Harold Budd: The Pavilion of Dreams [SUPERIOR VIADUCT]

Why you'll love it

Superior Viaduct's reissue brings back the original Obscure Records album in stereo, with its classic cover and hype sticker. Produced by Brian Eno, it was the last record on Eno's Obscure imprint and pointed the way to his ambient series.

This edition

• Stereo mix
• Original cover with hype sticker

About the album

Long before anyone filed music under ambient, Harold Budd was quietly writing it. The Los Angeles composer, who taught at CalArts from 1970, started this "extended cycle of works" in 1972, recorded it in 1976 with Brian Eno producing, and saw it come out in 1978 as the final album on Eno's Obscure label.

The opening "Bismillahi 'Rrahmani 'Rrahim" sets Marion Brown's alto saxophone drifting over shimmering glissandi, and it's one of the loveliest things either man ever put to tape. Elsewhere a six-voice chorus, harp and mallet percussion join in across the rest of the cycle, including the two Madrigals of the Rose Angel, and "Juno" closes things in a glow. Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman both play on it, Budd plays piano and sings, and Eno adds his voice.

AllMusic described its siren songs as shimmering like light on water, and the record still sits comfortably beside Steve Reich and Jon Hassell. It's the sort of album that makes a Tuesday afternoon feel like a holiday you didn't have to book.

Also at Kops: more Harold Budd on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Obscure / Superior Viaduct (cat# SV162), a reissue of the 1978 album.