Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Harold Budd - The Serpent (In Quicksilver) / Abandoned Cities (1989)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder (1986)
Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd - The Moon and Melodies (1986)
Harold Budd - The White Arcades (1988)
Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - After the Night Falls (2007)

Issued in 1989, this record collects two of Budd's early albums: The Serpent (In Quicksilver),  originally recorded in '81 (on a 4-track, no less) and Abandoned Cities, which consists of two long pieces composed in '84 for an art installation. The Serpent is very much in line with the piano-driven, synth-saturated ambient music for which he'd eventually become known, while Abandoned Cities offers an enticing glimpse at a darker, more experimental approach at which he proved quite proficient.

Track listing:
1. Afar
2. Wanderer
3. Rub with Ashes
4. Children on the Hill
5. Widows Charm
6. The Serpent (In Quicksilver)
7. Dark Star
8. Abandoned Cities

Totems of the red-sleeved warrior

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for this. My old vinyl copy went walkies...some lovely pedal steel on Serpent.

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  2. Gonna have to go ahead and grab this - many thanks!

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  3. Wow! This is great! Have you heard Harold Budd 'Avalon Sutra', B. Ashra 'Music For Growing Potento', Michael Mandrell and Benjy Werthmeimer 'Anjali', Michael Stearns and Ron Sunsinger 'Sorcerer', or John Fox and Harold Budd 'Nighthawks'?

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