First ever reissue of "The Songs", the debut recording by Alan Sondheim & Ritual All 770, originally released on Riverboat Records (later recordings appeared on ESP Disk). Recorded in March 1967 and included on the legendary Nurse With Wound list of experimental recordings, on
this album Alan Sondheim played Electric Guitar, Violin, Flute, Suling, Xylophone, Alto Saxophone, Classical Guitar, Clarinet, Shenai, Bass Recorder, Mandolin, So-na, Hawaiian Guitar, Koto, Sopranino Recorder, Chimta, Cor Anglais, Sitar and Bansari.
Joined by Barry Sugarman (Tabla, Dholak & Naquerra), Chris Mattheson (Bass), Robert Poholek (Trumpet & Cornet), Ruth Ann Hutchinson (Vocals), June Fellows (Vocals) and J.Z. (Jazz Drums); Ritual All 770 were a group of improvisors living in Providence, Rhode Island. (Perhaps they could
be considered the sonic forebearers of the Fort Thunder scene...) Rejecting the notion that avant garde music was solely the realm of isolated academia, they delved fearlessly and joyously into their music, creating a work that sounds fresh nearly 40 years later.
FROM THE LINER NOTES:
This work is a single improvised performance in which one of the performers sings "Oratorio on the end of illusions", although, in my libretto the words were originally "Oratorio on the end of
visions". A libretto of eight pages was prepared. The vocalists were not told how to sing it. They could go backward or repeat any section if they wanted to. There was no score. The only
instruction given to the instrumentalists was this: no playing behind the koto or classical guitar. I had several rehearsals with each of them, mostly individually. The session lasted through two
takes, this is the second. After the master was made, I added reverberation and volume controlling; other than that, all of the music heard here is from the live performance.
ALAN SONDHEIM/RITUAL ALL 770 - THE SONGS (FM 04)
Note: This CD was mastered using the best available vinyl source.
Discography:
Cray/Turn, cdrom, 2001
Global Report, Damaged Life, Spasm cassette, 1986
Flesh, Damaged Life. Spasm cassette, 1987
Live at Starck Club 1987, Damaged Life cassette
Lips, Damaged Life cassette, 1987
The Songs, Riverboat, LP, 1967
Ritual, ESP LP, 1968
T'Other Little Tune, ESP LP, 1969
Participant on ESP samplers 1969-70
Select Bibliography:
Hole, 1994
Immobilization, Fort-Da, Atlanta, 1993
Juarez, Bruised, Digital Domain, 1993
Geography/Postmodernism/Body, 1992
Chatter Death, 1992
Textbook on Thinking, ocalocka, 1991
Poems and Stories, 1991
ETR, ocalocka, 1988
In the Third World, Tasmanian School of Art, 1982
Texts, U.C. Irvine Dept. of Art, 1978
The Structure of Reality, NSCAD, 1977
Analysis of Situation, 1972
Strata, NSCAD, 1972
Resonances, for Bykert Gallery Show, NYC, 1971
Lists, Halifax, 1971
this album Alan Sondheim played Electric Guitar, Violin, Flute, Suling, Xylophone, Alto Saxophone, Classical Guitar, Clarinet, Shenai, Bass Recorder, Mandolin, So-na, Hawaiian Guitar, Koto, Sopranino Recorder, Chimta, Cor Anglais, Sitar and Bansari.
Joined by Barry Sugarman (Tabla, Dholak & Naquerra), Chris Mattheson (Bass), Robert Poholek (Trumpet & Cornet), Ruth Ann Hutchinson (Vocals), June Fellows (Vocals) and J.Z. (Jazz Drums); Ritual All 770 were a group of improvisors living in Providence, Rhode Island. (Perhaps they could
be considered the sonic forebearers of the Fort Thunder scene...) Rejecting the notion that avant garde music was solely the realm of isolated academia, they delved fearlessly and joyously into their music, creating a work that sounds fresh nearly 40 years later.
FROM THE LINER NOTES:
This work is a single improvised performance in which one of the performers sings "Oratorio on the end of illusions", although, in my libretto the words were originally "Oratorio on the end of
visions". A libretto of eight pages was prepared. The vocalists were not told how to sing it. They could go backward or repeat any section if they wanted to. There was no score. The only
instruction given to the instrumentalists was this: no playing behind the koto or classical guitar. I had several rehearsals with each of them, mostly individually. The session lasted through two
takes, this is the second. After the master was made, I added reverberation and volume controlling; other than that, all of the music heard here is from the live performance.
ALAN SONDHEIM/RITUAL ALL 770 - THE SONGS (FM 04)
Note: This CD was mastered using the best available vinyl source.
Discography:
Cray/Turn, cdrom, 2001
Global Report, Damaged Life, Spasm cassette, 1986
Flesh, Damaged Life. Spasm cassette, 1987
Live at Starck Club 1987, Damaged Life cassette
Lips, Damaged Life cassette, 1987
The Songs, Riverboat, LP, 1967
Ritual, ESP LP, 1968
T'Other Little Tune, ESP LP, 1969
Participant on ESP samplers 1969-70
Select Bibliography:
Hole, 1994
Immobilization, Fort-Da, Atlanta, 1993
Juarez, Bruised, Digital Domain, 1993
Geography/Postmodernism/Body, 1992
Chatter Death, 1992
Textbook on Thinking, ocalocka, 1991
Poems and Stories, 1991
ETR, ocalocka, 1988
In the Third World, Tasmanian School of Art, 1982
Texts, U.C. Irvine Dept. of Art, 1978
The Structure of Reality, NSCAD, 1977
Analysis of Situation, 1972
Strata, NSCAD, 1972
Resonances, for Bykert Gallery Show, NYC, 1971
Lists, Halifax, 1971
Alan Sondheim - Live @ Tonic