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After leaving the Velvet and focusing on his debut, we see an original union with the famous Terry Riley, the man who gave birth to "A Rainbow in Curved Air". A composer who is now eighty years young and is part of the minimalist movement, which had its heyday with John Cage, Philip Glass & LaMonte Young. His way of playing the piano and organ, most original in the aforementioned work and ingenious in the famous "In C", inspired Ratledge ("Out Bloody Rageous"), raga, Schulze/Oldfield, and even Zawinul (the phrasing in "I Sing The Body Electric", but even in "Black Market" or "Birdland").
Riley also plays the sax here while Cale plays the minstrel, dedicating himself to the viola, harpsichord, and piano. In the title track that opens the album, all their class is evident. The pacing is that of "A Rainbow Curved Air" and "Sister Ray", meaning they put all their soul into the notes and emit more sounds through the expansion of the melody, which, spreading out in a crescendo, spills over into a multitude of sonorities. It is the concept of raga, the kind of jazz that meets the most booming rock, and it never ages. Indeed, the production has nothing to complain about compared to "Paris 1919" or "Fear" by Cale. There is a ballad, "The Soul Of Patrick Lee", sung by Adam Miller, while the other noteworthy piece is "Ides Of March" where the two pianos manage to conduct music hall, jazz, and boogie. The only flaw I see is that the idea was only partially realized; something is missing. There should have been even more engagement and fewer dispersive phases in the development of a piece as magnificent as the title track. There is psychedelia, the mystical and acidic note that always characterized the Velvet with "The Gift" and the ocean of notes that Riley can make speak by hitting the keys. However, there is also a short life, a design that doesn’t rule out the possibility of other collaborations between the two in the future, because their concepts inevitably clash with each other.
Riley, whom I support, proposes the idea of developing a concept marked by exoticism and psychedelia, while Cale tends towards a form more closely tied to rock standards. There is not that final push I would have wanted to receive from two geniuses like them. Cage later took huge steps with "Fear" and "Music For A New Society", later returning to collaborations even with Lou Reed in "Songs For Drella". I must admit I am not a huge fan of solo Cage, while the idea of "A Rainbow" fascinates me more; because then, it is this work where one can grasp more clearly who Riley is. Obviously, there is pretentiousness, without the excessive egocentrism of an Emerson, but that sensation of walking over notes is precisely given by the percussionist attitude of his style. Thanks to the intricate dialogues with the tabla, one is hypnotized and lulled by the attention to placing accents and small variations which stretch the melody excellently.
Being the executive producer of the album, Cale modified some sounds, altering some aspects that Riley did not like, so much so that he wanted to remove his name, without getting support for commercial reasons. I believe it is nonetheless a good example of the state of health of the creativity of these two artists in the seventies, and to pay homage to two realities that are often unjustly forgotten.
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