Selected Ambient Works 85–92 | ||||
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Studio album by Aphex Twin | ||||
Released | 12 February 1992 | |||
Recorded | 1985–92 | |||
Genre | Ambient techno | |||
Length | 74:22 | |||
Label | Apollo | |||
Producer | Richard D. James | |||
Aphex Twin chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
Mojo | |
Pitchfork Media | 9.4/10 |
Q | |
Record Collector | |
Rolling Stone | |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Slant Magazine | |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10 |
Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by the English electronic musician Richard D. James under the pseudonym of Aphex Twin, released on 12 February 1992 by Apollo Records, an imprint of the more prominent label R&S Records. The 1992 LP was James' third release overall. An analogue remaster was released in 2006, and a digital remaster in 2008.
Selected Ambient Works 85–92 has been considered by many music critics to be one of the greatest albums in ambient music, IDM, and electronic music. It has since influenced several electronic artists and was followed by Selected Ambient Works Volume II. On the week ending 27 September 2014, the album entered at #30 in the UK Dance Albums Chart after the release of his 2014 album Syro.
James was born in Limerick, Ireland and grew up in Lanner, Cornwall with two older sisters, in a "very happy" childhood during which they "were pretty much left to do what [they] wanted". He enjoyed living there, feeling apart from nearby cities and the rest of the world. James attended Redruth School in Redruth, Cornwall, and claimed to had won 50 pounds in a competition to make a program that produced sound on a Sinclair ZX81 (a machine with no sound hardware) at age 11. He subsequently created music using a ZX Spectrum and a sampler.
As a teenager James gained a cult following being a disc jockey at the Shire Horse Inn in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in and along the beaches around Cornwall, learning new musical techniques. He studied at Cornwall College from 1988 to 1990 for a National Diploma in engineering. About his studies, he said "music and electronics went hand in hand". James graduated from college; according to an engineering lecturer he often wore headphones during practical lessons, "no doubt thinking through the mixes he'd be working on later".