Visitations I & II were recorded in March 1973, and released on LP that year by Glass' Chatham Square label. If you're expecting, as I was, given the company Gibson moved in, two decent slabs of repetitive minimalism, think again. The two Visitiations pieces, subtitled 'A 16-Track Multi-Textured Environmental Soundscape' are concerned with pure sound in vast, beatless landscapes. Cymbals and percussion do abound, but purely as texture, with flute and other sounds, environmental and electronic, floating over the top. Very early Popol Vuh comes to mind - a lush but alien ambient trip through the environs of some ancient civilization or far off planet.
A reissue of that on its own would've been impressive enough, but the CD adds a third piece, boosting the running time by half an hour. Thirties was recorded at the ICES festival for experimental music in London, August 1972 - apparently AMM also recorded one of their releases at the same festival. The recording quality is rough and ready, but this doesn't detract from the piece - in fact, the distortion in places adds a very enjoyable edge. In contrast to the reissued LP, Thirties is highly rhythmic, and Gibson describes it as an open-ended "skeleton" that was used in many situations, the only set progression being a structure around divisions of the number 30. On this live recording, it comes across as an engrossing percussive jam, and I'm reminded of early Kraftwerk more than once - perhaps a more driving, engaged version of their second album, or even the pre-Kraftwerk Organisation sans organ. Julius Eastman comes to mind too - Femenine in particular. Well worth your time.
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