Church of Anthrax is a collaboration between John Cale

John Cale

John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....

 and Terry Riley

Terry Riley

Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...

. The record was released in February 1971 by Cale's record company, Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, nearly a year after the material was recorded.

Track listing

All tracks by John Cale and Terry Riley, except "The Soul of Patrick Lee" by John Cale. "The Soul of Patrick Lee" is the only vocal track on the album.
All others are instrumentals.

Side A

1. "Church of Anthrax" – 9:05
2. "The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace at Versailles
   Versailles
   Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
   
   " – 7:59

Personnel

• John Cale
  John Cale
  John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
  
   – keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , harpsichord, piano, guitar, viola, organ
• Terry Riley
  Terry Riley
  Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
  
   – piano, organ, soprano saxophone

Additional personnel

• Adam Miller – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
   on "The Soul of Patrick Lee"
• Bobby Colomby
  Bobby Colomby
  Bobby Colomby is an innovative jazz-rock fusion drummer, and an original member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Bobby Gregg – drums

• Cover design: John Berg and Richard Mantel
• Cover art: Kim Whitesides
• Cover photo: Don Huntstein