Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin (CD, 1992)

R&S

5055274701455

13050142467

Aphex Twin

CD

1992

Selected Ambient Works 85-92

R&B & Soul

Aphex Twin: Richard D. James. Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is a desperately sparse album: thin percussion and several haunted-synth lines are the only components on most songs, and Richard D. James added only one vocal sample on the entire album ("We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"). Also, the sound quality is relatively poor; it was recorded direct to cassette tape and reportedly suffered a mangling job by a cat. All this belies the status of Selected Ambient Works 85-92 as a watershed of ambient music. It reveals no influences and sounds unlike anything that preceded it, due in large part to the effects James managed to wrangle from his supply of home-manufactured contraptions. ~ John Bush

Rolling Stone (12/12/02, p.100) - "...Fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines....SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS 85-92 isn't just mind-altering--it's majestic." Alternative Press (4/02, p.88) - "...[The album] abounds with beautifully naive melodies and otherworldly atmospheres rarely matched..." Q (Magazine) (p.156) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[The] instrumentals were infused with both the stroppy rush of hardcore and the whimsical softness of psychedelia. Some even mimicked the grace of modern classical sounds." Mojo (Publisher) (p.121) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he sparkling, startling SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS 85-92 remains as psychedelically potent as it was then." Record Collector (magazine) (p.82) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he album often credited with taking electronic music away from the dancefloor and into the home....Like the greatest electronic dance music, it hasn't dated at all."

Distribution Select

Stereo

1

USA