Album Description

Liquid Mind VI: Spirit, the sixth in Liquid Mind’s tranquil series of deep relaxation music, is ideal for Yoga, massage, meditation, anxiety management, and all healing activities. Like the other Liquid Mind albums, this gentle album is used by people everywhere to relieve stress, by parents and teachers to help quiet hyperactive children, by insomniacs to assist themselves in going back to sleep in the middle of a difficult night, and by just about anyone to relieve the stress of a busy day at work. This music was designed originally to assist in anxiety management, and is useful in any setting where anxiety or stress is an issue.

Composer and synthesist Chuck Wild has crafted another beautiful calming and healing album, a wonderful antidote for the stresses and strains of frenetic life in our fast-moving world. This is deep relaxation music at its finest. Liquid Mind’s best-selling series continues its healing tradition of tranquility and peace. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

True to its title
The Liquid Mind CDs truly help your mind immediately become more 'liquid' and allow the stress and chatter to flow away. This is among the most perfect music I've heard for beginning a meditation or prayer period, especially when turned down low (turn off the tv and try it in the evening with the lights off and a lit candle). The very way it flows into itself is conducive to deep relaxation and letting go, helping to facilitate even deeper meditative states. I can't help but believe that the creator had exactly this in mind (even turned down low everything comes through). No jarring or sudden changes. This particular CD has a pastoral feeling to me, like lying out in a large rolling field with sunshine and white clouds slowly drifting across the sky. We need all the help we can get to relax and let go of the static that tries to fill our lives!

Exquisite
If a person's soul could be transcribed into music... it would be this. Chuck Wild finds a way to transcend that which cannot be spoken, into music. It's exquisitely beautiful and infinitely rare to find such genius.

Relax and unwind....
This is great music to chill out by. Letting go is what it's all about if you ask me. Liquid Mind is a perfect refuge for stressed out people who have trouble sleeping or want to get a massage. This is probably the slowest music you've ever heard, but unique is good, I'm tired of aggressive music, long live slow! As for the last review, the whole point of the music is to meander and not focus on anything. Download a sample from their fifth album, Serenity, if you want to test drive this music.

Liquid Mind - No Direction
Based on the reviews my expectations were higher than they should have been. I spent some time listening to the CD and frankly I was disappointed with the lack of direction of any of the cuts. It just meandered from one cut to another and I felt no sense of attachment to any of the pieces. There is no sense of adventure or becoming part of the music - in fact I thought it was worse than elevator music

More bliss
As with all the other Chick Wild releases, "Spirit" is a guaranteed stress reliever. These days you hear many different types of music being labelled as "Ambient", but if you want to know what this term really means, check out Liqid Mind. Floating, drifting, light, endless music that just seems to hang there until you realize you've been sucked into it's serenity. A beauty. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The term "Fourth World" has often been used to describe various ethno-electronic compositions. Joining trumpeter Jon Hassell in different combinations on Possible Musics are coproducer and synthesist Brian Eno and percussionists Nana Vasconcelos and Ayibe Dieng, among others. Hassell has found a unique way to summon a lush, otherworldly sound from his trumpet, applying the Indian vocal techniques he learned from Pandit Pran Nath to the way he plays his instrument. On Possible Musics, he mixes his ethereal brass sounds with hand percussion, bass, analog synths, Eno's trademark studio treatments, and the occasional looped trumpet or keyboard riff. The hypnotic fusion of Indian and African aesthetics creates a dreamy brand of otherworldly world music that, despite the electronic influences swirling around it, maintains a strongly organic feel. This classic recording predated all of the ethnoambient music that proliferated throughout the last decade, but unlike many of those efforts, it still retains a strong sense of identity. --Bryan Reesman ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Two masters in a perfect collaboration
I don't think I've listened any one album more than I have Possible Musics. I couldn't live without it. It's dreamy, earthy, soothing, evocative, shamanistic and very organic. It's power is extra-musical. You can listen to it deeply with headphones, or just catch a hint of it from another room and it's somehow just as rewarding. It really perfumes the air like no other music I've heard before, which to me, kind of makes it THE ultimate ambient album. Jon Hassel brings his stunningly gorgeous trumpet playing and his notions of Fourth-World, a kind of ethereal pan-exoticism that encompases everything from raga to "Caravan," together with Eno's meterological synth textures for a perfect collaboration. The two masters mind-meld to form suggestive sonic landscapes that turn your imagination all the way on. 100% non-superficial music that strokes the very soul.

A real turning point in modern music
Back in 1980, when this album was first released, few people could figure out how important it would have been. Brian Eno was already a star and Jon Hassell was quite known in the avant-garde scene. This is the result of their meeting: a stunning, hypnotic, forty minutes musical trip which takes the listener to fly over Africa savana and forests,melting together tribal percussion and computer treated trumpet. A must for every ambient/world fan and for anyone who loves Eno, world music and Talking Heads.

Beautiful, Chilling, Subliminal Psychedelia
Over a background of sonic loops by Eno and gently pulsating percussives, the wailing, harmonized flugelhorn of Jon Hassel brings to mind some kind of animal transforming into a human. The effect produced by this semi-ambient collection of instrumentals may seem strange and alien to western ears at first, but upon repeated listenings becomes sensually soothing, and works both in a capacity of background or meditation music to get lost in. Hassel's unique style emphasizes both the importance of notes and breath sounds, and truly gives his instrument a life of its own.

Fourth World Vol 1 (where are the others???) treads a line between jazz, ambent and eastern devotional music, finding its own niche in the course of listening. Of special note is the final track, "Charm (over Burundi Cloud)", clocking in at 21:29 and could have been longer if not for the limitations of vinyl production at the time of the original's release. One wonders if the original sessions of Possible Musics could be made available ...... my only criticism of this package being that it seems like more of a sampler, a teasing taste, of all that it could be.

* solo *

lights out
What a beautiful, strange, disquieting yet soothing, happy yet heartbreaking record. That dumb word "atmospheric" has been used to describe so, so many types of music, but it's just perfect for this. The music doesn't really qualify as "ambient" because there is so much happening, so much that demands focus and attention and alarm. Jon Hassell makes his trumpet sound like no one else's. To give an idea of what this is like, a friend in high school used to play "Rising Thermal" and the doves and caged birds she kept in her room would start whirring and hooing and nodding off. Jon Hassell sounds wondrous on REMAIN IN LIGHT and many of David Sylvian's solo records, but here he's truly at the height of genius. I think FOURTH WORLD ranks up there with Music for Films and Apollo and the Harold Budd project as one of the best recordings on which Brian Eno has worked.

