Track Listing

1. Harem (Cancao Do Mar)
2. What a Wonderful World
3. It's a Beautiful Day
4. What You Never Know
5. The Journey Home
6. Free
7. Mysterious Days
8. The War Is Over Now
9. Misere Mei
10. Beautiful
11. Scimitar Moon/Voyage/Promise/Hamesha/Alone
12. Stranger In Paradise
13. Until The End Of Time
14. Gueri De Toi (Bonus Track)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4763 in Music
• Released on: 2003-09-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

CD Description
Listening to HAREM, it's hard to believe that multifarious pop diva Sarah Brightman first came to fame as a proponent of musical theatre (not counting her early stint with dance-pop group Hot Gossip). After going through a number of stylistic shifts over the years, she has arrived at an unusual point where her sound evokes a strange confluence of Charlotte Church, Enya, and Madonna. Given the "Arabian Nights" sub-theme of the album, you might even throw in a little "Desert Rose"-era Sting as well.
HAREM veers between ethereal, almost New Age-like moments, operatic flurries, percolating dance beats, and some accessible Eastern-flavoured exoticism. Through it all, Brightman's Broadway past occasionally pops up, as on her orchestra-accompanied version of the standard "Stranger in Paradise", which is itself based on a classical theme. In fact, the orchestra pops up throughout the album, playing arrangements by former Killing Joke member Jaz Coleman, who's surely ventured as far afield from his origins by this point as Ms. Brightman.

Customer Reviews

Harem
This is the first Sarah Brightman album I bought, and I immediately fell in love with it. Not only is this my favourite Sarah Brightman album, it is one of my favourite albums ever.

This album is startlingly original and imaginative. The combination of middle-eastern folk, orchestral, dance, operatic and pop styles creates a sound which you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

All of the songs on this album are good, however, the cover of Un Bel Di is delightfully weird, and like marmite you'll either love or loath it; the cover of What A Wonderful World is questionable, and Misere Mei slightly pointless. The other tracks are brilliant.

Harem, an upbeat track combines dance and ethnic styles, which compliment eachother perfectly, War is Over is beautiful and uplifting and features Kadim Al Sahir who sings in Arabic(?). Arabian Nights is eight minutes of your life well spent, it consists of five memorable parts, one of which is, I believe sung in sanskrit; and Mysterious Days is a lush Bollywood piece.

And not only that, Sarah Brightman's voice is brilliant.

uniquely brightman
This is the first album that I have heard from Sarah Brightman. I didn't know she existed until July of 2004 when I was lucky enough to catch her Harem tour here in Australia. How could majority of the population be not aware of the talent this lady showcases?

This album is a very enjoyable mix of materials with Middle-Eastern feel. It starts off strong with the title song - Harem - and it sets off the album to a perfect start.

It also includes a few cover songs, most notably What a Wonderful World. Now, I have no idea who originally did this, but I heard a version sung by a male with a very husky voice. So I guess I'm a bit biased if I say that this is the superior version. Another cover is the song Beautiful. It is a very haunting piece that gave me the chills, and in fact it can still do.

Looking at the cover booklet, I saw that she co-wrote a few of the songs as well, including Free and the War is Over now. In my opinion, these two songs are the most powerful in the album. But then again, I might be a little biased :)

I highly recommend the purchase of this wonderful album, you wouldn't regret it. I'm loving it, and I've acquired some of her older works as I'm now a devoted fan. Although I've met a few of her older fans, those who prefer her musical pieces and they are not impressed much by Harem.

Wonderful
I've always liked Sarah Brightman but never been interested enough to buy her albums. That is, until now.

After seeing the video for "It's a Beautiful Day" on a satellite channel I knew I had to get the album. And it's really worth it. Whether you like Sarah or not, this disc has some beautiful tracks. The opening song, Harem sets you up for 14 exotic, delicious tracks that show her voice off perfectly.

The fact that we also get to hear Ofra Haza (who is greatly missed) on the "Mysterious Days" track only adds to the reasons why you should buy this disc. I can't stop playing it