Early Works

by Steve Reich

Early Works cover art
  • Type: Compilation
  • Released: 1987
  • Label: Nonesuch
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 55:30
  • Community rating: 3.91/5 from 4 ratings

Artists on this release: Edmund Niemann, Brother Walter, Nurit Tilles, Double Edge, Daniel Hamm

Album Notes & Community Reviews

This compilation gathers Steve Reich's most groundbreaking phase-shifting tape experiments from the 1960s, offering a primal look into the birth of musical minimalism. Works like 'Come Out' and 'It's Gonna Rain' utilize hypnotic, overlapping vocal loops to explore racial tension and apocalyptic dread through strict mathematical processes. The collection stands as an essential, avant-garde document of rhythmic phase manipulation.

Genres

Descriptors: repetitive, avant-garde, rhythmic, minimalistic, sampling, political, uncommon-time-signatures

Tracklist

  1. Come Out (12:54)
  2. Piano Phase (20:26)
  3. Clapping Music (4:39)
  4. It鈥檚 Gonna Rain (17:31)

Credits

  • Steve Reich - primary artist, liner notes, mixed by, edited by, producer, loops, handclaps
  • Carin Goldberg - art direction, design
  • Paul Goodman - engineer
  • Robert Hurwitz - executive-producer
  • Bob Ludwig - mastered by [mastering]
  • Judith Sherman - mixed by, edited by, producer
  • Nevin Shalit - photography by
  • Steve J. Sherman - photography by
  • Richard Landry - photography by [cover]
  • Tina Girouard - photography by [cover]
  • Daniel Hamm - voice
  • Double Edge - piano
  • Edmund Niemann - piano
  • Nurit Tilles - piano
  • Russ Hartenberger - handclaps
  • Brother Walter - voice

More from Steve Reich: full discography