I guess it was recorded at a festival with whatever equipment was on hand. So it it what it is.

A demanding listen, especially during the first half, but a rewarding one.

Persian Surgery Dervishes is comprised of four pieces ranging from twenty to twenty-five minutes each. The first two pieces were recorded in Los Angeles on April 18, 1971; the second two in Paris on May 24, 1972.

Part One of the LA performance features Riley performing a repetitive piece on organ, a composition that sounds to me like something Steve Reich would have written. The playing is a little rough early on - - not bad, but it takes away from the mechanical effect. Part Two is a different composition that uses a different organ preset - - and uses a much wider range of octaves - - but in many ways it's similar to the first piece. Both are arpeggiations, as I understand the term, with wide variations in note length and spacing. Part Two is quite a bit more varied, and in places sounds like a classical organ exercise.

For the Paris performance Riley appears to be using a modified or prepared organ, or perhaps its being played through some effect which compresses its dynamic range. In places he seems to be using a sequencer or a tape loop. Compositionally, the Paris pieces are superior to the Los Angeles pieces, but the sound quality is pretty bad. Actually, I was disappointed with the sound of the LA disk, and the Paris one is much worse. It's possible that it's my copy (apparently the 1993 New Tone reissue, downloaded from emusic.com), but it sounds the same on a YouTube video I listened to. To be fair, both performances are engrossing, so the sound quality isn't as much of a distraction as it might otherwise be.

Both the composition and the performance evolve from good to fantastic over the ninety minutes of Persian Surgery Dervishes. I'd strongly recommend it to fans of Reich or of Klaus Schulze (although Persian Surgery Dervishes doesn't sound anything like Schulze), especially those with a bit of patience and a lot of tolerance for poor sonic reproduction.

This is without a doubt a landmark in the world of minimalist music, and perhaps one of the finest examples of the style you're going to hear. I am not going to get into some intellectual ramblings, which seems to be a big habit when many review his music. I don't have some fancy PhD or from an upper-middle class background, what concerns me is the music. This album no doubt had a huge impact on the progressive electronic scene. You can notice the influence of this album and Terry Riley in general on Galactic Explorers' Epitaph For Venus (you can get this on CD on the Psi-Fi label), for example, and mid period Tangerine Dream probably would not be where they were without Riley. Outside the progressive electronic world Soft Machine was inspired by this. Make no doubt that "Out Bloody Rageous ", for example has this album written all over it, especially all those droning organs and those electric piano passages. "A Rainbow in Curved Air" (the track) features a bunch of overlapping organ and electric harpsichords, it seems a lot of tape loops are being used to create some of these effects heard here. He appears to use a Yamaha organ, rather than the standard Hammond organ. "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" features not just his reed playing, but a droning organ. This piece is really dark and ominous. It's hard to believe the recordings came out in 1969 (but composed some time earlier, apparently around 1966-67). it's definitely much more in tune with the next decade, as far removed from flower power, and images of psychedelic painted VW buses, as you can imagine but still have a psychedelic trip, but hardly a pop psychedelic trip like you would the Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints". This is nothing short of an essential album that's a must have.