After the breakup of Be Bop Deluxe, guitar wizard Bill Nelson went out on his own, building a huge catalog of guitar-centric albums that often sounded quite a bit like his old band — but sometimes headed off into decidedly odd and sometimes explicitly spiritual ambient directions. Close Encounters in the Garden of Lights is the most successful of these, a two-disc exploration of Nelson’s gnostic/Rosicrucian religious beliefs delivered over a bed of mystically lovely instrumental music. Unless mystical spirituality creeps you out, this is one of the most relaxing albums ever made.

– Rick Anderson