The Expanding Universe (Reissue)

The Expanding Universe is the 1980 debut album by composer and computer music pioneer Laurie Spiegel. The original album is reissued here as a massively expanded 3LP or 2CD set, containing all four original album tracks plus an additional 15 tracks from the same period, nearly all previously unreleased and many making their first appearance on vinyl in this brand new 2018 edition. Since this album's first reissue in 2012, it has gone on to be widely established as a classic of electronic, ambient, and 20th century classical music. 

Some of the well-loved works included in this set are "Patchwork", the "Appalachian Grove" series, "East River Dawn" and "Kepler's Harmony of the Worlds", which was included on the Golden Record launched on board the Voyager spacecraft. The pieces comprising The Expanding Universe combine slowly evolving textures with the emotional richness of intricate counterpoint, harmony, and complex rhythms (John Fahey and J. S. Bach are both cited as major influences in the original cover's notes), all built of electronic sounds using the GROOVE system at Bell Laboratories during the 1970s. The 3LP vinyl edition was cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin. 

"In 1977, electronic composer Laurie Spiegel's "Kepler's Harmony of the Worlds" traveled to the edge of the solar system as part of Voyager 1 and 2's "Golden Record". This reissue of her 1980 LP shows how Spiegel always contemplated orbits, heavenly bodies, and the cosmos through her compositions, while remaining affectionately human." 8.5/10 Pitchfork, Best New Reissue

Tracklisting 

1. Patchwork 
2. Old Wave 
3. Pentachrome 
4. A Folk Study 
5. Drums 
6. Appalachian Grove I 
7. Appalachian Grove II 
8. Appalachian Grove III 
9. The Expanding Universe 
10. East River Dawn 
11. The Unquestioned Answer 
12. The Orient Express 
13. Clockworks 
14. Dirge I 
15. Dirge II 
16. Music for Dance I 
17. Music for Dance II 
18. Kepler's Harmony of the Worlds
19. Wandering in Our Times