Harold Budd's and Brian Eno's "The Pearl"

March 9, 2025 8:59 AM

"The Pearl’s icy elegance, sumptuous beauty, and mesmeric pace form the Platonic ideal which all post-classical piano-ambient has since imitated. Hearing it feels like retreating into a snow globe where there is nothing to think about, but everything to feel." – Brian Howe (h/t holmesian)

Pitchfork:

Soft, sparkling but always just beyond the edge of discernible pattern, Budd's pieces with Eno are like keyholes to dark rooms that Budd—in his reserve—never lets you into. It's this tension—between gentleness and threat, between intimacy and uncertainty, between the thrill of a hint and the human desire to see the whole picture—that makes them seductive on first listen but so easy to play on subsequent ones.

The Sound-Painted World of Harold Budd

posted by Lemkin (10 comments total)

Thanks for the post. I particularly appreciate the list of 50 best ambient albums.

Gone are the days where—eyes closed, headphones on—we can readily slip in and away for the side of a tape, lest an album. Listening to the average three-to-five-minute pop song with the distractions and thought processes of the world abated feels like a heroic act. That said, the appeal of ambient is ever apparent; much like a science project, when executed perfectly, the outcome yields the desired results: time becomes elastic, malleable.

-sigh- So true, and yet now is when we should really put aside that hour or so to be alone, pop on some good headphones, and put on a loved ambient album. Self-care, I think that's what the kids are calling it.
posted by Artful Codger at 10:46 AM on March 9 [8 favorites]

looking (listening?) forward to checking this out.

agreed that a nice ambient session can be great self-care. a candle-lit bath and Music for Airports is one of my favorite combos for maximum relaxation.
posted by supermedusa at 11:41 AM on March 9 [7 favorites]

a nice ambient session can be great self-care

SomaFM’s Drone Zone has the coveted Lemkin Seal of Approval.
posted by Lemkin at 11:48 AM on March 9 [6 favorites]

What a delightful throwback. Thanks Lemkin!
posted by holmesian at 12:19 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

I feel very lucky to have some long drives to workplaces through some very placid landscapes; generally enough for an entire album. A lot of Eno’s stuff has found its way into my head on those long drives.

Going to have to give Drone Zone a whirl. Depends on bandwidth of course.

Neat stuff - great post!
posted by cybrcamper at 3:42 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

I aim to start every work day with Michiru Aoyama's latest albums, which are wonderfully focusing. He's up to two a day now.
posted by Grangousier at 4:01 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Love this. Harold Budd’s album Avalon Sutra (Youtube link to full album) is my favorite ambient album ever, I have listened to it hundreds of times and I never tire of it. Weirdly —and this might be just a me thing — it’s also my favorite album to listen to while driving long distances alone. It doesn’t put me to sleep, it calms me and helps me drive in a very focused way.
posted by Doleful Creature at 4:27 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

Living in a snow globe is indeed serene — except for those violent earthquakes!

Which never seem to happen when it's really coming down, for some reason. . .
posted by jamjam at 4:50 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this post! I've been listening to this album forever, give or take, but somewhere along the line the software that I use to keep track of the 5700-odd pieces of music (and counting) that I don't want to lose track of, LOST TRACK OF "The Pearl," and I didn't realize it until I saw this and went looking for the record of it in my database. I owe you one. A big one.
posted by soulsailor at 6:49 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

The idea of a favourite composition pales when facing music as it is, endless in variation and context, so much that most of it does not permit such ranking in comparison; and anyway, I will change enough in myself that the favourite of yesterday is not the favourite of tomorrow; but most days, most days, if you asked me, it's still - and it has been for several years - it's still the eighteen minutes of Bismillahi Rrahman Rrahim.
posted by solarion at 4:25 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]