Customer Reviews

Richard D. James Album (US Release)

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Richard D. James Album is the first ten tracks of this album:

1. 4
2. Cornish Acid
3. Peek 824545301
4. Fingerbib
5. Corn Mouth
6. To Cure a Weakling Child
7. Goon Gumpas
8. Yellow Calx
9. Girl/Boy Song
10. Logon Rock Witch

When bringing the album to America, the record companies decided that 32 minutes was too short for an album and added on the (entertaining, but IMO inferior) 5 tracks from the Girl/Boy EP.

11. Milkman
12. Inkeys
13. Girl/Boy Song [£18 Snare Rush Mix]
14. Beetles
15. Girl/Boy Song [Redruth Mix]

Those five tracks are BONUS TRACKS - they are NOT part of Richard D. James Album. Please consider this when reviewing the album.

As for my opinion, RDJ Album is a masterpiece of Drill n Bass, which is the term for the lightning quick, spastic drumming that is so prominent in this work. Note that this rather up-tempo drumming isn't always intense...it can actually be quite soothing (For the best example of this, see Flim from the Come to Daddy EP). For this, I couldn't do anything but give it 5 Stars. Once again, Aphex Twin has released something completely alien to my ears and I love it.

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be spinning inside the head of an insane genius at the peak of his insanity and creativity? Well, probably not, but if you find yourself wondering what the soundtrack to such an event would sound like, then you should check this album out. The tracks move along at such dizzying paces that you don't have time to catch your breath throughout the 45 minutes that he has a hold of your throat. Each song has its own, unique cheesy melody to accompany often non-rhythmic beats that would be utterly impossible to dance to. That's why this album is the anthem of the sanity-free: the music grabs ahold of you, and you want to do something like dance to it, but you can't. You have to sit there while he's rummaging through your brain breaking everything he can find, rendering you helpless to breathe, think or move for 3/4 of an hour. The only downfall of this album is that it's not longer.

In a career filled with re-invention, Aphex Twin comes full circle, with an album named after his real-life identity, RICHARD D. JAMES. James performs his usual boundary-jumping, genre-crashing magic, constantly changing gears and never standing still. Melodies are drawn from an infinite variety of sonic sources and juxtaposed with harsh, stuttering breakbeats and placid keyboards in ever-changing permutations. James manages to coax a wide range of emotion from his synthesizers, from the whimsical, playful melodic line which introduces "4." to the harsh beat and angular accompaniment of "Cornish Acid." "Peek 824545201" throws down a skittish, slithering beat, while "Corn Mouth" is a jumble of techno shrapnel. "To Cure A Weaking Child" makes haunting use of sampled voices of children, reassembling them into words and repeated phrases. Drums and keyboard sounds meld into one another freely and playfully. James further showcases his ability to recycle traditional sounds into altogether new forms with the string arrangements of "Goon Gumpas" and "Girl/Boy Song," but nowhere is this gift utilized more effectively than in "Logan Rock Witch," whose goofy rhythm and church organ support a chiming, sparse, guitar-like melody line.

If you consider yourself a fan of electronic music at all, you probably already own this... and if you don't you should slap yourself and immediately run out and buy it. This is one of the albums that defined and expanded the potential of IDM music. Many people consider this to be Aphex Twin's greatest work, and I wouldn't disagree.

The drums don't just drum, they explode and morph in ways that sound so natural (and almost acoustic) that it's somewhat baffling. The frantic beats somehow manage to stay soothing throughout, which is quite a feat when you consider how intense and impressive they are. The melodies are clear, beautiful, and almost catchy... with something signature and nostalgically familiar about them that you'd swear you'd heard them before.

Though there's a good chance that you have. 4 and To Cure a Weakling Child have already been established as classic pieces of electronic music wizardry.

Few electronic musicians have come anywhere near to expressing the kind of complex personality that runs through The Richard D. James Album . To call this album a benchmark would be an understatement, but it would be hard to find the words to explain just how revolutionary and perfect this album is.

Absolutely required.

this is my first Aphex Twin album and I must say it's so good I have to write the review before I even finish listening to it. the basic structure is to have pleasing, relatively simple and light melodies on top of disjointed, interruptive rhythm patterns underneath. it's a most interesting contrast and counterpoint throughout: the lighter melody adds structure to the music and the harsher rhythms improvise and entertain. the character of the melodies is somewhat Japanese/Asian and the instrumentation is similarly light with various bells, chimes, organ and traditional synth sounds carrying the tune. The rhythms are pure techno/trance, could be taken right off a Chemical Brothers, Autechre or Oakenfold CD but given the importance of rhythmic improvisation they are allowed to expand further and roam free on their own.

for some listeners this will take them out of their comfort zone because the patterns never last long enough to settle in to one danceable, toe-tappable or head nodding groove (or whatever it is one does with driving beats!) but for me the effect is to keep the pieces fresh and the attention level high throughout. no mental lapses allowed here or you might miss something and it's all too good for that to happen.

impossible to pick a stand out track as they're all excellent and follow this basic format. I'm going to keep listening to this for a long time I am sure.

one question, on the inside jacket, the grave stone: is that when the artist was born (1968) or is that an ode to a relative (i.e. father)? any one know?

