In Search of Eddie Riff

Mackay has said that he intended for the album to showcase his different musical interests: "classical music, Motown, fifties rock and roll instrumentals, film music, electronic effects and partly for my wife Jane, who I had recently married, country and western."[3]

Reviews were mixed, and the Trouser Press Record Guide has described it as "merely a display of his technical abilities."[2] AllMusic, however, calls it "highly listenable" and "fun stuff from the artsy realm of serious U.K. musicians" which overall is "good background party music" with some moments of transcendent simplicity.[1]

First version

1. "Ride of the Valkyries" (Richard Wagner; arranged by Andy Mackay)
2. "The End of the World" (Sylvia Dee, Arthur Kent)
3. "The Hour Before Dawn" (Mackay)
4. "Past, Present and Future" (Mackay)
5. "Walking the Whippet" (Mackay)
6. "Summer Sun" (Mackay)
7. "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" (Paul Riser, James Dean, William Weatherspoon)
8. "A Four Legged Friend" (Jack Brooks)
9. "An Die Musik" (Franz Schubert; arranged by Andy Mackay)

Second version

1. "Wild Weekend" (Phil Todaro, Tom Shannon)
2. "The End of the World" (Sylvia Dee, Arthur Kent)
3. "Walking the Whippet" (Mackay)
4. "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" (Paul Riser, James Dean, William Weatherspoon)
5. "An Die Musik" (Franz Schubert, arranged Mackay)
6. "Time Regained" (Mackay, Eno) (edited from the 7" B-side)
7. "The Hour Before Dawn" (Mackay)
8. "Pyramid of Night (Past, Present and Future)" (Mackay)
9. "The Long and Winding Road" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
10. "Ride of the Valkyries" (Richard Wagner, arranged Mackay)

CD version (2003)

1. "Wild Weekend"
2. "The End of the World"
3. "Walking the Whippet"
4. "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted"
5. "An Die Musik"
6. "Time Regained" (edited)
7. "The Hour Before Dawn"
8. "Pyramid of Night (Past, Present and Future)"
9. "The Long and Winding Road"
10. "Ride of the Valkyries"
11. "Summer Sun"
12. "A Four Legged Friend"
13. "Ride of the Valkyries" (live rehearsal)
14. "The Hour Before Dawn" (live rehearsal)
15. "Walking the Whippet" (live rehearsal)

• Andy Mackay - saxophone, oboe, voice
• Phil Manzanera - guitar, saxophone, treatment
• Lloyd Watson - slide guitar, guitar
• John Porter - guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar on "The Hour Before Dawn" and "A Four Legged Friend"
• Roger Glover - bass guitar on "Ride of the Valkyries", "The End of the World", "Past, Present and Future", "Walking the Whippet" and "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted"
• Eddie Jobson - piano on "The End of the World", "Past, Present and Future", "Summer Sun" and "A Four Legged Friend", organ on "Past, Present and Future" and "A Four Legged Friend", synthesizer, glockenspiel, violin, strings, string arrangements
• Brian Chatton - piano on "The Hour Before Dawn" and "An Die Musik", clavinet on "Ride of the Valkyries", "Past, Present and Future" and "Walking the Whippet", organ on "The Hour Before Dawn"
• Paul Thompson - percussion
• Bruce Rowland - percussion on "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" and "An Die Musik"
• "Countess" Sadie MacKenzie: - ethereal voice

Recorded and mixed and Island Studios in February 1974. Engineer: Phill Brown. Assistant engineers: Dave Hutchins, Richard Elen, Brian Pickering.

Theo Bergstrom - photography

Additional personnel listed on 1975 re-release:

• Jane Riff
• Brian Eno

• 1974 in music
• 1975 in music