Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Ambient as in ambient techno grooves, but techno as in Aphex's style- apparently when he first heard acid and house tracks he was amazed, since he had been doing music in these styles for years on home made equipment. A beautiful and uplifting collection, it feels like autumnal afternoons or spring mornings, when the chill in the air brings the rest of the world into sharper relief. RDJ was later to embrace the jackhammer/breakbeat, with often tedious results. This wonderful album, along with it's follow-up SAW II and 'I care because you do' mark the zenith of experimental ambient techno in blighty.

This was my first experience with ambient music and was really taken away by it. Needless to say this is a beautiful album. I love to listen to it late at nights when I'm reading or sitting alone.

I just love this album, so many memories. So spectacular.

This was THE album which turned me on to electrical music...I fondly recall the day when I heard it the first time. I listened to Xtal/Tha probably for 5 hours in a row...Xtal is so especially resonant, so beautiful. So heavenly...If there is a soundtrack to heaven, it shall be Xtal.

There is no way you CAN'T give this album 5 out of 5 stars. If you gave it anything less than 5, you suck.

I bought this back in 1993 when it first came out along with a bit of future sound of london and for many years it was my only real music of this sought and i listened to it most months. I still listen to it most months now or tracks from it as i have them all organised in playlists of this type of music. Still not board of it after all those years and many hundreds more albums bought. Heliospan and Tha are my favorites for the record but there is nothing here that i dont enjoy listening to...Unlike some of his other stuff which is to much noise and not enough melody. I have waffled on for long enough....Go buy it or if thats youre thing.

I like Heliosphan out of all the tracks here. Xtal is my second favorite. Delphium and Actium are also cool tracks. However, I do not like Green Calx. If I also must say so, much of these tunes are very, very basic. By this I mean that the beats come from Roland Drum Machines just like every hip hop tune. The TR-606 and TR-808 are so obvious and overused that it is just like opening the door to go outside in the morning when you go to work. The drenched reverb and echo give a dreamy effect, but the only beauty in this thing is in the melodic, lullaby-like sequences. The audio recording also seems to be not a priority here as all the pops, clicks, and ticks in the sample loops can be heard. To sum it up, it is a bit too simple to be considered a masterful piece of work. Why do so many people comment about it as being the greatest ever, and yet not a single one of my current friends has ever heard of this guy? It's still a heck of a lot more precious than some of the crap electronica that I collect.

Amazing beautiful music made by the EXTREMELY young (at that time) RDJ... one can't even begin to comprehend how these very mature melodies were made by somebody at such an early age.

I think this is THE electronic album to start your journey if you're new, or complete your essential collection if you've been into this music for a while.

I absolutely can NOT go on and not write a review for each of the tracks... but it should be noted that this album works very well as a whole also, listen to everything!

Xtal - Perfect. This is what got me into Aphex and electronica in general, heard it on the radio one day, it got a hold on me and never let go, wonderful! Use of vocal samples is quite impressive too, perfect first track for this album.

Tha - This one is now my favourite off of SAW 85-92... simply one of the mose beautiful musical compositions I have EVER heard... definitely on my desert island mix cd. Light alien percussion and a melody to DIE for propel this track along slowly through the 9 minutes, he could have made this longer and I wouldn't mind... it's a grower though, I only really started appreciating it after a few months.

Pulsewidth - One of the more dancey tracks on the album, this one keeps your attention like MAD through the entire time, the sublime bass and beat are wonderful, pure Aphex goodness! :) Awesome synth sounds too.

Ageispolis - This one will put pictures in your mind, the beat and hi-hat line are wonderful, and the layers of synth melodies are perfectly placed. I always view a long road or slow roller coaster at night, with lights moving past you at the perfect speed. Classic.

i - A nice little interlude, hinting a little more at the kind of things he would head into with SAW 2... I wish this went for longer though, the melody is one of those euphoric tunes you wish never ended.

Green Calx - Many people consider this the outcast of the album, but I LOVE this track, one of my faves off of SAW 2, it's meticulously programmed and layered. If you listen to the smoother sounding synth line, you will hear the melody that qualified this as "ambient". The sound effects are great too.

Heliosphan - Very DNB sounding breakbeat in this one, awesome melody, that reminds me of something going in reverse, this is another intricate one, very quick sounding, but a classic, this one definitely stands the test of time, sounding like it could have been produced years and years later!

We Are The Music Makers - GREAT SAMPLE, trancey Aphex track with light synths and a bouncing beat, this is a GREAT chill out track, reminds me of the first Analogue Bubblebath, another classic track in it's own right!

Schottkey 7th Path - Here we go, some dark ambient! I LOVE this one to death too, one of my faves... the synth line in this one just creeps the hell out of me, and the completely mechanical alien drum sounds just add to that effect, I always imagine a dark catwalk or alley with this one at night, it's just a really dark sounding track and I LOVE it. They keyboard line again is pure brilliance.

Ptolemy - Another dancey track allowing you to shake off the creepiness of the previous track, this one has a great synth line and sounds like one of the later produced tracks of the album, almost tribal sounding too! As usual, the beat and percussion are amazingly well done.

Hedphelym - More dark ambience already! This one has a very industrial sounding synth line and beat, the heart throb beat is very gloomy sounding, and definitely adds to the dark effect. On a side note Aphex is one of the only producers I have found that can use the beat to make a track sound way darker too, wonderfully used in this one. Don't listen to it too much or it will really get to you! Ace!

Delphium - This is a nice one too, awesome sounding percussion, a great beat and a very nice relaxing synth line, one of the most chill songs I've heard, and definitely up there in this album, very lush! :)

Actium - Slow moving track that will put you in a nice trance, very good for the end of the album. There are really no songs on here that I dislike, but if I did have to pick, I'd say that Actium and Ptolemy are the weakest on the album, with everything else being nothing less than solid gold. This is more like silver, and I think other artists would still do well to make tracks that sound like this, they all have that Aphex touch that you can't quite put your finger on.

All in all, a STAR album, and the most prized possession in my CD collection, I think every person on the planet should own this. Even if you don't listen to electronic music that much, if you have one electronic album, make it this one!!!

:)

All i've heard from Selected Ambient Works, is purely positive things, so eventually I had to go and listen to it. And I learned. Ambient music has never sounded as good as it does on this collection. A MUST for every Aphex Twin fan, a MUST for everyone calling oneself an "electronic music lover." Trust me, you'll be in places you never thought to achieve.

For me, this collection was a break-through. It was a complete surprise to me in texture and melody- sounds I'd never heard before. RDJ's finest pieces in their rawest forms. Brilliant...

One of the best RDJ releases. Period. Everything flows nicely, starting with "Xtal" which will entrance you with it's catchy 606 hi hat line and vocal sample (basically someone singing "da"). "Pulsewidth" sounds like a party anthem, and "Hedphelym" is a closterphobic dark melody.