Columbia Masterworks

Sadly my last post, it wouldn't be complete without some Steve Reich.
Here's the Violin Phase on side 1 and side 2: It's Gonna Rain, which was a seminal minimalist piece in 1965.

"The source material of "It's Gonna Rain" consists entirely of a tape recording made in 1964 at San Francisco's Union Square. In the recording, an African American Pentecostal preacher, Brother Walter, rails about the end of the world, while accompanying background noises, including the sound of a pigeon taking flight, are heard. The piece opens with the story of Noah, and the phrase "it's gonna rain" is repeated and eventually looped throughout the piece.
For the recording, Reich used two normal Wollensak tape recorders with the same recording, originally attempting to align the phrase with itself at the halfway point (180 degrees). However, due to the imprecise technology in 1965, the two recordings fell out of synch, with one tape gradually falling ahead or behind the other due to minute differences in the machines and playback speed. Reich decided to exploit what is known as phase shifting, where all possible recursive harmonies are explored before the two loops eventually get back in synch before the end of the piece."

On Columbia Masterworks, nice and gray label, this is a Not For Resale, Columbia Records Radio Station Service copy so it plays real nice.

Over and Out x