Most people's gateway to Terry Riley is pop drug hit Rainbow In Curved Air. Then they generally take a step back for the drier and more demanding In C, and maybe edge forward through his disappointing collaboration with John Cale into the sonic swamp of Persian Surgery Dervishes, then ... kind of lose interest.
That's how it went for me, anyway. It wasn't until the 'eighties that I started grabbing everything I could find by him, which pre-internet wasn't an easy thing. His massive discography is scattered across many labels, and benefits from cherry-picking. The early stuff, when he sounded like Terry Riley, is always stacked on th' IoF© spindle, but I can live without his later collaborations with "edgy" classicists - all his collaborations seem to subtract rather than add - and none of the many performances of contemporary repertoire standard In C quite catch the magic of that first edition.
Riley isn't rated at all highly by contemporary music snobs - he's seen as amateurish, vulgar, embarrassing, and messy; four words I remember from snooty critiques. Well. you know, fuck them. Rainbow will always be one of the loveliest things I can do to my head. Here's three relatively obscure soundtracks by the great man; Les Yeux Fermés (AKA Happy Ending), Le Secret De La Vie (AKA Lifespan, with a later and better cover), and No Man's Land. None of which I've seen, but inking this screed has made checking their availability my task du jour.
EDIT: A search in the usual internet bazaars for both No Man's Land and Happy Ending yields some surprising results, but not the movies I want to see.
Today's Mass Debate is bicycles! Got one? What-type cyclist are you? Geriatric wobbler with handlebar basket and constantly dinging bell, or urban hybrid tactical with GoPro© mounted on Teflon© crash hat??
ReplyDeleteDid not even know Riley did soundtrack work cool
ReplyDeleteThis link is your own, Chris. Any freeloading bum clicking on it will suffer Th' CURSE O' FOAM™, today manifest as noticeably increased ear hair growth.
DeleteI am down with being a wobbler
ReplyDeleteI have a geriatric wobbler but I don't own a bicycle.
ReplyDeleteI suffer from "Knees", which has put my bicycling days behind me, and a geriatric wobbler slowly gathers cobweb in the outbuildings. I pat its saddle comfortingly from time to time.
ReplyDeleteA few times a week I get on my folding bike for a 10-20 km ride, great way to explore the Nonthaburi countryside + the exercise is welcome too. Listening to A Rainbow in the Curved Air now, actually pretty cool cycling soundtrack!
ReplyDeleteBicycles were my way 'round in my early teens, a handlebar basket for the cassette player and other nessesites. Have a nice one these days, but knees and TB (tired butt) are the biggest challenges. At least the option is still open...
ReplyDeleteI had a 30-speed bicycle when I was in high-school to college days. I could ride hands free. Not any more... I wish I had a walkman or something back in the days listening to Rainbow In Curved Air...which I bought in 1970?
ReplyDeleteThe only bike we have here is an exercise bike.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved here, the previous owner left three very good bikes in one of the barns. We sold them for quite a tidy sum.
Used to cycle everywhere in my youth, now bike is under wraps, too many motor vehicles on roads now.
ReplyDeleteI have a bicycle that's a hybrid: urban vs. rural design and ride it weekly (he lies) during the Summer. I don't think I have ever intentionally listened to any of Mr. Riley's work... may have been exposed to In C ?
ReplyDeleteThank you sir. cool soundtracks, much appreciated
ReplyDelete... got a bike with engine (150hp)
ReplyDeleteI recorded Terry Riley playing piano at the Los Angeles Public Library:
ReplyDeletehttps://vimeo.com/433833468
Any chance you could upload this somewhere unvimeo? I'd love to save it.
DeleteSnagged this w/ Audio Hijack for your downloading, listening and storage pleasure. Besides, I wanted a copy for meself as well. The things you can stumble across at the public library, tho’ this was exceptionally exceptional. Glad some of ‘em are still around. Thx to the anon, lucky enough to catch this and kind enough to share, and Farquhar Throckmorton III for this puzzling blog. https://krakenfiles.com/view/nIiNrNFUbJ/file.html
DeleteThank 'ee kindly, rev.B.
DeleteA tandem rider is stopped by a police car.
ReplyDelete"What've I done, officer?" asks the rider.
"Perhaps you didn't notice, sir, but your wife fell off your bike half a mile back . . ."
"Oh, thank God for that," says the rider - "I thought I'd gone deaf!"
"I love this crowd!" (copyright Henny Youngman)
DeleteTwo nuns were riding their bicycles through the backstreets and alleys of Rome. One turns to the other and says, "I've never come this way before". The other nun says, "It's the cobblestones".
DeleteHere all week.
Try the veal.
Tip your waitress.
Thank you, and goodnight!
Two nuns in the bath. One says, "where's the soap?" The other syas "we can always get more".
DeleteTwo nuns in the bath. Knock on the door. "Who's there?" "The blind man." Nuns look at each other, then say "come in". Workman comes in, says "where do you want these blinds?"
Bikes are super but not those grim-faced lycra-clad passive-aggressive riders, sometimes in packs, who make out they are in the trials for the Tour de France or Giro D'Italia, of whom there are far far too frigging many on my commute as Spring comes in.
ReplyDeleteWith the better weather, we get loads of them here in rural France. Sometimes 20 or so in a pack and they stay spread out across the narrow roads.
DeleteMind you, the Tour de France came right by here a few years ago and it was pretty amazing to see.
I'm somewhere in between an urban hybrid tactical, and a geriatric wobbler, even though I start my seventy-fifth trip around the sun this July. Manhattan has lots of bike lanes on its streets and bridges. Spring will be here soon. Cobblestones!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the link. Rainbow In Curved Air was very popular during the Acid Wars.
Farq I'm really enjoying these 'new to me' TR albums, only problem seems to be increased ear hair growth.
DeleteWanna buy some acid Bob?
"Geriatric wobbler" Oi! Sir.
ReplyDeleteTerry plays piano at the LAPL
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/nJJKZ244frN
Terry Riley & Bang on a Can All-Stars
ReplyDeleteAutodreamographical Tales
http://www.borguez.com/