Liner notes by David Moss (2023):

A bit of history:
My first solo concert was in 1973. Terrain was recorded in Aug/Sept 1980 - my first solo album.  Looking back 43 years later, it documented 3 main areas:
1. the development of my drumming and percussion concepts from 1972-80
2. the end of my totally acoustic music period (electronics and amplification and sampling were just around the corner)
3. the initial burst of vocal experimentation which led to 40 years of singing

The LP was released at the end of 1980 (as Cornpride LP 007), with the help and advice of Michael Lytle (composer/clarinetist, with whom I had been playing in the trio Meltable Snaps It).
1000 copies were pressed. It was never re- released or reprinted as an LP or CD, and has basically been unobtainable since 1985.

Side 1 of the Terrain LP consists of seven solo pieces (some with voice), each an unedited single take (direct to stereo mix except for two overdubbed vocal quartets)
Side 2 has 4 overdubbed pieces (on between 4 to 8 tracks): one is voices only; one combines voices and glass jars (containing varying amounts of water); two combine voices with strings and percussion sounds.

In the brief liner notes on the 1980 LP I wrote:
“I was born in 1949 and have performed solo percussion concerts since 1972.  I have played with Fred Frith. Andrea Centazzo, Tom Guralnick, Baird Hersey, Michael Lytle, George Cartwright, Bill Dixon, Malcolm Goldstein, Joseph Celli; and with dancers Steve Paxton, Kenneth King and Lisa Nelson. I am interested here in texture, line, momentum, surprise, density, language, tangibility and shape.”
Today, in 2023, there would be a lot more people to add to those lists, but the last sentence is still true after 43 years (just add “memory, song and stories”).

Credits:

Side 1 (01 - 07): recorded Sept. 10, 1980 at WXXI, Rochester, NY; sound engineer: Michael Lytle
Side 2 (08 - 11): recorded August 11, 1980 at Nickel Studio, Hartford CT (in 4-8 track); Engineer: Jack Stang

Sides 1 & 2 mixed by Michael Gilbert and David Moss

Special thanks to Michael Lytle and Andrea Lerner for all their help, advice and ideas
Back cover photo and LP design: Stephen Petegorsky
Front cover: an actual photograph of particle interactions in a cloud chamber device

This new digital release has been completely re-mastered by Ali N. Askin, at his studio in Berlin, Germany. I can’t thank him enough for his skills, ideas, and ongoing encouragement. Without him, this almost-new sounding version of Terrain would never have happened.