[Davey]

Today I've been totally chilling to the new Avalon Sutra from Harold Budd. He and Brian Eno did a classic ambient album together that I really like a lot called The Pearl. Daniel Lanois was one of the players as well. 1984 is when it came out but I didn't get the LP until much later at a used record store as I was kind of played out on all the Eno ambient sound collages at the time. The hints of electronic tapestry that he weaves around Budd's piano is just beautiful. I guess one could almost call it new age, but the beauty and artistry and craftsmanship in this recording really makes most new age music sound pretty insubstantial in comparison. Yeah, this is definitely one of my favorites.

So fast forward to 2004 and I hear that the 68 year old Harold Budd has decided to call it quits after so many years of making beautiful music so he put together a final album with tributes to the people he's worked with over the years sprinkled throughout. It's called Avalon Sutra and comes with a second disc which has only one song, the over 60-minute remix of "As Long As I Can Hold My Breath". This one I had to have. It was only released in January I think, but is really a beautiful album. Lots of that signature treated piano, but some very nice soprano sax by Jon Gibson too, along with a string quartet to fill out many of the compositions. Very classy album and artwork. There's a very nice 4.5 star review at AMG and I also see a 9.4 rating in the review at the barcode ezine site, but if you like this type of ambient chillout music with a lot of real instrumentation in the mix, you can't do much better than this, at least for me. Oh, it's unfortunately not released in the US yet as it's on the Samadhi Sound UK label so I bought my copy through AB-CD. Not an endorsement for them, that's just the place I used since it was cheap at about $15, and I'd bought some stuff there before so knew they were a good place. But I'm sure there are other places you can find it for a decent price if you want. Just not at amazon since they're asking over $30. Definitely something to keep an eye out for if you ever feel like just floating away with the music

 

[Nightfall]

Davey,


Thanks, VERY much for providing this information. I am a major fan of Harold Budd, and Brian Eno, and own almost all of their recordings, rare, or otherwise. I was not aware of this one, nor Harold's decision to give up music. It saddens me to hear of it. My order has just been placed.



JC

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davey I guess one could almost call it new age, but ...

One second you scared me...

So again an import on my list....

Amicalement

 

[Calanctus]

Thanks Davey--ordered. One of my true favourites of the moment is 'The White Arcades'.

So suprising to hear that he is 68 years old.

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calanctus Thanks Davey--ordered....So suprising to hear that he is 68 years old.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised when I read how old he is too. I'm more than happy to pass on info about music when it's this high quality. I just clicked on the AB-CD link in my post and I see those weenies raised the price $.50 on us since I first posted it! Seems like with all this extra business they should be lowering it! Oh well, there's always someplace on the net to find a deal - just kind of a pita to find them when you want something right away

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calanctus Thanks Davey--ordered. One of my true favourites of the moment is 'The White Arcades'.

Hey, digging up the dead, but a few weeks ago I finally picked up a used copy of his The White Arcades from 1988 and I've been listening to it a whole bunch, and gotta say, wow! Pretty addictive stuff. He's probably amongst the greatest minimalist/ambient composers for keyboard and piano of his time. This one was the result of a contract with Brian Eno's Opal Records and resulted in one of Budd's best albums, recorded in Edinburgh with Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins engineering tracks along with Eno and one or two others. Beautiful music that I'm sure I'll be listening to for years to come. Many feel that it stands as a landmark album, at least for this type of music, and while I'm still rather new to it, I'm inclined to agree. I've got a bunch of his works now, including The Pearl with Eno and Daniel Lanois, and the latest one and the White Arcades and some work with Hector Zazou and Eno's Ambient 2. Probably some others that I don't remember right now. Surprisingly, checking at AMG they only rate the White Arcades as 3 stars. Now that's just wacky

"This album is utterly gorgeous, a must-have for any serious fan of serious music" - Mojo

"The White Arcades contains some of the most haunting music you’ll ever hear" - Vox

 

[Calanctus]

The thread returns to life again! Every time I listen to the title track of 'The White Arcades' I feel like Castaneda/Leary/Alpert must have felt (OK a lot less but somehow I think it's in that direction).

 

[FalconP]

I would very much like to get my hands on Avalon Sutra and La Bella Vista, just a bit reluctant to pay import price. Eventually, I'm sure.

The White Arcades is among my first albums by Budd, and indeed is a gorgeous piece of work, just takes a bit of getting used to -- Budd has his own musical language, which may sound unusual to people coming from either pop or classical music.

I'm very emotionally attached to Lovely Thunder: it was one of my "college dorm" albums. The Room and the Eno collaborations are Budd at his most approachable and coherent. Amongst the experimental works, Luxa is absolutely stunning.

Not terribly happy with the Zazou collab: sound just like bad Zazou to me.

Does any dig into his poetry reading, such as Walk Into My Voice?

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconP Not terribly happy with the Zazou collab: sound just like bad Zazou to me.

Yeah, Glyph is a strange one, but I kinda like it. Has a nice smokey acid jazz feel to it with the horns and the beats. Not really similar to the sound of either artist. And a couple of the tracks I really like, but you're right in that it isn't one of the better albums from either. Budd also worked on that very nice Zazou "Songs from the Cold Seas" before Glyph, with Bjork and Vartinna and Suzanne Vega and Jane Siberry and Siouxie and all the rest. Nice album, but he was probably just in support role on that one, supplying some electric piano to work with the vocals.

 

[jonnyhambone]

This thread led me back to 'The Moon and the Melodies' - Harold Budd, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymond on 4AD from 1986. Really beautiful album I haven't put on for awhile. Thanks for the Budd mention...I need to check out 'White Arcades' soon.

 

[pframe]

Unless I'm misreading info on the Tower Records Web site, The White Arcades will be (re)released in the U.S. next Tuesday, Jan. 31.

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pframe Unless I'm misreading info on the Tower Records Web site, The White Arcades will be (re)released in the U.S. next Tuesday, Jan. 31.

Yeah, guess it's been out of print for a couple years but looks like an international reissue. I got mine used at djangos for about $7 since I had a notify set and acted fast enough. Not too readily available on the used market. You can get it much cheaper than that Tower price though. I think it's about $11 plus change at cduniverse right now for preorder. New cover art. Mine is the original Opal release distributed by Warners in the US. Pretty nice sounding. Hope they didn't mess with it and just do a straight reissue. Probably not possible because people nowadays would complain that it's not loud enough

 

[pframe]

Thanks, Davey. I just placed a preorder on cduniverse. It was $11.89.

Have my fingers crossed about the SQ. It's supposed to be quiet music, so I don't see what would be gained by compressing it and making it louder.

 

[archosman]

It took awhile but Budd eventually grew on me. I'll have to pick that one up.

 

[pframe]

The White Arcades arrived yesterday. SQ is just fine; the music is fantastic! I can see already that this is gonna get as much play as The Pearl.

Also, since jonnyhambone mentioned it (in post #10), I also got The Moon and the Melodies. Beautiful music. I haven't listened to much Cocteau Twins in a while, so this CD may just send me down that road.