Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 12, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Play It Again Sam
• ASIN: B00005Y1TL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,012 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #31 in Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > IDM
  • #59 in Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > Ambient

Track Listings

1. Xtal

2. Tha

3. Pulsewidth

4. Agiespolis

5. I

6. Green Calx

7. Heliopsphan

8. We Are The Music Makers

9. Schottkey 7th Path

10. Ptolemy

11. Hedphelym

12. Delphium

13. Actium

Editorial Reviews

Reissue on Play It Again Sam America.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 111 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally re-released! Yes! December 3, 2002

By Angry Mofo

Format:Audio CD

Allow me to introduce you to Richard D. James (alias Aphex Twin, AFX, and a slew of other inscrutable pseudonyms), a charming bon vivant from Cornwall who is known today for his delightfully blithe eccentricity and iconoclasm. Before he played at clubs using sandpaper on the turntables instead of records, however, and before that hilariously bizarre "Come to Daddy" video, he made Selected Ambient Works 85-92, and by doing so basically singlehandedly created contemporary electronica.

I have no easy explanation for why Selected Ambient Works is as good as it is. Here's what I've got it down to: this music is possessed of a remarkable spontaneity and unpretentiousness. The best talents always made their work seem like play, like it came effortlessly to them, without taking themselves seriously. The songs on this album are like that. They are marvelous in their simplicity. It's as if Aphex Twin sat himself down and peeled off great song after great song with complete abandon. It's the work of someone who simply loved making sounds - in fact, you can tell when you're at a sound AFX liked particularly, since he tends to linger on his favourites and extend their playing time. That's not a flaw. The sounds are so good that you'll want to linger on them as well.

On this album, Aphex managed to take many a cliche of electronic music and give them all a completely original, unworldly quality. Most of the songs are built around groovy, but more or less conventional dance beats; however, they are bathed in soft feedback and melodies of unearthly beauty. The end result - the waltz-like "Xtal," the exultant "Pulsewidth," the eerie "Hedphelym," the blissfully wincing "Ageispolis," the flight above- and underground of "Green Calx," and so on, and so on, and so on. Electronica is often accused of being emotionless, and more often than not rightly so, but Selected Ambient Works is anything but that. This is beautifully emotional music; it's the music your subconscious plays in your sleep. It's music that for all its simplicity has a richer vocabulary than language.

I find myself at a loss for words. I don't want to use this as an opportunity to practice my adjectives; I only want to get you to purchase this record. Aphex Twin's achievement was aped by many much-touted "electronic wizards," most of whom fancy themselves musical geniuses because they can slap together a beat and a bassline on their computer in their parents' basement, but of course bettered by none of them. James himself never did (though he came close in some later songs such as "On"). Then again, it might not even be possible.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rediscover this highly influential album May 17, 2009

By Steward Willons VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

"Selected Ambient Works 85-92" is one of those rare albums where a composer provides clear evidence that he or she is in that special class of artistic genius where true originality is possible. I'm not suggesting that this is Aphex Twin's best album, as best work was yet to come; nor am I suggesting that this is one of the greatest electronic albums of all time. Perhaps it is, but the key is its influence. "SAW" is practically synonymous with that early Warp Records sound (although SAW wasn't actually released on Warp). The album is one of the sacred texts of the Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) movement and on this disc, you can hear the ideas that helped make electronic music what it is today.

"SAW" dates back to a time when Aphex Twin was using a lot of analogue gear and the tracks have a nice warmth to them. Many of the sounds on this album will already be familiar to most listeners since they entered the canon of electronic sounds long ago. The cool thing is, this album is where so much began.

In 2008, the year of the re-release, SAW sounds dated, but not in a bad way. The song construction is timeless, but style of the album is firmly rooted in the early 90s acid house and inchoate IDM scene. The remastered version keeps the sounds true to the original, but everything sounds a bit more forward and present. As mastering levels increased over the years, some of this early music began to sound a little anemic when played at the same volume. The remastered tracks now sound full and rich, and the overall sound matches what we expect from contemporary recordings. If you have the original, as I did, I'm not sure if the price of upgrading your recording is necessarily worth it. You'll have to make that call for yourself, but it is a fun way to rediscover a beloved classic.

If you're an electronic music enthusiast and you don't have SAW already, now is the time to buy it. If you're just starting to check out Aphex Twin, SAW would certainly be an option, although I might recommend "The Richard D. James Album" or "I Care Because You Do" first, since they reflect his mature sound and his main body of work overall. Ultimately, SAW is an album we should all have in our collections

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Light, airy, beautiful May 7, 2003

By Michael G. Hannaford

Format:Audio CD

This is an album that puts a smile on my face, right from the first few notes. Full of lovely synth textures and beats that are at once interesting and unobtrusive, it is great music for a rainy afternoon indoors, or for playing softly while you go to sleep.

I haven't found many albums of this particular electronica subcategory ("ambient techno" or whatever they're calling it these days) that retain my interest as much as this one does. It's much more interesting to me than "Music Has the Rights to Children" by Boards of Canada, for instance. I find the layering of ryhthms on this album to be of a better design, and I love humming along with the bass lines - they are often wonderful melodies in themselves.

One caveat: it's definitely not a challenging record. It's good and safe for folks who like their beats to be in 4/4 and their sandwiches built on Wonder white bread, but those Autechre fans looking for their next intellectual conquest will no doubt find it lacking.