Symphony No.1

Performers: Glenn Branca (Soprano and steel-wire guitars) with:
Craig Bromberg:

Tenor, soprano, bowed; Richard Edson :Trumpet and octave guitar; Dave Buk: Trumpet, baritone horn; Ned Sublette:Soprano, tenor and steel-wire guitars; Ann DeMarinis:

Keyboard, percussion: Barbara Ess: Baritone and bass guitars, percussion; Robert Harrison: Soprano, tenor and bowed guitars; Thurston Moore: Tenor, soprano and bowed guitars; Lee Ranaldo: Soprano and steel-wire guitars; Wharton Tiers:Keyboard, soprano and steel-wire guitars /percussion; Gail Varchon:

Keyboard; Fritz Van Orden: Tenor saxophone; Stephan Wischerth: Drums, percussion; Margot Zvaleko: French horn; David Rosenblum: Baritone and Steel-wire guitars

What the press had to say about Glenn Branca and "Symphony No. 1" released as a ROIR cassette in 1983:
"Symphony No. 1 is the acme of what recent New York art rockers have yet accomplished. This may be the loudest piece of music this writer has ever heard." John Rockwell, New York Times. July 19, 1981

"Imagine a lion roaring and put your head in its mouth. Then you might get close to the impact of Branca's music. All the flesh of pop music is hacked away, but the terrifying bones still remain." New Musical Express, UK, January 14, 1984

"He succeeds in turning over the so-called evil sexual powers of rock music in its primitive state into a form of resistance." Kim Gordon, Art Forum, January 1983

"Awesome orchestral impact of Branca's massed minimalist heavy metal mantra." Michael Shore, SoHo News, August 8, 1981

"Those who heard Symphony No. 1 in 1981 knew it left them all shook up. This recording shows there was method in the mayhem. Huge and brutal and utterly magnificent." Jon Pareles, New York Times, Liner Notes, 1983