Gavin Bryars | The Sinking of the Titanic

Gavin Bryars

The Sinking of the Titanic

London, UK: Obscure Records, 1975

12” vinyl LP

Edition size unknown

"A lot of new wave music was coming out at the time, and I was listening to bands like the Flying Lizards—I liked stuff that was a little unusual. There was also a song called “Mozart” by Michael Nyman. The original song title was different [“In Re Don Giovanni”] but he released “Mozart” as a single and it became a huge hit. The album with [The Flying Lizards’] David Cunningham as the leader was also good, it was called Grey Scale. When I went back to my room tired, I’d always listen to stuff like that—that quiet, heart-calming music. Obscure Records, which Brian Eno founded, had many of my favorite artists, including Gavin Bryars. I loved The Sinking of the Titanic. In fact, my grandfather was on the Titanic. He made it home alive, so the music was very personal to me. The second side [“Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet”] was amazing, too. And if anything, I was listening to the second side first. At the time, I was doing very tight techno music, so I wanted some quiet at home. That’s how it started—the music I played in my room was ambient.”

- Haruomi Hosono on the Music That Made Him