Harold Budd - The Pavilion of Dreams

This album can be roughly cut into three parts.

The first part would be "just" (it's 18 minutes long) a song called Bismillahi 'Rrahman 'Rrahim that's driven by a saxophone (played by Marion Brown, he was on Ascension), a second part consisting of two tracks that has a harp/vocalist duo and the third part (last song) that's piano driven (played by Harold Budd).

In a way I think this is a little ironic due to the fact that this album is credited to Harold Budd but it's the harpist and the saxophonist that steal the show here and not to mention that Brian Eno was the producer of this album. But such things are trivial now anyway since this was yet only the second album Budd did and it was released way back in 1978.

The album overall is quite relaxed by nature since it's a minimalistic piece of work. There are all sorts of "cling-clang" instruments that try to evoke this ethereal atmosphere of peace throughout the whole thing and it works, for the most part, very well. I guess my favorite part would be the first one where Marion Brown showcases his soothing saxophone skills, it actually reminds me a lot of Blade Runner. The harp sounds a lot like the keyboards that Vangelis later on used. Huh, weird. The second part is probably the most evocative in its sound due to the compelling sound of the vocalist(s). Accompanied by a harp it really creates this really intense melancholic mood that I love so much. I can't really explain it. The weakest moment for me is probably the last song which is also the third part of the album. I haven't really checked out the history of these songs so I don't know if there's any connection but it reminds me a lot of music by Pharoah Sanders only toned down a lot. Or something, it sounds okay I guess but I think the first two parts of the album are the best.


In any case, I'm no expert on ambient music but I warmly recommend this one if you haven't heard it yet.

Download.