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. 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