Customer Reviews

She Is A Phantom

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With this album Harold Budd moved further towards neoclassical and chamber music, a direction he had already taken with "By the dawn's.." in 1991. "She's a phantom" is a cycle of songs recorded live at a church, featuring an ensemble called Zeitgeist. This album also contains a fine set of lyrics, written and read by Budd himself. The songs are surprisingly dark and minimalistic, with Budd's typically exceptional piano playing enlivened by Zeitgeist's empathy and gentleness. The dark atmosphere of tracks like "Pantomine", "Nearly awakened", or "In Delius' sleep" is fantastic. Within a framework of rich melodies, flawless performance, and a perfectly developed sense of the dramatic, "She's a phantom" spreads the charm of a haunted yet peaceful old castle. Fortunately, this experimentation with ensemble music pays off better than past adventures like "The pavilion of dreams". However, I still prefer more typical Budd albums like "The pearl", "The white arcades", or "Luxa".

I like this album a lot though I realize I don't listen to it frequently. When I do I'm always happy I did. It makes me think of dreaming, and reading fairy tales, and fuzzy photographs, and garden paths in rain. Well ... it takes you to a delightful place, I think, which is what music is about.

This is a CD-R! Don't buy this! Why would you pay full price for a CD-R when you can get the real CD anyplace else for the same price? Amazon did return it, so at least they have a good return policy, but I wonder what other substandard merchandise Amazon is selling...