Probably the most 'reflective' album in my collection. 'The Sinking of the Titanic" is an aural documentary composed by the British composer Gavin Bryars. The Titanic is such an iconic incident, that it has no meaning for me until I heard this album. Extremely sad, and very moving, and basically one is living through the experience of a ship sinking, where one can hear traces of the ship's band playing as it disappears into the sea. Also, there is a faint voice in the mix, that is a person who survived the Titanic's sinking. Which gives the whole record a sense of hope and beauty, even though it's heading toward the entrance of death.
Side two is another composition by Bryars "Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet" that starts off with a recording a loop of a man singing a hymn with additional instrumentation added on as the piece progresses to a large orchestration. For me, the work has an educational value that it seems to be a textbook study on arranging and how important that craft is to a music piece. It's a pretty melody, but "The Sinking of the Titanic" is such a 'wow' piece of work, that makes it hard for me to turn the record over right away to hear "Jesus Blood.." As a package, it's two albums in one disc.
Speaking which, I can't overemphasize how important the label Obscure was when one purchased them in the 1970s. Started by Brian Eno, it was a label devoted to experimental British composers, but of all sorts. One can think of it as a school, but it covered a lot of musical ground within its limited releases at the time. For me, in the late 1970s, it was a great introduction to new music being made in England, and it's one of the great projects that Eno brought to this world.
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