The Serpent (In Quicksilver)
A short, self-produced record on his own label: six pieces of piano and treatments, with Children on the Hill at its center.
Harold Budd, 1981
- Released
- 1981
- Recorded
- 1980-81
- Studio
- Poiema, Concorde, Music Grinder and Speakeasy
- Label
- Cantil
- Producer
- Harold Budd
- Length
- 19:37
Budd produced the record himself, with the credit sounds and treatments, and issued it on his Cantil label as a 45 rpm twelve-inch, with a front-cover photograph by his son Terrence. Chas Smith, who had studied privately with Budd, plays pedal steel guitar and shares the writing of the opening Afar. Les Disques du Crépuscule reissued it in Belgium, and from 1989 it was paired with Abandoned Cities on CD.
Billboard's Michael Padletta heard in the two Cantil records a thin veneer of serenity masking a mood that was dark and dangerous. AllMusic gave it two stars out of five.
Track listing
- Afar2:29
- Wanderer4:12
- Rub with Ashes1:54
- Children on the Hill5:02
- Widows Charm1:57
- The Serpent (In Quicksilver)4:03
Personnel
- Harold Budd acoustic and electric piano, synthesizer, organ, producer
- Chas Smith pedal steel guitar
- Terrence Budd front-cover photograph
- Paula Bethsebe design and layout
More from Harold Budd
The Pavilion of Dreams (1978), Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980), The Pearl (1984)
Sources
- The Serpent (In Quicksilver), Wikipedia
- The Serpent (In Quicksilver), Cantil 181, Discogs
- The Serpent (In Quicksilver) master release, Discogs
- Harold Budd biography, haroldbudd.com