Those Congas!
This is one of the more enjoyable Eno collaborations from the late sventies / early eighties period, and I think the reason is that the focus isn't on Eno, it's on Hassel. A lot of Eno's coauthored albums sound like Eno with guest musicians, but this one is different. Hassel is a great trance composer; he would have been a good DJ nowadays.

This record features a bizarre (yet pleasant) combination of styles: there are of course the indian influences, but there are also traces of Terry Rily (in the looped keyboards) and Brian's contemporary work with David Byrne. The instrumentation is sparse: Two Congas, Trumpet, Prophet V synthesizer, and Bass Guitar, but these colors are blended superbly to form some great sound paintings. I wish there were more records that use the Prophet V like this one does.

And the drumming - I have never heard such exquisite Conga work anywhere.

One warning: Hassel's style might grate on some people's ears, as it does with mine, but it can be handled in small doses. But the 22-minute-long song at the end of the record can get annoying in some places. If you have heard Hassel before and like it, you'll like this record, but if you're not sure, well, you were forewarned. ... Read more

Album Description

Reissue on Play It Again Sam America. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Finally re-released! Yes!
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.

musical genius
When I bought this CD, I was familiar with Aphex Twin as someone who twiddled with weird and shocking noises to produce something that didn't exactly sound like music, but was so interesting and flat-out crazy that one's attention was instantly captured (despite the headache and ringing in the ears that inevitably followed).

This is a very different Aphex Twin from the one that I was familiar with. The album is atmospheric, subtle and intricate - entirely unlike the watered-down Muzak sound that so horribly plagues most so-called "ambient" music out there. Actually, "ambient" is a bit of a misnomer; most of the tracks have a subtle, but persistent beat, so perhaps "intelligent techno" would be a better term. If you like Orbital, Boards of Canada, Future Sound of London, then you will love "Selected Ambient Works 85-92". If, on the other hand, you are a dance-happy trancer who walks around with lightsticks, then you probably won't have much fun with this ablum.

a little twisted
Just great. I am a fan of his music for quite a while and all of his records are special in their own way. Tracks with a little twist only RDJ can add. Sometimes a bit sinister, but thats ok for me! Most of his tracks are sertainly refreshing and energy boosting. A philosopher teacher once said: "to enjoy and appreciate the quality of sertain aspects (of whatsoever) you have to have rotten spots besides it". In case of some of the tracks ("ventolin" (medicine for asthmatic patiens) for example in which you hear a sample of a person hyperventilating), annoying bleeps, cracks and sounds are added in such way that when they fade away in a track you almost feel a releef....a contrast between serenety and rotten (no offence)

The Nicer Side of Aphex Twin
Another one from the Radiohead camp, I am. I decided to see how my favorite album, Kid A, was influenced by Aphex Twin. While I hear some influence, Richard D. James' later albums have the more experimental edge I was looking for.

While there isn't much in line of traditional song structure here, this album has a real something special not present in most electronica. While not actually ambient, Selected Ambiant Works finds a niche comfortably between IDM and techno and kicks back. Fans of IDM will enjoy the very interesting and enticing atmosphere and beat progressions and fans of techno can dance themselves limp. Very rarely can an (almost completely) instrumental electronic album be so appealing to both intelligent and dance music fans, especially with no real lyrics to ponder.

Perhaps it's hard to imagine dance beats with substance for the uninitiated, especially coming from a hip-hop and art-rock background like mine, but I really do enoy this album. While it's a fantastic chill out album, I can kick back, close my eyes, and actively listen to this without being bored whatsoever. I give it 5 Stars...for me it's something fresh and new, like nothing I've personally ever heard before.

Not a Truly Ambient Album, But a fantastic diversion....
Although not strictly an Ambient Album, this is definitely a much quieter affair than 'Richard D. James', usual eclectic offerings. By mixing elements of minimalist techno, with traces of Electronic ambient.....this feels more at home, as an Electronica Album, rather than the subtle soundscapes of true ambience. Nevertheless, this is ultimately a superior Electronica album, as there is something here for any fan of intelligent Electronic music. True!!, the album does start with the first couple of tracks such as: "Xtal" & "Tha", taking their cue from genuine ambient craftsmanship, and halfway through the album slight elements of minimalist techno are introduced, but by the time the Jaw dropping "Ptolemy" has wandered into the your subconscious......the changeover from minimal techno through to Electronica has firmly taken place. "Selected Ambient Works 85-92", has too much of a club-orientated bass-line to be an authentic ambient album, but Judged on this work alone!! Richard D. James's, TRUE craftsmanship, ISN'T in his usual genre of 'Experimental / idiosyncratic' Techno. ... Read more

Album Description

DVD CONTENTS OUTTAKES AND BONUS SONGS - AUDIO Song We Made Together in 30 MinutesGreat Escape (Original Demo) We Are All Made Of Stars (Original Slow Version)E2D (Outtake from Play)Guitar and Flute (Original Demo)18 (Original Demo)Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad (Original Demo)We Are All Made Of Stars (Slow Synth Mix)KR (Outtake from Play)Flatlands (B-Side Outtake from 18)I Love To Watch You Sing (B-Side Outtake from 18)American Dry (B-Side Outtake from 18)Cunning (B-Side Outtake from 18)Waiting (Outtake from 18) 641 (B-Side Outtake from 18) Extreme Ways (Live - Rough Bootleg Mix)Say My Name (Recorded in my Bathroom with One Mic) So Far Gone (Outtake from 18)Tower (B-Side Outtake from 18)Girl Bed (B-Side Outtake from 18)Offland

MOBY LIVE AT GLASTONBURY 6-29-03 Natural Blues Go Porcelain Another Woman Find My Baby In This World In My Heart Bring Back My Happiness We Are All Made Of Stars Whey Does My Heart Feel So Bad Jam For The Ladies I Wanna Be Your Dog (Iggy and The Stooges cover) Bodyrock Honey Feeling So Real Creep (Radiohead cover)

MEGAMIX - AUDIO In This World (Push Vocal Club Mix) Extreme Ways (DJ Tiesto's Instrumental Remix) Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday) (West London Deep Club In This World (Slackerms Rain Before Carnival Mix) We Are All Made Of Stars (DJ Tiesto's Full Vocal Remix) In My Heart (Ferry Corsten Remix) Jam For The Ladies (Nevin's Reggae Dub Banger) Extreme Ways (John Creamer + Stephane K Remix) In This World (ATFC's Southern Fried Vocal) We Are All Made Of Stars (Timo Maas Dub Mix) Jam For The Ladies (Voodoo Child Remix) In My Heart (Sean Tyas Misses Twilo Mix)

VIDEO We Are All Made Of Stars Video and VPK Jam For The Ladies (with Princess Superstar) In This World Extreme Ways Video and VPK Jam For The Ladies (contest winner) Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday) ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Another Excellent MOBY Album!
I bought this CD for the novelty of 'B-Side' Moby songs as well as getting a bonus MOBY DVD. I didn't expect much from the songs except that they would 'B-Side' quality music. I was stunned. This is another excellent MOBY album. What a gem. I've been playing it non-stop! The price for the DVD and CD is well worth it. If you like Moby's music, you won't be disappointed.

Simply incredible and incredibly cheap
I paid all of $11.01 for this CD+DVD and had it been $11.01 for either the CD or the DVD it would've been worth it, but to get both for that price, incredible! Where to begin, the tunes on the CD are great as usual, the DVD is packed full of extras: 21 b-sides and outtakes, 12 track megamix featuring some of the best remixes from 18, videos, over 200 photos from moby's photo collection, sketches & skits galore, Moby at Work: watch as moby creates a new track in under 30 minutes (the full track is part of the b-sides/outtakes on the DVD and is a nice little piece of music on its own) and to top it off "Live from Glastonbury 2003": an hour and 14+ minutes of great concert video ending with Moby covering Radiohead's "Creep". This one is a definite must have for any Moby fan.

Must have for new and long time Moby fans
The music on the CD is mind blowing. You can tell there's a little bit of Play and 18 influence on there (which is a good thing by the way), while others are on their own, kind of a new sound of Moby. Very soothing. The DVD has so much stuff, you won't know where to begin.

The MAD GENIUS of Music Strikes Again!
Moby...what can he not do? He's one of the greatest musicians to have ever walked this planet! If you want proof, check out 18 - B Sides. Here you have it all: Classical, Inspirational, Acoustic, you name it, it's here. My favorite is "Nearer". Without a doubt, this will have you rocking back and forth and singing along. It reminds me of "I'm Not Worried At All", but this one takes it further. Other standouts, "Strings of Love", "String Electro", "Downhill", ah who are we kidding here? The whole album is worth the listen...every track is good to go and I'm proud to say he keeps giving us the best!A Moby fan always...

Good CD... Killer DVD!
18 B Sides contains some good material such as, "Love of Strings", "Nearer", "Piano and Strings" and "Life's So Sweet". However, these are B Sides, so don't expect too much. The strength in this release lies in the killer DVD included with the CD! The Megamix on the DVD is superb and the live footage of Moby is excellent and is a perfect companion to his 2 previous albums. Buy it for the DVD and enjoy the CD.
Also, since good techno and dance music is hard to find, I want to also recommend mr.deviant's "Techno Obsession". "Techno Obsession" is a killer instrumental electronica/dance CD that contains agressive hard tracks: "Techno Obsession", "Sex in Public" and "Surrounded by Evil" as well as emotional Moby style tracks: "Manic Depression". Check it out too! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Front Line Assembly enlists Kirsty Thirsk of the Rose Chronicles for a heavenly ambient house project. Trance that bounces with beauty and energy. --Jeff Bateman ... Read more

Reviews (45)

An incredible, complete album
Delerium completely changed their sound with this record. Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber combined pure synth hooks, slow moving basslines, and great chant samples to create amazingly sensual, trancey ethereal music. Two songs have lyric vocals, Flowers Become Screens and Incantation. Flowers Become Screens is arguably one of the best dance-pop songs of the 90's. Unfortunately, when the album was released, Nettwerk Records was short on cash and didn't have the resources to promote the album as much as its follow-up, the equally good, but more vocal, Karma. The song has simple drum and bass lines, and amazing vocals from the wide-ranged Kristy Thirsk, formerly of Rose Chronicles. Incantation is more of the same. Both are great tracks. The non-vocal songs are pure sonic ectasy. VERY complex layered tracks with a lot going on - multi-dimensional, for sure.

The Gregorian Chants in THIS album were sampled. Enigma was NOT sampled on this record, contrary to the claims of a previous reviewer. There are some similar hooks and feels, but Enigma somewhat defined this genre, but Delerium CLEARLY one-ups the entire field with this record. Enigma, by comparison (even MCMXC a.d.), is too poppy, too commercial, too forced. This is a purely good record based on the talents of the authors.

(BTW: Karma has fewer samples; they rented out a church in Vancouver and had real authentic monks sing their chants!)

If you'd like an in-depth song-by-song review, please check out the official web page at http://www.delerium.com - I have my full review posted in the discography.

But, in summary, if you like Enigma or Deep Forest, you will LOVE this album.

PS: If you like this album and/or Karma, I HIGHLY recommend Intermix's Future Primitives, which is a side-project of Leeb/Fulber (the same guys as Delerium) and recorded at the same time as Semantic Spaces, and basically could've been another Delerium album. I also highly recommend the upcoming Conjure One album, the new project by Rhys Fulber solo.

Rick

Incredibly marvellous.
No one compares to Delerium. And if they have to "steal" some samples from other artists to create such achingly beautiful_dreamy landscapes, let them do it. It's such a rare thing, nowadays, to have top notch quality music in the music market. In short, this is one of the best album of all time, and I really mean it. As I first heard "Incantation" i thought:"This is the finest piece of dance music ever made". Three years have passed and still this album represents the peak of my music collection. Listen. Dream. Feel.

Out With the Old; In With the New
So said Bill Leeb and his co-hort Rhys Fulber when they sat down in the studio to record this album. Banishing their Front Line Assembly meets Clock DVA sound from previous Delerium efforts, Bill and Rhys put on their Enigma hats and made a trance/dance/electro album that tries to please everyone. And they almost did, too. Though this effort turned off some fans of FLA and Delerium of old, it also made some new ones. The club hit "Flowers Become Screens" made this album a must buy for many a college clubber. The rest of the album is all well and good, with Billa and Rhys using precision programming skills and piracy to create an ethereal landscape of marvelous electronica. Though some of the songs run a little long (clocking in at 10 minutes or so), the music is just good, complex, and full enough to pull it off. Their next album Karam further capitalizes off this Enigma sound, employing the beautiful voice of Sarah McLachlan to make an insta-hit (Silence) that have Delerium an even bigger fan base. Karma is truly their masterpiece, while Semantic Spaces was their epiphany. Delerium would continue to make more poppier sounds with Poem and Chimera, two albums this reviewer can hardly listen to, especially when I can just listen to the much superior Karma or Semantic Spaces.

One last thought: As a longtime fan of Front Line Assembly (which is how I learned of Delerium), the popularity of the recent Delerium albums is astounding. If you are curious about what Bill and Rhys were known for back in the 80s, check out their re-released FLA ablums State of Mind or Corrorded Disorder. And if you just love the newer Delerium ablums, you might also like the newer FLA material like Epitaph. It's more agressive, and the lyrics are pretty silly at times, but it can be a fun ride.

good but can be better
Semantic Spaces is a good album and at best, really enjoyable.
Some really enjoyable tracks in the album are "Incantation" and "Flowers become screens". I wish though Delerium could've put in more of a gothish and creepier sound to the album.

Great CD but track 9 doesn't work well!!
I love Delerium. I love this CD. But track 9 skips. I returned the CD and recieved a new one, and it still skips. Buy the CD, it's great, just don't get too attatched to track #9. That is the reason this CD hasn't recieved 5 stars. Tracks 1-8 are terrific. (Tracks 1 (Flowers become screens),5 (Consensual worlds) and 8(Sensorium) being my favorite. Delerium's music is soothing and fun to listen to. I love to listen to it as I fall asleep and when i'm in the car.(Also, everywhere else!)
Buy this album if you like Delerium or enchanting music! ... Read more

Amazon.com essential recording

Released in 1982, On Land is Eno's most mature, perfect ambient work. Combining low, rumbling synths with eerie banging and clanking and the occasional wild-animal chirp or grumble, this recording places the listener alone, in the midst of a massive piece of sonic landscaping. And Eno has left no detail to chance. In fact, the work is so complete that when Eno suggests a windswept plain, the listener gets a chill. When trumpeter Jon Hassell bays with a softly disturbing imitation of a wounded beast, the first instinct is to scan the horizon for its glinting eyes. So subtle, intuitive, and well paced is this recording that as it slips quietly from the speakers and into every corner of the listening room, it transforms the space into a gently pulsing sound environment that seems strangely out of time and away from everything. It's a place you'll be drawn to time and time again. An ageless masterwork. --S. Duda ... Read more

Amazon.com

Elektra lived through Moby's wild musical mood swings only to have him jump ship to V2 Records where, on first try, he produced a genius, groundbreaking album that made him a household name. What's a hapless major label to do? Why, put out a quickie compilation attempting to cash in on his newfound fame, of course. Moby Songs is a veiled "Best of the Elektra Years" collection of the techno wizard's singles released under the Elektra umbrella. The problem with this disc is that Moby's discography is Babe Ruthian in its homerun-to-strikeout ratio. Furthermore, his best work occurred before and after he signed with the label. That leaves Elektra pulling 6 of the 13 tracks off of Everything Is Wrong (Moby's only consistent work while signed on). The rest is culled from his famously awful alt-rock offering Animal Rights, his collection of soundtrack work I Like to Score, and the title track from the Move EP. Moby Songs only serves those who are more morbidly curious with a snapshot of the man's scattered track record. Those who are interested in his finest should stick with his self-titled debut (which includes the rave classics "Drop a Beat," "Everything," "Next Is the E," and the original version of "Go") and Play. --Beth Massa ... Read more

Reviews (32)

A good collection of Moby songs
Ok, so my last review was lame heres a new one...

First of all here is the actual track listing

1. First Cool Hive 2. Go 3. Into The Blue 4. Now I Let It Go 5. Move [You Make Me Feel So Good] 6. I Like To Score 7. Anthem 8. Hymn 9. Feeling So Real 10. God Moving Over the Face of the Waters 11. Alone 12. Novio 13. The Rain Falls And The Sky Shudders 14. When It's Cold I'd Like To Die 15. Living 16. Grace The collection consists of 8 songs from "Everything Is Wrong", the other 8 are from "Move", "Animal Rights", and "I Like To Score", If you own those or plan on buying them you should skip this collection, if you don't have any of them you should try it out, it is a good collection, most of the songs are beautiful and calm.

Moby is up there with the greatest! A collector's item.
"Songs" basically summarizes the New York DJ's efforts from 1993 to 1998, allowing listeners who are new to his music, or who might have first heard of his work through his 1999 VERY GOOD album album "Play", a chance to get exposed to his earlier work.

I would like to cover each of the songs real briefly, so it can be made evident how eclectic an artist Moby is:
1) First Cool Hive: You have heard it. Sounds a lot like some of the "Play" songs.
2) Go: first written by Moby in conjunction with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti (long time scorer for Lynch's movies), has certain elements from Twin Peaks 'Laura Palmer's Theme.
3) Into The Blue: sweet Mimi Goese's voice accompanies Moby's music. Song #14 has Mimi Goese as well, and both rank among the best of the album.
4) Now I Let it Go: like a celtic melody, very quiet an soothing. I let it go as well...
5) Move (You Make Me Feel So Good): very dance-oriented tune. Most likely you've heard it on some disco floor.
6) I Like To Score: a very funky down-tempo guitar-driven tune, very contagious, very hard not to tap on the floor to it if your listening to it while sitting.
7) Anthem: a trance tune with some Gregorian chants/Opera voiced over.
8) Hymn: very sweet, piano-drive tune, very "Play"-like as well.
9) Feeling So Real: a very 'pop' techno tune. Not one of my favorites from the album, in all honesty.
10) God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters: one of Moby's most beautiful compositions. You've heard it, I'm sure. If you haven't you need to.
11) Alone: just feels like walking on your own through the middle of the desert... at night... a 10+ minute epic.
12) Novio: (boyfriend, in Spanish) another beautiful Moby tune, revisiting the Gregorian chants theme.
13) The Rain Falls & The Sky Shudders: one of those songs to sit down an listen to on a rainy afternoon. Actually has the sound of the rain in the background.
14) When It's Cold I'd Like To Die: Mimi Goese interpreting yet another beautiful tune with Moby's music.
15) Living: very optimistic tune with a guitar leading it into
16) Grace: Moby's closing statement for this compilation album says it all. Incredible song. Not hard to find some Brian Eno-like influences in it.

Whether your musical preferences are along the lines of dance music, new age, Gregorian chants, or just about anything, this album deserves room in your collection. It carries incredibly beautiful as well as vey contagious songs, that will make you respect Moby (as I now do), and most likely expand your collection to contain all his albums.

Equivalent to Sonic Wallpaper
I found this CD to be pleasant, soothing, unobtrusive background music. I enjoyed "Play" and other of Moby's work; however, I found this CD to be to be the equivalent of sonic wallpaper - it's there, but it is meant to fade into the background.

Music fans can do much better
Moby's "Songs" is basically a collection of some minor work from his stint with Elektra, and as such, is an album that should not have been made. Moby as an artist is overrated to begin with, so a trip into "Songs" is especially unnecessary.

To begin with, Songs opens with "First Cool Hive", a track that is very reminiscent of the most repetitive and irritating elevator music of Enigma, a band which has become nothing but the butt of jokes. There was some hope that the album would improve as "Go" and "Into The Blue", the two most tolerable tracks on the album came on, but they still offered very little for an appreciator of music to sink his or her teeth into. Things head back downwards as sappy, unoriginal tracks like "Anthem" and bad party music tracks like the despicable "I like to Score" and the weak "Feeling So Free" started playing from my stereo. Moby seems to be trying to serve boring and pretentious music to fans that haven't bothered to try the better Stereolab albums over Moby's predictable, one layered collection of songs. In fact, the whole album feels like shallow, predictable, and uninteresting music by a minor talent. That's to bad, because Moby at his best offers up some hypnotically catchy tracks, especially when a talented vocalist backs him up, but then again, Moby at his best is few and far between, and Moby at his worst dominates in Songs.

Those who like music that doesn't challenge them to listen can add a star, and if the purchaser of the album also wants no more than a nice piano segment or a little background music while they read can add an additional star. Those who seek originality and creativity in their music can take the last star away.

Interesting
I hate techno, rave, dance music, etc...but I have found Moby's mobysongs quite interesting. I slip over the dancy, techno tracks and go to the ambient tracks. Here is where Moby connects. He is kind of like the modern version of Brian Eno with a pop flair. In fact, I wish he would become more Enoish and drop the dancy stuff altogether! Mobysongs is a good place to start for someone new to Moby like myself as is the similarly interesting (for the same reasons) Play. Give it a listen. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This ambitious effort shows Mo' Wax label guru James Lavelle taking on the role of director, orchestrating a grand design, and translating it musically with the talents of studio muse DJ Shadow. Most accustomed to working solo, Shadow demonstrates here his adaptable talents in collaborating with others, whether it's on the powerful "Rabbit in Your Headlights," a track recorded in 1996 in which Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke eerily foreshadows his later success, or in "Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Pt. 1)," the album's only traditional hip-hop track, which pairs annihilating beats to Kool G Rap's equally lethal vocal delivery. Psyence Fiction, which also features contributions from Beastie Boy Mike D and the Verve's Richard Ashcroft, is certainly one of the most epic and eclectic records to emerge from the electronic world this year, one that should not only further the efforts to bridge the musical segregation that exists among the hip-hop, alternative, and electronic camps but also introduce these cultures to a few new surprises of its own. --Tamara Palmer ... Read more

Reviews (92)

A Perfect Mark for a Completely Dark and Hearthrobbing Album
This album gets you a surristic feeling of the greatest experience and also the worst, it is a mix bag (A line from track 14 listed above.) The first song starts on most album copies with "Guns Blazing (Drums of Death pt.1)" Which I think is the rap album I ever heard even though I don't hear rap albums that often. Kool G Rap vocals along with rapid drum rhythm makes this song unbelevably addicting to listen to. Richard Ashcrofts "Lonely Souls" (A song about the question that affects most of us in our everyday lives "where do our isolated souls go when we die")I think it's DJ shadow and James Lavelle best accomplishment on this album which is over 8minutes long. The second ranked album would be the popular single "Rabbit in Your Headlights" by Radiohead's Thom Yorke singing vocals on this song. He is my favourite singer ever, his lyrics on this song gives me a feeling of hearthrobbing pain on the inside and emotional sadness on the outside. Overall the tracks on this song are excellent and for a CD that has only 100,000 copies in the world it must be excellent.

Worthy
Although U.N.K.L.E. is indeed James Lavelle and DJ Shadow, this album is, in essence, the product of an artists' collective. As a result, it's a fairly mixed bag. There is a running theme about aliens that attempts to lend some cohesion to the proceedings with in-between bits and spacey sounding music, although the boys don't entirely pull it off.

The rap songs (the opener "Guns Blazing" and "The Knock") rock hard with heavy drums. But I often skip these along with the rocking "Nursery Rhyme" because I'm in the mood for (and I prefer) the lower key stuff like "Unkle Main Theme" and "Blood Stain," the latter being a great song & beat with really downer lyrics I can relate to. Also, "Unreal" is a pretty trippy instrumental. "Celestial Annialation" is another vocal-less track that's a bit more ominous sounding.

"Chaos" is primarily a female vocal and guitar that I don't care for and always skip. And track 6 is a mock commercial intended to be a comment on the music industry that need not be heard more than once.

The album's themes are decidedly negative. That's certainly true of the standout tracks "Lonely Soul" and "Rabbit In Your Headlights."

"Lonely Soul" is sung by Richard Ashcroft of Verve fame and it's powerful. The String section sounds fantastic. DJ Shadow wrote the music (or constructed it?) on this song as on most of the album. I must say, this is perhaps the most musical music he's done.

"Rabbit In Your Headlights" alone makes this CD worth getting. Amazing that Tom Yorke kept this, one of his best songs, from his Radiohead mates. Those opening piano chords just kill me, and then comes Tom's angelic voice with those poisonous words," . . . fat bloody fingers/ sucking your soul away." Whew! This guy really sounds like he's been to some harrowing place! And that beat . . . this track is just incredible.

Despite some real shortcomings, I feel "Rabbit" and the other great songs hear elevate the album to 4 1/2 stars (or in this case 5). The rating is meant to reflect its worthiness for purchase. Even the lesser material is at least interesting and the album stands as something pretty unique.

Some beautiful moments...
As a die hard Radiohead fan I bought this album after hearing the track "Rabbit in Your Headlights", sung by their front man Thom Yorke. However, I was not sure what to expect from the rest of the album, and I must say, I was not disappointed... well, not completely. The album contains some truly amazing highpoints, such as the track "Lonely Soul" and "Blood Stain", which alone make the price of this album (used) more then worth it (you should be able to acquire this CD [...] used on this site).

Some of the reviews claim the album lacks a flow of togetherness, but this is simply false. All the tracks flow one from the other beautifully, and I felt there was no detachment or inconsistency between the songs... albeit the various genre influences. But its on this regard, genres, that you will either think this is a masterpiece or just so so. Not being a rap fan, I found the albums rap/hip hop tracks to be rather dull and seemed much less thoughtful then the high standard set by "Lonely Soul" and "Rabbit in Your Headlights". I think the hip hop elements could have worked well in this, but they were just presented poorly here. For example, the lyrics too "Knock" seemed to be painfully old tired cliché lines.

However, despite some less then inspired moments, "Psyence Fiction" is an impressive work overall, and well worth the beautiful moments it presents, which are many considering the best songs are easily over 5 minutes each. And if you do have a higher tolerance of rap/hip hop then I, you will most likely find even more to love in this album.

Brilliant integration of stylez
What happens when alt-rock and Joe Satriani ("Unkle Main Title Theme") meet Massive Attack ("Blood Stain", "Unreal"), Craig Armstrong ("Celestial Annihilation"), and you pour a little straight-up Public Enemy-like hip-hop into the mix? Sounds like science fiction? Fatboy Slim, you say? Not really. How about Psyence Fiction, U.N.K.L.E.'s ultimate definition of the future of music in 1998, and one that certainly goes beyond 2004?

Granted that this work as a whole is a masterpiece (haven't taken it off my jukebox in over two weeks now), the pinnacles of the album (it has two) come when the voice of The Verve's Richard Ashcroft breaks the silence in track #5, singing "God knows your Lonely Soul..." and when the unmistakable voice of Thom Yorke embraces you in "Rabbit in Your Headlights" close to the end.

What more can you ask for? This album is as close as it comes to perfection in blending musical styles. Listening to it six years after its original release sounds every bit as fresh as it did back then. Indeed, I dare to say it sounds better today, because a lot of these sounds have sunk in, to become a part of mainstream culture, something that says a lot about how far ahead of their time these guys were back then.

SAY "U.N.K.L.E."!
DJ Shadow never ceases to amaze me! After getting Psyence Fiction (several years late, of course) I can see why folks give him his props for "saving Hip-Hop". The man can make music sound melancholic while at the same time nerve racking to the point where you have to love it! This impressive effort with James Lavelle, shows that Shadow is just as good with a partner as he is doing it solo. In fact, Shadow contributes more to Psyence Fiction than Lavelle does (being that Lavelle can't write music). With the proper mix of vocals from males and females on Psyence Fiction, this has got to be one of the most eclectic bunch of songs produced by Shadow. Hypnotically groovey songs like "Bloodstains", "Unreal," "Lonely Soul" and "Celestial Annihilation" are why this CD makes it to the top of my list. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Peaceful, inspiring music.
This CD is wonderful for relaxing. I would recommend it for Massage Therapist or any type of session which you want to set the stage for total relaxation.

The best Reike CD I have found!
I purchased "Heart OF Reike" two years ago and it is, by far, the nicest one I have ever found! Everytime I play it for someone, they fall in love with it. The music brings you a place of calm and rejuvenation! The soothing tones transport you a plane that is enriching and healing. Whoever purchases it, will not be disappointed!

Heart of Reiki is a wonderful addition to any CD library
I have had the Merlin Heart of Reiki for some time now and just love it. It is so calming and relaxing. I play it every night before I go to sleep. I have played it so much I know which tracks are coming next. I would recommend the CD to everyone and hope you get as much enjoyment from it has I have.

Merlin's Magic soothes the soul!
Merlin's Magic provides another soothing, soulful album of music for Reiki or other healing and meditative arts. This music is great for helping one relax and open to the flow of healing energy, while it is melodic and varied enough to not put you to sleep. I personally like the Merlin's Magic album Reiki - The Light Touch best from this producer, though this one is nearly as enjoyable.

Great Reiki music
I reaaly love this CD. My Reiki master plays this during treatments and I liked it so much I got the CD for home listening. Very relaxing melody, very mello but not so much that you fall asleep. Great for Reiki as the CD is just over 1 hour long - about the same as a typical treatment. This would be perfect for the car on a scenic drive, or for a long airplane ride. You will love this CD. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential recording

Moby is an ambitious man, both musically and philosophically, and that quality seeps into every aspect of Everthing Is Wrong, from the wunderkind DJing that stretches the genre limits of techno to the angry, antiestablishment manifesto on the CD sleeve. The record's opening salvo of dancey club music sets the listener up for "All That I Need Is to Be Loved," which, out of nowhere, bludgeons would-be club kids with tuneless, mad vocals and punked-out guitar solos. The same bait-and-switch formula repeats twice on the CD at almost regular intervals in the industrial shriek of "What Love" and the sudden, slow, and acoustic bent and folksy vocals of "Into the Blue." All three shifts are jarringly abrupt. However, dance-floor continuity is in Moby's blood, and he uses these songs as parts one, two, and three of the underlying rage that drives the record's concept. Without these three tracks, in fact, you'd have a moody yet convincingly cohesive danceathon, bouncing between house breakbeats ("Feeling So Real," "Bring Back My Happiness") and blissed-out trance ("God Moving Over the Face of the Waters"). Instead, Moby expresses his bewildered and desperate view of modern life by periodically yanking away the escape of blind, danceable ecstasy, using that discontinuity to express the eyes-wide-open ruminations of a furious idealist. --Matthew Cooke ... Read more

Reviews (65)

One of the essential dance pop albums of all time
Alot of techno artists often decry Moby's lack of innovation or genuine craft, but that was never really Moby's agenda. Moby built his name on his ambient work, which is frankly some of the moving, inspirational music you will ever hear in pop. Ambient as a form of chamber/soundtrack music, melancholy melodies, Baroque fills, and epic dynamics. Really very beautiful stuff.

Using ambient as his foundation, he forms 12 great pop tunes that run the gamut of styles -- house, classical, trance, jungle, punk, hip-hop, and world-beat -- map[ing an emotionally wild journey into the heart of Moby's faith. At parts, you'll be hurled into pits of rage. At others, you'll be moved to tears. And frequently, you'll feel a pure ecstatic joy that exceeds most house music.

His Christian faith informs almost all of Everything Is Wrong, for in a sense, most of the tracks are really gospel songs, put to his ambient "orchestra", and mixed in with beats. Ear candy and chicken soup for the soul.

To judge Moby's music on purely dance terms is to ignore that Moby is a modern soul man. And this is truly a great soul record in a genre often assumed to have none.

such a letdown
... i had a single from this album and a song called IN MY LIFE completely rocked my world...
MY MISTAKE. do not call this album techno. call it top 40, or electronic but not techno and do not call it punk rock inflenced or even rock oriented. there is little rock on this album. this album is the predeccesor to play. if thats your bag then by all means this is for you but it is a bland mix of top 40 wanna be music.
i also bought animal rights by moby. THAT is quite electic with a good mix of musical styles...
yes i did like the soothing intro of hymn, the funky beat of lets go free (song is 37 seconds long) and the blues of what love but this is not a reason to keep this overrated mess...

Yo! Fo' Real though....
This sh** is the BEST! MOBY RULES. Long LIVE M to the O to the B to the Y!!! YESS.

This is not so wrong!
Moby is probably one of the most influentual dance artist to date, this album however was released before his big breakthrough in America. The music is a little diffrent to what it sounds today, but if you listen to it you can hear that certain songs are simular to what moby is making today. "Anthem" reminds me alot of "Why does my heart..." but it's more of a house song. "Into the blue" and "First cool hive" are also something for newer Moby fans. There are many slow and beautiful songs on the album like the piano song "Everything is wrong" and "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters". my favorutes are the uptempo techno songs "Feeling so real" and "Everytime you touch me" those are simply wonderful. A few songs are almost punk-rock, they are very noisy and should be ignored. Moby is in the middle of his progress. A very good album with a great mix of diffrent flavors. Must have.

Moby's OTHER Defining Album
Long before there was Play, 18, the Gwen Stefani duets, or videos in spacesuits, there was Everything is Wrong, the album where Moby slid in under the radar and came into his own. It's an ambitious and groundbreaking album, that goes from piano laced ambient ("Hymn" and the seminal "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters") to infectious get-on-your-feet techno ("Feeling So Real") to trance like investigations into deeper musical channels ("First Cool Hive" and "Anthem", which is a personal favorite). Though a bit uneven, this is by far a defining album for Moby, and an extremely worthwhile listen for anyone who enjoyed "Play" or "18". ... Read more

Amazon.com

Understood in any language, across any time zone, Global Communication tolls for the human spirit which knows no boundaries. As one of the most significant releases to cross the ambient currents of the '90s, 76:14 places itself alongside benchmark electronic releases from Brian Eno, the Orb, and the Future Sound of London. These synth-dominated ventures allow the armchair traveler to indulge in atmospheric wanderings which suggest virtual galactic discovery. But often enough the textured beats keep things grounded to dissuade the listener from being lost in the void. Vocal samples from nine languages also remind us of the international and diplomatic intentions of this otherwise electro-instrumental album. Strap in and enjoy the liftoff for all mankind. --Lucas Hilber ... Read more

Reviews (34)

Classic ambient album
One of the most perfect ambient albums. Some tracks do have beats but most songs are carried along by the melody or bassline.

Probably the best 'warm' ambient album, if you get my meaning, as opposed to the 'icy' ambient of Biosphere's 'Substrata'.

You really have to have this album in your collection, ambient fan or not. It's one of those all time classics, a trend-setting milestone. Check out the 'Tick-Tock' song, you get what I mean!

The BEST "Ambient" album you'll ever hear....
I have been an audiophile for 40 years and I have never heard anything quite like this album. The only thing that may compare, or at least be in the same league, would be some of Brian Eno's work, but even Eno admits he's more of a sound manipulator than a musician. These guys are musicians!

Music should provoke emotion and connect to memories. This music makes me feel warm..and mellow..and smart..and young. It takes me to places music has never taken me. I know this sounds pretty sappy, but it's true. If you are a real music lover and you want a mellow music revelation...buy this music. And if you have to pay $80 for a copy of Pentamerous Metamorphosis, their other out of print classic...buy that one too. You'll love them both! This is amazing music!

Get this one...
This is one of the best ambient/electronica discs out there. Just the right mix of percussion, obscure voices, and mellow cruising.

Get this one...

What more can be said?
How fortunate I was to be about 18 years old during the 1993-1995 heyday of Ambient and IDM music. I have all these famous artists on their original Vinyl and CD. But my purpose isn't to brag here...
Nothing more can be said about this album that hasn't. While teetering on the edge of cheesy New-Age, its genius is that it never falls over that line, dripping with emotion and depth without ever becoming Enya.
But seeing as how I so enjoy when others plug a recommendation that sound similar to the artist, I'll say this - you MUST pick up Pulusha's Isolation, who just happens to be this same duo. This EP (or was it a single?) is as gorgeous as 76:14. Don't know if its still in print, though.

Track-By-Track Descriptions & Impressions: Pure Gems Here.
I recently happened to find this album and instantly bought it without a trial listen since Ifd been so absorbed in their track, gEpsilon Phaseh mixed in Chilled Out Euphoria. And after the first listening, this turned out to be an ore of pure gems, according to my expectation. I love all the tracks, especially track 3. and 7. + 8. They all are ambient music in general, but each has a slight different shade from each other. So, let me show you what they are like.

