May 11, 2008


A Rainbow in Curved Air


Terry Riley’s 40-year-old album contains only two tracks, each a side long in the original LP format, now a tidy 40-or-so-minute CD. What is cool is that, though the CD lists at $11.99 and though iTunes sells it digitally for $6.99, you can get each track individually in MP3 format from Amazon for only 99 cents each! I bought the complete “record” last night for $1.98! I love the title track, but have only heard “Poppy Nogood” so far while asleep. (That is to say, I set my iPod up to play them both at bedtime and zonked pretty soon.) “Rainbow” is minimal maximalism, or maximal minimalism: a few charmingly repetitive and melodic elements performed in a richly toned, non-minimal fashion. Joy-inducing without being sappy.

posted by Cooper Renner in beauty, music 

comments

7 Responses to “A Rainbow in Curved Air”

  1. Sheila Ryan on May 11th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    Eeeh!, this is great! Dollar ninety-eight! I still like “Rainbow in Curved Air”, and I just go delirious over Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band.

    (Cooper, did you discover Riley via Cale’s “Church of Anthrax” — or “underground radio” programmers’ fondness for “Rainbow”?)

  2. Sheila Ryan on May 11th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    P.S. A number of Riley’s “Poppy Nogood” performances were recorded, and I bet they can be found by the enterprising.

  3. katrina on May 11th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    THANK YOU! I’ve been meaning to listen to more Terry Riley. “In C” is just one track, $0.99. It feels like cheating!

  4. Cooper Renner on May 12th, 2008 at 9:18 am

    I used to own the (import) LP of Church of Anthrax, so either that was my entree to Riley or just reading about him somewhere was. I like Church.

  5. Cooper Renner on May 12th, 2008 at 9:38 am

    His website is here.

  6. Cooper Renner on May 12th, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Doing some more “research” leads me to guess that Riley is letting Amazon sell the old ’60s versions of In C and Rainbow so inexpensively because there are more newly released versions that sell for regular prices–an anniversary recording of the former that sells for $8.99 and a 1968 concert version of Poppy Nogood (40 minutes long) for $9.99. And maybe just maybe, he’s hoping the great price will get his music more widely listened to.

  7. Dan Whatley on May 12th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    Thanks for the tip. I was pleased to get an entire Beethoven Symphony for 99c as well. It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to In C.

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