First introduced to me by my brother, Phil (yo dude!), in late 1997, Music For 18 Musicians [18] is a piece by the 20th century 'minimalist' composer, Steve Reich.  I was attracted to it from the beginning due to it's similarties to an album I was a fan of,  Millions Now Living Will Never Die by Tortoise.  But after 15 or 20 minutes I got bored of the piece and wondered when it was going to end.  Nonetheless I taped a copy of the original ECM version from my brother, the first 45 minutes of it on one side of a 90-minute tape and the last 45 minutes of it on the other.  It was like a continual loop of the piece and I never knew which side I was on unless I heard the beginning.  Throughout the Winter of '97 I listened to the piece whenever I was out driving and slowly the sounds started to fall into place.

Here's where words begin to fail me.  The piece is amazing, quite possibly the most consistently amazing 60 minutes I have ever heard in music...to be cont.
 

Favorite 18 section:

ECM - Section VII
Nonesuch - Section VI

Favorite 18 moment:

I was driving down to San Diego via I-5 one day during the rainy El Nino season.  From LA to the southern end of Orange County it had been overcast with slight drizzles.  I was listening to 18 (of course) when all of the sudden, just south of San Juan Capistrano, the clouds started to clear and the sun broke through.  At that point I was driving along at about 80 mph; I rolled down all the windows and cranked up the stereo   Needless to say, I was a happy man.