10 Influential Albums #3: In C by Terry Riley

I was 15 when I heard the Columbia Recording of Terry Riley’s In C for the first time. It was at a gathering of my gang — Willard, Liz, Dennis, Neil, Laura, Pam, Alan, Robert — and it was riveting — the only movement I recall for its entire duration was when one of us flipped the record over to hear the second part. None of us had ever heard anything like it. We could barely understand the liner notes that described how he put the piece together but the combination of energy and stillness was something new for us. A few months later, we formed a multi-media group, Alfonzo, and started to plan shows. And I started composing my first pieces using tape recorders and found sounds. Behind it all was this record.