Track Listing

1. Different Trains
2. Electric Counterpoint

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14931 in Music
• Released on: 1989-03-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 42 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Different Trains (1988) will probably go down in history as Reich's masterpiece. And deservedly so. Reich's phase-shifting minimalism is made dazzlingly entertaining in Different Trains, which is scored for string quartet and digitally sampled voices that repeat bits of speech concerning trains and Reich's experience with them growing up. The sinister part here is than some trains carried Jews to death camps. That's here as well. The Kronos Quartet has also never sounded better. Electric Counterpoint (1987) has one guitar--Pat Metheny in this case-- playing to 10 pre-recorded motifs, also on guitar. You absolutely need this. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews

Heartstoppingly beautiful
I won't talk about different trains as the other reviewers here clearly like it a lot, however I don't think I've ever sat through it all. What I will say is that I still give this album 5 stars without the first half of the album. The electric counterpoint tracks are quite simply insanely beautiful. Pat Metheny shows off his perfect technique by recording a 10 part canon of guitar completely dry (no "reverb" effects used here at all, it sounds big because it is) but with the touch of warm tape compression pleasingly unavoidable using this technique of tape delay (a perfect object lesson in why analogue audio sound is still lauded in this digital age). The piece opens with pulsing chords formed by a choir of Methenys tapping their guitars fretboards to produce specific pitches, and hence establishing the basic harmonic structure. This section leads in to a more conventional plectrum technique for the first fast counterpoint. The second piece drops the tempo significantly, and reworks the original theme, before leading to the climactic thrid section (climactic? surely this is minimalism!). After establishing the canon for the main theme, which will be immediately recognisable to anyone who's listened to Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb - a short sample of this section was looped as the main texture on this tune (not to mention the main reason for its success), we then get treated to the entrance of the bass guitar, followed by strummed chords before the repeat and fade out. Of course an entrance of bass guitar and some strumming shouldn't add up to anything like a crescendo, but after a very dynamically static, almost pastoral 12 minutes of transcendental melodic invention this arrives with more comparative gravitas than many more conventionally 'weighty' pieces. In conclusion: buy it now, no, really; right this very minute; it is absolute perfection. Of course the choice is yours, don't buy it then, see if I care: I'm listening to it right now!

Superb
Musicians have always had a fascination with trains - something about them seems to inspire composers to try and capture the sounds and rhythms of a train journey. Different trains starts in this innocuous sort of vein - dubbed over the percussive railway noises and ubiquitous steam whistle effects are what appear to be wistful, nostalgic reminiscences of train journeys of the past. However, some 6-7 minutes into the piece, the listener is jolted out of this gentle reverie. The tempo is subtly raised, and the dates mentioned by the voices - 1940 - 1941 - suddenly take on a new and chilling resonance.

Before we realise it, we are in Germany of the early 1940's, and we are aware that there is nothing innocent about this ride. Through this section, the sound effects - so simple, just a siren and a whistle - are used with devastating effect. The whistle, raised to a progressively higher note as the intensity rises, ends up almost off the scale. It sounds as if the sound equipment used had trouble reproducing the whistle at such a high pitch, and the resulting tortured, screaming effect creates the indescribable quality that such a narrative demands.

After such an episode, the work's conclusion cannot really help its anti climax. There is really nowhere for it to go, though naturally there is a dead, empty ring to some of the descriptions of postwar America.

This was a dangerous work to write - the risk of trivialising the historical events with melodrama or of being afraid to tackle such a subject head on were immense. Reich rises to the challenge masterfully, and I'm sure that 'Different Trains' will be remembered for many many years to come.

Something rather different
On first hearing "different trains", I was immediately struck by just how "different" the sound actually was. The idea of recording speech and integrating this into a musical performance is not new, but the effect achieved here certainly is. The various train effects that are added, such as a steam whistle, are skilfully and tellingly deployed. In addition, the sheer emotive power of the music cannot be denied - the effect of the central movement describing the holocaust victims' experiences is as horrific as anything produced by Hollywood.

Unfortunately, I also felt it to be slightly lacking in overall coherence compared to some of Steve Reich's work. The piece sounds very much as if it were written in two parts - one in which the survivors describe their experiences, and the other relating to post-war America (and, seemingly, an entirely different set of trains with a different message - though maybe this is what the composer wanted!).

The second piece, played by Pat Metheny, is similarly effective. It begins with a slowish introduction (with lots of "reverb" effects) and gradually builds itself to a vigorous, energetic climax in the final movement.

If you are a fan of Steve Reich's music, then you should certainly have this CD. If you aren't familiar with his music (and it can be difficult to get), than this would be the ideal place to start.