Customer Reviews

Analogue Bubblebath, Vol. 3

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In relation to the rest of Richard D. James' influential and broad discography, "Analogue Bubblebath 3", lacking any comprehensible titles, is often overlooked. The tracks on the album generally consist of a mish-mash of styles, including industrial, acid-madness, ambient and just plain bizarre. Some of my favourite "classic" RDJ tracks are found here, most notably tracks 1, 4, 6 and 8. However, the best thing about the album is the mystery surrounding it. With the minimalist packaging, and lack of "official" titles", the listener really has not a clue whatsoever as to how, or even why, the album was made. Obviously Richard does though, and the album exists as another key to trying to understand the man and his music.

i like analogue bubblebath 4 a lot better. most of the tracks on a.b.3 veer between mashed out acid madness and more synth-washy ambient relief. there are some good tunes here but also a lot of caustic-windowy crap that wears thin rapidly. give me the video game bounciness & graceful sighs & stutters of a.b.4 any day!

First of all, I'm not sure where the titles for these tracks came from. My copy of the album didn't have a track list. Maybe they came from a previous issue of this record...

Anyway, this is a great work of raw techno. My personal favorites were track 1, 4 through 8, 10,(an intense short track,) and 13. I love the first song! It makes me want to take on the world,(in a good way, if that makes sense). The second track is a long, repetitive string of alien notes with an awesome bass track to follow. 3 isn't too interesting. The fourth is an awesome piece fit for any mind numbing rave. Track 5 is really good, but it seems to come out quieter than the other songs, so I just turn it louder. 6 seems to have an oriental flare of some sort, pretty neat actually. (I'd bet anything that the sample at the beginning is a vacuum cleaner). Track 7 presents a really good loop of synth percussion. The eighth song is really pretty, I like it a lot, it's very comforting. Like 3, 9 isn't too interesting either, but grows more entertaining towards the end. Track 10 is half-a-minute of something really intense. Track 11 sounds like it should have been on Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2, and 12 is a minute of what sounds like rain and a man hyperventilating. The last song is quite sinister, like an angry synthesizer gaining revenge on humanity. All the way through I can't help but think that AFX put more effort into producing Analogue Bubblebath 4. Sure there are only five tracks,(the last being a snippet of an interview with Evel Knievel,) but they just seem much more thoughtful. I haven't gotten to buying the first bubblebath yet so I can't say anything about that one. Both 3 and 4 are great buys, especially 4. Thanks for reading.

this album, while good, sounds like rdj(afx) when he is asleep!the disc looks innocent enough and the tracks titles, which are really bizarre, you can get off the net.he basically takes a good beat , loops it over and again with some other sounds and makes it a track.granted, some are really good, but some can also come off as slightly annoying.trust me, there have been better albums...

as the titles of these tracks indicate, this album is high on the analogue, and low on the bubblebath. Machines did this, to be sure, seemingly devoid of human input. What few vocal samples are in here are warped and twisted to a degree RDJ does not usually impliment. As usual, the "music" is bizarrely varied, spanning android-anthem stomps to creepy atmospheric ambient tracks which can barely be called "songs" (though RDJ seems to think so, and his word is law). Tracks 3, 6, and 10 are fairly mellow and listener-friendly, while 9, 11, 12, and 13 are clinical RDJ noise-fests. An intriguing album, indeed, even for RDJ. if you like, you'll like, but I doubt it will convert many nonbelievers in RDJ's genius upon first listen.

this album, while good, sounds like rdj(afx) when he is asleep!the disc looks innocent enough and the tracks titles, which are really bizarre, you can get off the net.he basically takes a good beat , loops it over and again with some other sounds and makes it a track.granted, some are really good, but some can also come off as slightly annoying.trust me, there have been better albums...

2 1/2

Although this threadbare side project (credited as his first release of early compiled work) can yield admirable results, as when a few submerged bangers here seamlessly provide proper elemental chemistry to catch hardcore hypnotic fire, the good majority of AB3 grinds away needlessly, highlighting material only Aphex-addicts need collect.

This is straight on, harch electronic music. It has a simple appearance but make no mistake because AFX is very different from other techno/electronic musicians. He seems to be able make something intresting of just a high speed drum, bass and som sound clip on top of it. This is not his most advanced or most amazing record, for that I would vote for "druqs". BUT this has this raw power that will blow your walls away (plus the most minimalistik cd-album cover ever seen)...

Just great. I am a fan of his music for quite a while and all of his records are special in their own way. Tracks with a little twist only RDJ can add. Sometimes a bit sinister, but thats ok for me! Most of his tracks are sertainly refreshing and energy boosting. A philosopher teacher once said: "to enjoy and appreciate the quality of sertain aspects (of whatsoever) you have to have rotten spots besides it". In case of some of the tracks ("ventolin" (medicine for asthmatic patiens) for example in which you hear a sample of a person hyperventilating), annoying bleeps, cracks and sounds are added in such way that when they fade away in a track you almost feel a releef....a contrast between serenety and rotten (no offence)

I just wanted to write a review in response to the guy who said this was almost the same album as "...I care becuase you do." He is very very wrong. "Analogue Bubblebath 3" is more melodic and trancelike, more repetative and ambient. "... I care becuase you do" is more focused on drums and just has a whole different flavor to it. Plus, it's probably about twice as long.