Terry Riley?

I said in a tread about Phillip Glass that I felt Terry Riley should be here so I feel it deserves a tread of its own. I always felt albums like ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’ and ‘Shri Camel’ were much more than minimalism. Riley’s inventive and original Electronic melodies were pushing musical boundaries in a highly experimental way that could definitely, in my opinion, be classified as Prog Rock.

Will Terry Riley ever find his way into Prog Archives?

I second the motion.

I wonder if Terry Riley isn't a bit too much "avant-garde" for PA. But, after all, I just know "In C", so I'm not sure if his music has rock elements in it or not.

I believe the electronic team voted on Terry Riley not long ago and he was rejected. If someone wants to send a PM to Phillipe and see if he wants to discuss Riley that might prove illuminating.

By the way, Riley's record with John Cale is here under the Cale discography.

I betcha we might take it in Crossover.  I don't know, it seems like Electronic and all the other Sub teams are a bit too picky.  I'm honestly not really familiar with Riley, but I like what I'm hearing.

Edited by Slartibartfast - March 13 2010 at 09:57

MovingPictures07 wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: I betcha we might take it in Crossover.  I don't know, it seems like Electronic and all the other Sub teams are a bit too picky.  I'm honestly not really familiar with Riley, but I like what I'm hearing. This couldn't be more true. I'd be glad if Terry Riley gets into the Archives; he deserves to be here.

You know as much as I am familiar with Reich and Glass, I am ashamed to admit I don't really know Riley.

Slartibartfast wrote: MovingPictures07 wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: I betcha we might take it in Crossover.  I don't know, it seems like Electronic and all the other Sub teams are a bit too picky.  I'm honestly not really familiar with Riley, but I like what I'm hearing. This couldn't be more true. I'd be glad if Terry Riley gets into the Archives; he deserves to be here. You know as much as I am familiar with Reich and Glass, I am ashamed to admit I don't really know Riley.

You'll have to check some more out, it's pretty good stuff.

ExittheLemming wrote: Rainbow in Curved Air is certainly worthy of being considered as distinctly separate from the systems music/minimalism canon (and it did inspire Baba O'Riley by the Who) BTW I think the album sucks but it certainly wouldn't be out of place in the archive. However, please consider the precedent being set here i.e. if PA is open to Adams, Reich, Lamont Young Glass, Reilly et al where does it stop ? e.g. Bartok, Stravinsky and Ginastera have been influential to many prog musicians and I'm sure you would hesitate at endorsing the latter's claim as 'prog related' ?

It'll stop at Stockhausen (whom Riley was influenced by), Xenakis, Varese and the like (I'd actually like a new category for such non-Prog artists). ;)

 I think some worry too much about precedents.  The academic music composers you mentioned (Bartok, Stravinsky, and Ginastera) were influential to Prog, but one cannot say they had the direct involvement with progressive music, as encompassed by the site's categories, as Riley did.  Aside from Riley's progressive electronic albums, his collaborations with artists such as Cale, Eno and others makes him far more considerable.  Riley has worked with rock artists.  Furthermore, Igor Wakhevitch, who is in Progressive Electronic, was a student of his.  Aside from influence and collaborations, I do believe that Riley has sufficient music, and that's what really matters, that fits PA's parameters.

I expect there would be calls for Reich, whom Riley has collaborated with, but that should be evaluated on its own merits. Maybe there'd be calls for the jazzer, who has done Fusion work, Don Cherry whom he has collaborated with, and maybe there would have been calls for Cale if he weren't already in due to their collaboration. Don Cherry would of course lead to Ornette Coleman (of course we already have Ornette Coleman's Prime Time in here). And of course Riley would lead to Kronos Quartet's addition (think there are are already precedents for that).  Of course La Monte Young would have to be added. Of course Eno is already here.  My God, if Rilley is added, then every minimalist, every academic music composer, ever electronic artist, and every jazz man will have to be added.  It'll be the end of progressive "rock" archives as we know it.

philippe wrote: stonebeard wrote: I'm probably wrong, but in many cases how else could these bands not be included if not because "they're not like Tangerine Dream or Redshift." I accept everything adventurous from early Moog pop-ish experiments, to kosmische, droning minimalism, industrial and ethereal, organic ambient...I reject things related to IDM, clubbing, breakbeats (...) all these sh*tty stuffs for mechanical-body dancers, also functional new age relaxation music...Progressive electronic music is music for the "Brain".

You do realize that you're not supposed to actually dance to IDM and breakbeat, right? Something can be "music for the brain" without being an ambient voyage into the recesses of your psyche.

ok, I think with people like you, the discussion is pointless. I'm not opposed to "electro beats", it depends of many things and especially to the approach. Kraftwerk, Wolfgang Riechmann, Cybotron and many others included in the archives provide electro beats to their soundscapes...about musical ways to reach astral voyage and ravishing state of trance you are wrong...just listen to the noisy-bruitish facet of the subgenre or the almost symphonic-orchestrated splendor of compositions delivered by Roberto Cacciapaglia and a few others. 

Edited by philippe - March 14 2010 at 04:18