HAROLD BUDD & BRIAN ENO: THE PEARL

"The Pearl" is a perfect example of background music. There's little diversity on the album as it all follows pretty-much the same formula: Budd on Piano, Eno doing his ambient- droney thing with Daniel Lanois giving the whole sound a lot of room to breathe. Listening to it as music will get you virtually nowhere, especially if you're comparing it to Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets", but when classified as Ambient music, the album becomes essential. It's very peaceful, serene and Budd's piano has a beautifully hypnotic effect that has you yearning to keep listening when the album has played in full.

Budd and Eno could do very little wrong when working together so, if you hold this album in high regard, then I strongly recommend their previous collaboration; "Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror".