SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS VOLUME II

'''Selected Ambient Works Volume II''' ('''SAW2'''), released in 1994, is an ambient double album by Richard D. James under his Aphex Twin moniker. It is a follow-up to 1992's ''Selected Ambient Works 85-92''.
''Volume II'' differs significantly from the first volume in the series, in that the first volume is mostly beat-oriented, with complex instrumental rhythmic patterns and heavy bass frequencies. In contrast to the fast, club-inspired ambient music of its predecessor, ''Volume II'' consists of slow, moody pieces, performed much like ambient pioneer Brian Eno; in fact, "[lichen]" is reminiscent of Eno's ''Discreet Music''. Many of the tracks feature almost no percussion, and have strong synth textures. James said that the album is "''like being in a power station on acid''."
Richard D. James has stated in interviews that the sounds in this music were inspired by lucid dreams, and that upon awaking, he would attempt to re-create the sounds and record them. He claimed that he has natural synaesthesia, which contributed to this album.
On August 3, 2006, many releases from the back catalogue of Warp Records were made available on the digital download site Beatport. Both CDs of ''Selected Ambient Works II'' are now available for digital download in their full complete forms in remastered mp3, mp4, and wav formats. As this release is based on the UK CD version and not the vinyl version, the track "[stone in focus]" is not part of the release.

Contents

Track listing

Notes

Remixes

Notes of interest

External links

Track listing

''Volume II'' originally consisted of 25 songs, all untitled except for the song "Blue Calx." Every song matches with a specific photograph taken by James himself (except for a solid blue emblem representing the first track of the second CD, "Blue Calx"). The graphics are part of an encoded track-listing system that uses circles and pie diagrams—present in varying forms among the different releases—to represent each track (indeed, it may even be the case that the diagrams themselves are the actual track names). The lack of written titles for the tracks on this release provided impetus for fans of the album to come up with their own. Officially, however, the songs are still referred to by their track numbers. The most widely accepted track names are below:

		Duration	CD	/	VINYL
01	[cliffs]	07:21	1-01	/	A-1
02	[radiator]	06:27	1-02	/	A-2
03	[rhubarb]	07:44	1-03	/	A-3
04	[hankie]	04:31	1-04	/	A-4 ''(Warp CD only, not the US edition)''
05	[grass]	08:51	1-05	/	B-1
06	[mould]	03:27	1-06	/	B-2
07	[ropes] ''aka'' [curtains]	08:42	1-07	/	B-3
08	[blur]	05:02	1-08	/	B-4
09	[weathered stone]	06:45	1-09	/	C-1
10	[tree]	09:48	1-10	/	C-2
11	[domino]	07:09	1-11	/	C-3
12	[white blur 1]	02:37	1-12	/	C-4
13	Blue Calx	07:16	2-01	/	D-1
14	[parallel stripes]	07:55	2-02	/	D-2
15	[shiny metal rods]	05:29	2-03	/	D-3
16	[grey stripe]	04:38	2-04	/	D-4
17	[z twig]	02:01	2-05	/	D-5
18	[windowsill]	07:13	2-06	/	E-1
19	[stone in focus] ''a.k.a.'' #19	10:05	-	/	E-2 ''(Limited Edition vinyl only — see Notes)''
20	[hexagon]	05:50	2-07	/	E-3
21	[lichen]	04:07	2-08	/	E-4
22	[spots]	07:03	2-09	/	F-1
23	[tassels]	07:24	2-10	/	F-2
24	[white blur 2]	11:21	2-11	/	F-3
25	[matchsticks]	05:36	2-12	/	F-4

Notes

There were several editions of ''SAW2'' available for purchase. The most complete, with all 25 tracks, were the Limited Edition UK vinyl, which was pressed on brown vinyl and limited to a press run of 10,000 copies and the UK cassette edition, released simultaneously with the vinyl and CD. Both of these are out of print. The second most complete versions are the regular vinyl release and the Warp Records (UK) CD release, which has every track except for "[stone in focus]", omitted due to the capacity limit of the CD format. The third most complete version is the Sire Records (US) CD release, which ''also'' omits "[hankie]". The only hard-copy digital form of "[stone in focus]" can be found on the Astralwerks compilation ''. On this compilation, it has been given the name "#19" and appears as track number 10. [1]
The names for the tracks listed, as aforementioned, are interpretations of the photographs on the labels for the vinyl copies and inlay for the double CD release. On the Sire Records (US) editions, various photos were altered, either by showing unblurred photographs or by changing the image altogether. The image representing "[stone in focus]" was removed entirely on the US version, leaving behind an empty white box.
"Blue Calx" originally appeared on the Applied Rhythmic Technology compilation album ''The Philosophy Of Sound And Machine'' under the artist name Blue Calx, which was released in cooperation with Rephlex Records.
The front cover for this album features the textual Aphex Twin logo that was used on the earlier ''Xylem Tube EP'', albeit in a broken, incomplete form.

Remixes

★ ''SAW2 CD1 TRK2 (Original Mix)'' (aka "[radiator]"), available on the compilation album ''26 Mixes for Cash''. Originally recorded for Richard's Peel Session in 1995.

★ ''SAW2 CD1 TRK7'' (aka "[curtains]" aka "[ropes]"), jointly remixed with LFO's ''Simon from Sidney'', remixed by Pram for the Warp 10th anniversary compilation ''.

★ ''SAW2 CD1 TRK1'' (aka "[cliffs]"), remixed by Four Tet for the Warp 10th anniversary compilation ''10+3 Remixes''.

★ ''SAW2 CD1 TRK1'' (aka "[cliffs]"), ''SAW2 CD1 TRK3'' (aka "[rhubarb]"), ''SAW2 CD2 TRK5'' (aka "[z twig]") and ''SAW CD2 TRK8'' (aka "[lichen]") remixed by Wisp on "Selected Ambient Works 2: Reworked", released April 30th 2004 on TavCOM Records.

Notes of interest

Numerous tracks from ''Selected Ambient Works Volume II'' are used in the ambient comedy series Blue Jam and Jam.
The album is referenced by name in the song Pretentious Jenny by band Visually Impaired Placenta.
Track number 3, "rhubarb" was used as the soundtrack for 'Q&A', a film used by the BBC on Digital TV test transmissions. Also, "rhubarb" and "stone in focus" are featured several times in the animated flash series Salad Fingers and Spoilsbury Toast Boy, respectively, both of which are by animator David Firth.
"Rhubarb" "Curtain" "Window Sill" and "Radiator" were featured on a BBC Documentary about the philosophy of "Time".
"Rhubarb" was featured on the 2007 award winning Canadian documentary ''Sharkwater''.
A cover version of “Blue Calx” played on acoustic instruments by the Western classical new-music ensemble Alarm Will Sound appeared on its album ''Acoustica''—an album of Aphex Twin pieces rescored for chamber ensemble.

External links

★ The SAW II GRAPHICAL F.A.Q

★ Complete Aphex Twin discography

★ ''Selected Ambient Works Volume II'' at the Warp Records discography (features audio clips).

★ Brown Vinyl scans

★ More pictures of the brown vinyl edition

★ Information on ''Excursions In Ambience: The Third Dimension''