Category: Terry Riley

The Netherlands, 1977. American iconoclast composer and musician Terry Riley touches down in Holland to appear on Dutch television. The near hour-long performance (buttressed by an introductory contextual primer) finds Riley performing “Shri Camel,” a piece that would not appear in an official capacity until 1980.

Incredibly, Terry Riley’s 1980 mid-period classic Shri Camel had never been reissued on vinyl until last month. But Real Gone Music’s new edition gives listeners a fresh opportunity to revisit what was arguably the studio culmination of Riley’s solo organ-and-tape-delay performances of the 1970s. Over the course of four long movements, Shri Camel alternates between almost overwhelming spiritual intensity and mischievous humor and joy.