I'm an avid music fan, always looking and exploring new types of music (or trying to anyways), and so, it was only a matter of time before I delved into the Aphex Twin collection. I'm pretty interested in electronic music, and I've heard a lot of great things about Aphex Twin, and so I decided to pick this album up (the only one by Aphex Twin in the store) even though it was (price). Anyways, I put the album on and immediately I liked most of it in some way, and so that was a good thing. I was immediately blown away by Girl/Boy Song, and so I said to myself "Good, it wasn't a waste of money."

That was two nights ago, and I have been listening to this album almost non-stop since then. I'm listening to it now. I don't just think this album is good now, I think is amazing. Every song (with maybe the exception of tracks 10 and 11) is awesome, with the standouts being Girl/Boy Song, 4, Corn Mouth, TO Cure a Weakling Child, Goongumpas, and Yellow Calx. But they're really all good. I find this album as a paradox of sorts. It's very abrasive, but yet it also is very dreamy even with the abrasivness. I find I can listen to it, and focus on it, or just play it in the background and be equally satisfied with it. It's very interesting if you want it to be, but also very ambient if you want that. It's very cool to listen to the hard and fast beats, and to catch a glimpse of the ambient song underneath, and that is a great effect. Girl/Boy Song which is my favorite song on the album is absolutely amazing. It's a classical ambient song, but with loud and fast, random beats throughout. My favorite part of the song is around the 3 minute mark where the drums stop, and it becomes straight ambience with the strings for a portion of the song. The ending of that track is very errie sounding, contradicting the positive feel of the majority of the track, almost making it seem that something went wrong at the end. It's all very good though, I just decided to talk about that particular track.

Oh, and one more the thing, have you seen the cover? My god, what a freaky picture. But here's something for you to try. Open the booklet and look at the inside picture directly infront of a light. Damn, it's freaky. Totally caught me off guard the first time I noticed it.

Anyways, this album is awesome. I'm definately gonna try to buy as much Aphex Twin as I can.

Richard D. James can be officially hailed as electronica's true genius.
Underneath the acid washed drum synths, the broken melodies, the dadaist rhymes, 'Richard D. James Album' shows just how powerful and moving electronica can be. The music sounds harsh, even violent, at first listen, but repeat listens give light to complex patterns within the music, and a (shall i say it?) 'charming' sense of melody. 'Goon Gumpas' sounds like the soundtrack to a child's dream; innocent, beautiful, and comforting. 'Beetles' is genius in it's sheer simplicity and it's heart breaking tones, all with macabre lyrics sung over. The highlight is 'Girl/Boy Song' with it's compelling start-stop drum rhythms and simply gorgeous string arrangement. The entire album as a whole is technically perfect.
So rush out and purcase this release- if you are willing to abandon your pointless melodies, hedonistic commercialism and rubbish lyrics for a work of true artistic genius.

Richard D. James has progressed far since his early days of distorted drums and catchy melodies. It seems as if technology has finally allowed him to create complex and intricate drum patterns to compliment his complex and intricate melodies. Now, I will be completely honest, I am one of those people that do prefer his albums I Care Because... and his Selected Ambient Works Volume 2. Even after that, this album is so original, so melodic, so intricate, and so catchy, that it truly deserves 5 stars.

This album almost pushes Richard D. James into the field of being an actual composer. Many of the melodies and structures truly resemble those of Mozart. Although many people might say that it doesn't sound anything like Mozart, they are half right. This is something in the same style as Mozart performed on modern technology. Richard D. James in this album did something that Mozart did quite a bit, made simplified main melodies with repetitive back, rythmic melodies to compliment them.

The main problem that I can see most people having with this album is that it doesn't really have the sound of a normal electronic/dance album. Even though it doesn't sound like a typical electronic/dance album, it still is. You can dance to it. You can hum along to it. And on top of it all, it is written in a style that is a few hundred years old. Of course, that still might not be enough for many people to appreciate it. If you like repitive dance music, radio pop music, country, and have a a huge dislike of classical, then chances are, you will not like this album.

This somewhat frantic, occasionally funky and rich-string laden masterpiece is a culmination of musical experimentation that started hundreds of years ago. The demons and angels in James's head all have equal time to vent and whisper agendas. From the sinister falsetto paired with banging rhythms of "To Cure A Weakling Child" to the dulcet piccato strings and junglish snare of "Girl/Boy Song", this record runs the gamut of styles and moods. It sounds like a machine learning how to express human emotions in a cold, misty dwelling.... perhaps Cornwall, Aphex Twin's hometown. Richard D. James Album is truly cerebral music which, against conventions, taps into feelings and moods with a minimum of recognizable samples. The eerie, freaked out vocals slip beneath your skin like a burrowing beetle, sucking the color from your countenance like milk from an udder. The alien soundscapes, bleating machines and skittering beats combine with Aphex Twin's unmistakable twisted voice to make a modern masterpiece of dark musical experimentation. Simultaneously fascinating, chilling and humorous, this album should be required listening in the 21st century.

I really just got into Aphex Twin not too long ago. I heard 'Come to Daddy' a while back, but I never seemed to seek any further knowledge of the artist. I just picked up this album yesterday for the first time, and I have to say it is brilliant.

The music is sweeping in many ways; it is at times dark, happy, or purely beautiful in many senses. This is what more music should sound like nowadays.

Richard D. James has put together a beautiful, sinister, and generally captivating album for the Ambient world. Buy this if you're an Ambient fan, or just someone discovering this and are simply curious.