Search - Harold Budd :: By the Dawn's Early Light

Profound and Lyrical: A Composer's Commitment

James A. Winchell | Walla Walla, WA United States | 04/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disc represents a high-water mark in the soon-to-ebb tide of Harold Budd's inspiring career (he announced his retirement last year). Deeply affecting and emotionally brilliant, the ensemble playing evokes memories of longing, caring and compassionate non-attachment to things unattainable. Several tracks feature the composer reading his own poems over intermittent accompaniment and, unlike some of my relatives who find them odd or incongruous, I find the content and tone of the artist's voice and poems a resonant sign of his commitment to the overall composition and the "subjects" of his work: the desert, the Native Americans, childhood and the unsurpassable feeling of intuition that links all living and non-living things."

Perhaps Budd's best effort?

Brad Torgersen | Seattle, WA, USA | 07/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I know, I know, hard to make that statement, given Budd's remarkable work over the years; especially with Brian Eno. Still, if I had to pick out a single Budd album to give to a non-Budd listener, as an example of Budd in top form, I'd go with this one.



Budd's signature piano blends beautifully with Bill Nelson's guitars, B.J. Cole's slider, Mabel Wong's viola, and Susan Allen's harp. Intentionally evocative of the dusty Southwest which Budd called home as a boy, the album also features a series of Budd's quirky spoken word poems, which begin and end the album in appropriate fashion.



The highpoint, in my opinion, is 'Saint's Name Spoken', featuring Budd on piano and vocals and Bill Nelson on string guitar. Slow, melancholy, evocative, it's right there with some of the best blue Jazz and, yet, is not jazz at all, but something else entirely.



Like most of Budd's work, it's not easy to describe this album, suffice to say that it is among my top ten ambient/instrumental albums of all time. I can't say enough good about it.



I often play this back-to-back with Budd & Eno's ambient classic, "The Pearl"."

Rich in texture

martin | Stockholm, Sweden | 09/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When I first bought this CD some seven years ago, I was immediately put off by the viola that somehow dominates many of the tracks. I put the CD on the shelf and never listened to it until recently. What I found now was a richly textured Ambient/Minimal CD, packed with very emotional pieces. It sounds alot like Harold Budd, but since he gets som extra help from other musicians, this turns out to be something more. I can see parallells between this and for instance Gavin Bryars "After the Requiem" as well as the instrumental extension of David Sylvian's "Gone to Earth", where Bill Nelson's guitar playing is featured as well."