AMG Review of Prayer for the Wild Things

Steven McDonald
All Music Guide

This is one of those albums that immediately bowls over anyone listening. Paul Winter is notable for a string of excellent instrumental albums, but Prayer for the Wild Things easily qualifies as his best to date, mixing acoustic instrumentation, studio electronics, Native American chant and drumming, the sounds of 22 animal species and more into a gorgeous, shifting collage of music and sound. The album is described as "An Earth Music Celebration of the Northern Rockies Inspired by the wilderness art of Bev Dootlittle." The result is almost 70 minutes of musical grandeur -- without one grandiose or pompous moment.