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Binding: Audio CDEAN: 0075596201025 Label: Rhino / Wea Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea MPN: 62010 Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Rhino / Wea Release Date: January 28, 1997 Studio: Rhino / Wea Editorial Review: Amazon.com essential recording: If techno ever does become the sound of young America, don't expect Richard James to be its poster boy, deserving though he may be. A native of Cornwall, England, James is obsessed with the mechanics of music making: As a kid, he took apart and reassembled the living room piano. Under the names Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, AFX, and other aliases too numerous to mention, he showed that he could make entire tracks with the sounds produced by tapping on a Coke can. Like the indie rockers of yore, he revels in his marginality because of the creative freedom it gives him. His full-length U.S. debut, Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994), includes some of the most serene sounds this side of the Orb, but his favorite hobby is the not-at-all-blissful pastime of driving a Daimler Ferret Mark 3 tank through his parents' backyard. None of his recordings have captured the competing impulses to lull you to sleep and blast out your eardrums as well as Richard D. James, his third and best album. As the title indicates, James has turned inward for inspiration, painting aural pictures of real and imagined scenes from his west country childhood. "Goongumpas" is a fanciful, playful tune that wouldn't sound out of place on the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As his adventures with the family upright indicate, James was a bit of a devil even as a child. "Beetles" is the sound of a boy frying bugs on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass, and "To Cure a Weakling Child" shows flashes of the sort of sadism found only on preschool playgrounds. If you still doubt that young Richard developed early on, the romantic Nino Rota-style strings on "Girl/Boy Song" are just made for passionate seductions, and the tune appears in three mixes, each one hot and hornier than the one before. The raucous undercurrents of even his calmest tunes and the sources of many of his most common sounds are what link James to the rock tradition. With Richard D. James, the artist solidifies his position as an electronic music mastermind who has earned a spot beside such well-respected innovators--whether or not he's destined for stardom. --Jim Derogatis Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A mixed bag of sweets and rocksAs indicated by the running times above, this album is relatively brief, such that it could almost be considered an EP -- the best stuff is found when Aphex Twin mixes frenetic beats with lush melodies. The paragon of that is "Girl/Boy Song", fusing pizzicato strings with crisp, yet at-times sloppy drumwork. Snares flail and assail as the string bite back, harmonic development pulling you in deeper (as opposed to the same thing repeating over and over, which is a common failing with this kind of ... Read More Rating: - I have to be honest,I know exactly why people rate this much higher than i have. I'm not criticizing anyone who rated this higher; this is just a personal opinion. Basically, after hearing what Richard D. James is capable of, this just fell short of a few expectations. I LOVE most of the songs, but there are a couple of songs i dont like as much that drag the whole album down for me. Tracks like "4", "Peek", "Girl/Boy Song", "Yellow Calx" and "Milkmen" are GREAT! I love listening to these tracks because they're so cleverly ... Read More Rating:  - Engulfing ... but in a good wayI have the European version of the album so I will be reviewing based on the first 10 tracks. Intense, fierce, engaging. I really like this album. 4 kicks off the whole album with such a fever pitch that it commands your attention. You may ask why only 4 stars? I'll give you 2 answers, Peek 824545201 and Logon Rock Witch. They have got to be 2 of my least favorite tracks from AT. It's a shame because the remaining tracks are insanely good. Since I have the European release, I too have ... Read More Rating:  - Perverse MigrainesHuge berserk burning compositions employ the shock motif. Their overwhelming physical awkwardness exhausts the listener. Strange fusions of mechanical electronic crankshaft rhythms come across as illiterate pompus headaches. James' role as "genius loci" is based upon his staggering musical vulgarity. Rating: - 4 and 1/2 stars.weird and wonderful stuff in the shiny metal of this disc. it's an electronic spazz-out tempered with lush ambient carpeting for your ears to walk on. at times it feels as if you are inside a musical pinball machine and brain is being used for the pinball. if lewis carroll had dreamed music instead of lunatic books it might have sounded like this. your aural center becomes the rabbitt hole, and it's fun falling down and down. definitely headphone music. doesn't work quite as well being tossed to you from speakers. ... Read More |
