The Pearl (album)

The Pearl was recorded in Hamilton, Ontario in 1984 by Harold Budd, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois.{{Cite magazine|last=Prendergast|first=Mark|date=December 1986|title=The Sound-Painted World of Harold Budd|magazine=Sound on Sound|url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-sound-painted-world-of-harold-budd/1448}} The trio shared a house during the recording sessions and worked on the record seven days per week. The music was recorded over two weeks, and then it took 8-12 months to finish production and decide which tracks worked best together. The group had no set approach to working beyond looking for and capturing unique moments; such as "Lost In The Humming Air", on which Budd improvised to humming noises by Brian Eno played on a Yamaha CS-80 and recorded in one take. In the case of "Dark Eyed Sister", Budd recorded it at a small studio beforehand and sent to Eno to develop further; this, according to Budd, was the "extreme version" of how they worked. Eno made most of the decisions on aesthetics, spending hours working solo and recording pieces at different speeds. Pianos in the studio included an acoustic piano, as well as Yamaha and Rhodes electric pianos. For treatments, the group used a Yamaha DX7, CS-80, Casio CT-200, Casiotone 202, a Sequential Circuits Pro One, AMS digital delay, Eventide Harmonizer, and an EMT 250 plate reverb.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-life-of-brian/3396|title=The Life Of Brian (Part 1): Harold Budd|first=Chris|last=Everard|date=October 1984|magazine=Electronic Soundmaker & Computer Music|pages=28}}

Budd believes both Ambient 2 and The Pearl are similar in terms of sounds and timbres, and those similarities were conceived even during the onset of production.{{Cite magazine|last=Goldstein|first=Dan|date=July 1986|title=The Serpent and The Pearl|magazine=Electronics & Music Maker}} The former album was produced effortlessly, and the duo thought they could produce similar music again with ease. However, production on The Pearl was more challenging. Budd attributed this to naivety as a musical duo for Ambient 2, and explained that their musical language had matured since then, making production more difficult for The Pearl. In this sense, Budd believes The Pearl is more "cohesive" and "focused" than Ambient 2. He feels the conflicting emotions and "artful confusion" in the music make it more complicated and therefore more interesting to listen to.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r82823|first=Ned|last=Raggett}}

| rev2 = Robert Christgau

| rev2Score = A−[http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1797&name=Harold+Budd%2FBrian+Eno Robert Christgau review]

| rev3 = Tom Hull – on the Web

| rev3score = B+ ({{Rating-Christgau|hm2}}){{cite web|url=https://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=brian+eno|title=Grade List: Harold Budd|website=Tom Hull – on the Web|first=Tom|last=Hull|date=November 12, 2023|access-date=November 12, 2023}}

}}

Contemporary reviews were positive. Electronics & Music Maker felt The Pearl had more unity than Ambient 2, and enjoyed the peculiar mix of Eno's melancholia and Budd's optimism. Sound on Sound described how the album generates oceanic imagery, such as galleons at the bottom of the sea, waves on a deserted beach, and fish swimming silently.

Retrospective reviews have also been positive. Ned Raggett, writing for AllMusic, stated that "The Pearl is so ridiculously good it instantly shows up much of the mainstream new age as the gloopy schlock that it often is". Robert Christgau wrote that "These eleven pieces are more circumspect and detailed, and while they do slip into decoration they're the most intellectually gratifying (and emotionally engaging) music Eno's put his name on since his first Jon Hassell LP". A more critical review from Uncut described The Pearl the as "overly tasteful abstraction that eventually proves tedious" and a decorative, "musical equivalent of a lava lamp".{{Cite magazine|last=Dalton|first=Stephen|date=October 2005|title=Harol Budd & Brian Eno: The Pearl|magazine=Uncut}}

Ambient 2 and The Pearl are often discussed together by critics in retrospect as landmark works in ambient and both Eno and Budd's repertoire.{{Cite web|last=Dayal|first=Geeta|title=Harold Budd|url=http://4columns.org/dayal-geeta/harold-budd|access-date=2021-10-05|website=4columns.org}}{{Cite web|date=2014-02-25|title=Harold Budd: the composer with no urge to make music|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/25/harold-budd-ambient-composer-interview|access-date=2021-10-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Jazz|first=All About|title=Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd: Mirror Images article @ All About Jazz|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/robin-guthrie-and-harold-budd-mirror-images-by-john-kelman|access-date=2021-10-05|website=All About Jazz|date=2 August 2007 |language=en}} In 2014, The Guardian wrote that the albums earned them the title "godfathers of ambient". All About Jazz called the albums "some of the most beautiful music to come out of the early days of the genre". Q wrote that The Pearl built upon the sounds in Ambient 2, and described it as "slow motion cocktail jazz through a padded wall and earmuffs"{{Cite magazine|last=Henderson|first=Dave|date=December 2000|title=The Pearl|magazine=Q}} Pitchfork described Budd and Eno's collaborations as evoking tension "between gentleness and threat, between intimacy and uncertainty, between the thrill of a hint and the human desire to see the whole picture".{{Cite web|title=Harold Budd: Wind In Lonely Fences 1970 - 2011|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18889-harold-budd-wind-in-lonely-fences-1970-2011/|access-date=2021-10-05|website=Pitchfork|language=en}}

{{tracklist

|all_writing = Brian Eno and Harold Budd.

|headline = Side one

| title1 = Late October

| length1 = 4:42

| title2 = A Stream with Bright Fish

| length2 = 3:55

| title3 = The Silver Ball

| length3 = 3:23

| title4 = Against the Sky

| length4 = 4:46

| title5 = Lost in the Humming Air

| length5 = 4:02

}}

{{tracklist

|headline = Side two

| title1 = Dark-Eyed Sister

| length1 = 4:39

| title2 = Their Memories

| length2 = 3:52

| title3 = The Pearl

| length3 = 3:08

| title4 = Foreshadowed

| length4 = 3:47

| title5 = An Echo of Night

| length5 = 2:26

| title6 = Still Return

| length6 = 4:19

| total_length = 42:59

}}

• Brian Eno – composition, production
• Harold Budd – composition
• Daniel Lanois – production
• Russell Mills – cover art, design
• Christina Birrer – photography

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs release|id=58148|name=The Pearl}}

{{Harold Budd}}

{{Brian Eno}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearl}}

Category:Harold Budd albums

Category:Brian Eno albums

Category:1984 collaborative albums

Category:Albums produced by Brian Eno

Category:Albums produced by Daniel Lanois

Category:E.G. Records albums

Category:Ambient albums by English artists

Category:Ambient albums by American artists

Category:Albums with cover art by Russell Mills (artist)