Metamatic Forums Links and Connections Harold Budd The Pearl

I have no claim to be an authority on Harold Budd by any means, but I thought I'd open this area of the Forum up a bit since I am at least a fan of his work.
I have probably only seven or eight of his albums (believe me, there are MANY MANY more...) but each one is a work of sublime beauty and several border on genius.

For my money, his best work is "The Pearl", recorded with Brian Eno in 1983 (which I know John Foxx rates highly). It never fails to draw me in with its intricate touches and evocative tenderness. Has a place among my favourite albums.
"Plateaux of Mirrors" before this kind of introduces some of the same ideas.

Otherwise I have
Glyph - with Daniel Lanios
The Moon and the Melodies - with Guthrie, Fraser and Simon Raymonde
Translucence and Drift Music - with John Foxx
The White Arcades
Lovely Thunder
Avalon Sutra
and one other whose title I forget! :rolleyes:

After seeing him in Brighton, I promised myself more of his albums.

Where to start...?

For me it just has to be The White Arcades and Luxa - both of these albums are just magnificent...

Harold also did an album with Eraldo Bernocchi entitled Music For \'Fragments From The Inside\' which is also worth searching out. Another classic...

Rob

The double album 'Avalon Sutra' by Harold Budd on David Sylvian's Samadhi Sound label is another superb album by Budd. Best listened to during Autumn/Winter time. The second disc, entitled ‘As Long as I Can Hold My Breath’, is a piece that is featured on the first disc but has been looped, extended and manipulated by Akira Rabelais to become a single dense, haunting ambient piece, that fills the room for well over an hour.

Yeah, I'd kinda forgotten about As Long as I Can Hold My Breath - I'll certainly agree with that recommendation...

Rob

I love that track!

The way it fills a room, and flows through the head.
Thanks, I'll play in again sooner

For some reason I haven't been able to fathom, I would put "The Pearl" way down the list.

"The Plateaux of Mirror" (play late on sunny summer evenings), "The White Arcades" (play in Winter), "Lovely Thunder" (ditto), "Luxa" (Autumn) (apart from the last few tracks), "The Serpent (In Quicksilver)/Abandoned Cities" and "The Room" (play deep in the night) are my recommendations. "Music for 'Fragments from the Inside' " is great too, if a little different.

And "Translucence/Drift Music" of course.

Sorry to dig this thread back up.

I would just like to say that I now love "The Pearl" - although it took a good while. Ideal environmental conditions? Overcast skies; autumn.