A Rainbow in Curved Air

In the late 1960s, composer David Behrman was working for CBS Records's Columbia imprint as an editor when he visited Terry Riley in his New York apartment, witnessing his use of tape loops as accompaniment for his saxophone playing (achieved via the use of two Revox tape recorders running into one another). ==Music==

The largely improvisational nature of the work, based on modal scales, owes much to Riley's background in jazz improvisation and interest in Hindustani classical music. Jazz pianist Bill Evans, one of Riley's piano "heroes", had utilized overdubbing on his album Conversations with Myself five years earlier. Riley would intensify this overdubbing approach with added instrumentation. Riley's saxophone playing on the track was inspired by that of John Coltrane. The titular "Phantom Band" refers to Riley's tape delay accompaniment. ==Release and legacy==

The original LP jacket includes a idealistic poem on the back cover, written by Riley, depicting a world in which the Pentagon is "turned on its side and painted purple, yellow & green within a plainly psychedelic environment" and "the concept of work was forgotten." It also inspired English progressive rock band Soft Machine's instrumental piece "Out-Bloody-Rageous". A Rainbow in Curved Air has also had a significant impact on the developments of minimalism, ambient music, jazz fusion, new-age music, progressive rock, and subsequent electronic music. It foreshadows the later overdubbed instrumental works composed by Steve Reich. The English progressive rock band Curved Air named itself after this album. ==Appearances==

Some of the music on this album was used as the background accompaniment of The Guide in the original BBC Radio 4 series of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams. It was sampled/copied as the sound effects for the 1980 arcade game Moon Cresta. On April 26, 2007, Riley gave a live performance of A Rainbow in Curved Air (Revisited) with percussionist William Winant and keyboardist Mikhail Graham. The album's title track is also featured in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV on the in-game radio station "The Journey." In 2009 the track "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" was featured in the BBC documentary Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements. ==Track listing==

All compositions by Terry Riley. • "A Rainbow in Curved Air" – 18:39 • "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" – 21:38 ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from liner notes. • Terry Riley – electric organ, electric harpsichord, Rocksichord, dumbec, tambourine, saxophone • David Behrman – producer • Glen Kolotkin – engineer, technician • Roy Segal – engineer • John Berg – artwork, front cover montage • Virginia Team – back cover ==References==