THE SERPENT (IN QUICKSILVER)/ABANDONED CITIES

This is one of those albums that is a prime example of why you shouldn't get rid of an album if it doesn't click with you at first. I picked this one up used because I really liked Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror. I think I listened to it once and basically let it gather dust for a while. Then I took it on a vacation road trip down to the Tampa area. My girlfriend, at the time, was laying down to sun herself on the beach and I popped this one in my portable CD and went for a walk on the beach. The first track Afar just totally worked. The pedal steel guitar in that one has a kind of Hawaiian feel to it. The rest of the tracks for the first set are really great for letting your mind wander. On a nice warm day outside walking on the bay beach the first tracks really complement the experience.

I played Dark Star and Abandoned Cities sitting out in a chair at the water's edge of the Gulf Of Mexico outside our hotel room and again. It totally fit in with the place I was at. After that Harold Budd moved from this guy who worked with Eno to someone I had explore further and I haven't been disappointed.