''Decay Music'' is the 1976 debut album by

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...

, released on

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Obscure Records Obscure Records was a U.K. record label which existed from 1975 to 1978. It was created and curated by Brian Eno. Ten albums were issued in the series. Most have detailed liner notes on their back covers, analyzing the compositions and providin ...

music label. The two works on the album, "1-100" (composed 1 December 1975) and "Bell Set No. 1" (1974) are both built around the musical concept of

decay Decay may refer to: Science and technology * Bit decay, in computing * Software decay, in computing * Distance decay, in geography * Decay time (fall time), in electronics Biology * Decomposition of organic matter * Tooth decay (dental caries) ...

. Both of these experiment with percussive, long decay musical forms. "1-100" is played at half the speed it was recorded. It was written for

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the ...

's film of the same title but rejected because it was too long. It was inspired by

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...

's ''Les Moutons de Panurge'', which Nyman often played with the

Scratch Orchestra The Scratch Orchestra was an experimental musical ensemble founded in the spring of 1969 by Cornelius Cardew, Michael Parsons and Howard Skempton. In the draft constitution published in the ''Musical Times'' of June 1969, Cardew defines a scra ...

. The album was first issued on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

on March 29, 2004, by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. The original full-speed recording of "1-100" is included as a bonus track.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Michael Nyman #"1-100" (27:18) #"Bell Set No.1" (22:35) #"1-100 (Faster Decay)" (13:40) (CD-only)

Personnel

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(tracks 1 and 3),

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, (track 2) * Nigel Shipway - percussion (track 2) *Composed by Michael Nyman *Produced by

*Published by

Chester Music Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...

Ltd//Michael Nyman Ltd (1991) *Art direction by Russell Mills *Image melts by Michael Webster *Layout and design by the redroom@emi *Liner notes by Michael Nyman and Brian Eno (2004) *Digital remaster produced in 2004 1976 debut albums Albums produced by Brian Eno Michael Nyman albums Obscure Records albums {{classical-album-stub