1. g4 02h:
Itfs like youfve found a secret door to a magical night in wonderland like Harry Potterfs world.
2. g14 31h:
The breeze-like chorus will soothe your mind, and its mild melody and antique tick-tock rhythm will induce you to sleep. It feels so comfortable and cozy. A long quiet night in a rural district.
3. g9 25h:
It starts with the warm chord progression, which creates a dreamy atmosphere. Before long, the minimal melody in the background promotes it to the sacred level. Soon after that, the solid and heavy rhythm assaults your brain. It sounds like footsteps of a giant or something. I feel theyfre most energetic rhythm in this album. Meanwhile the flute-like main melody flows really relaxingly. In total, this track keeps a desirable balance between dynamics and statics.
4. g9 39h:
The faint operating sound of some machine and signal sound of a radar, make me feel Ifm in a small submersible exploring somewhere deep in the ocean. Itfs so dark and quiet. A definite sleeping pill.
5. g7 39h:
The fast clicking rhythm gives this track haste. The subsequent heavy creeping bassline gives it gravity, big stomping 4/4 drumbeats give it momentum, the beautiful chord gives it temperature, and some melodies give it cuteness, brightnessc This track has many aspects. So, I canft express the overall impression. Ifll leave it to your ears.
6. g0 54h:
Yeah, itfs literally Global Communication. In their language, people from some countries speak by radio one after another. And they seem to be conveying the same message. Is this the record installed in the space probe, Voyager? By the way, the last message spoken by a woman is Japanese. And what she is saying is: gSekaikibono dentatsu,... Oto no baitai o toshite tsutaerareta kandotekina hyogen.h = gGlobal Communication,... Moving expression which was conveyed through the media for sound.h This isnft a song at all. As I said, itfs a message, and also a decent introduction into the epic, g8 07h / g5 23h.
7. g8 07h / 8. g5 23h:
These two are a combined track. Its rhythmic bassline and retro minimal phrase are really impressive. The heavy backing synth-strings are gigantic, adding serious climax vibrations. And high-pitched serene echoing sound is heart-achingly appealing. But the best point of this track is its development. Itfs so refined, intricate, well-considered, as dramatic as another masterpiece by GC, yes, gEpsilon Phaseh (, which is incredibly emotional and blissful, one of my all-time favorites; so, check out this track too). Compared to gEpsilon Phaseh, g8 07h+h5 23h is in a more powerful direction. Totally, a rare exquisite piece of music.
9. g4 14h:
This track is like the dismalness and calm after a storm. Everything has been destroyed and wet; the sky is still covered with thin clouds, and what you hear is mild breezes and waterdrops trickling from a roof.
10. g12 18h:
Itfs like a requiem. Every element of the track (: chorus, bass-strings, melody, other effects) just drifts and drifts so slowly, gentlyc Itfs repetitive, vague, but not bad. I take it that this just represents eternity in heaven. Another strong sleeping pill.

Although this album was released years ago, it doesnft sound old and cheap. Fadeless quality glimmers here. All in all, truly atmospheric. Itfs like GC have created another world behind headphones / speakers. So, this album works really well when reading, meditating, and sleeping (; all insomniacs should get this right away). Now Ifm really looking forward to the day they re-start releasing their new works worldwide, and communicate us with their global sound. Ifm always ready. ... Read more

Album Description

Deuter's masterful meditation music echoes the pristine essence of a Himalayan retreat by integrating Tibetan bells and bowls, chimes, and the natural sounds of a mountain stream. Expanding reverberations and overtones meld in perfect harmony. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Tibetan Bells Ring on Forever
I can't give this CD strong enough praise. This is the best music for meditation or creating a peaceful background that I've found in many years. Anyone who has heard a Tibetan Bowl Gong knows the powerful effect of its sustained ringing tones. But this CD takes that effect and magnifies it by continuing the sustain even longer than is natural, and layering many bell tones over each other. Recordings of bowl gongs usually don't come close to the affect of hearing the real thing, but this CD is almost better than the real thing. It actually creates a unique experience all its own. I find myself putting this CD on repeat as I work around the house on a sunny day. I can forget its on and leave it play for hours. This is monumental ambient music. Truly a classic.

Profoundly Spritual
I have listened to many so called "relaxation" CDs, but this one is far superior to any I have heard, including other Deuter recordings. This one feels spiritually inspired. There is something about the ancient instruments used which have an effect on the very core of one's being. As far as I'm concerned this is his most successful recording yet.

If you want to take a journey to the very depth of your inner being.....not merely to relax to pretty music, then this is the recording you need. It goes beyond relaxing from the stresses of life, it goes to the very foundation of one's being. As a professional musician, myself, I find it difficult to find music which I can listen to and not analyze in some way...listening to rhythm, melody, texture, harmony, and such.

I was amazed at the level of spirituality I was able to feel with this CD....there is something about the harmonic vibrations and colors (timbres) of this music which resonates in an overall fundamental truth of life. I can't recommend this CD more highly. I wish Deuter would do more like this. The fact that he uses REAL instruments and sounds, as opposed to synthesized ones, make this music feel honest and true and alive, where many relaxation CD's sound contrived, to me. Definitely one you'll want to keep!

Excellent for relaxation and healing
This CD is amazing - I have lent it to many people and all have reported that it has helped them by relieving them of physical pain during listening. I have used it for getting rid of headaches, and I can actually feel energy moving through my body. It's like a reiki session done through music. Highly recommended.

Great stuff
I discovered Deuter about 10 years ago. I just got the CD and didn't read what it was beyond Deuter's name, so I was really surprised when it was just bells. At first I was disappointed cuz I was expecting something more like Nirvana Road or something. Nope. Just bells. But, I listened to it when I got home and turned it on while I went to sleep. Yeah, now I love going to sleep to it! I only give it 4 stars cuz I was expecting Deuter's keyboard style etc. of music. If I was looking for this style, I'd give it 5 stars.

Good vibs from these sounds!
This is my all time favorite CD to use in meditation. The sounds are soothing and ideal for calming the mind. At the end there is rushing water with tibetan bowls/bells and chimes---It's totally refreshing. ... Read more

Reviews (166)

I'm glad to be alive....
Happy, sad, beautiful, gorgeous, scary, strong, full, rich, pationate, delicious, lush...It is, it was and it will be...
These are some of the words, thoughts and feelings that come to mind thinking of this.

Sometimes something so fantastic and wonderful comes along in life, it just has to be experienced, or life just wasn't what it could have been. That's what I can tell you if your wondering about getting this.

I love everything by 'The Twin', and after hearing just about all of his stuff, I liked this at that time but didn't love it yet because of 'RDJ Album', 'ICBYD', and others taking up the majority of my music time. I just couldn't get over the melodies.
I digested all of this now and I wish that I took this in first, in all of its' glory. Go buy it, it will be the best money you'll spend on an EXPERIENCE rather than just "some tunes". Not once have I got so many visuals, thought about so many things, or just simply enjoyed music so much.

I recall a conversation with my friend that has splendid taste mind you, about when an artist is going to come out that will strike you as brilliant. I thought that not since 'The Beatles', 'Pink Floyd', etc. has there been artists that will strike you as brilliant. The time is now, with 'Aphex Twin'.

Take this album in for what it is. Cherish it. You will be rewarded. Like being in love, eating wonderful food and drinking wonderful wine, or any other great experience, this album will make you feel glad about being alive......Peace.

Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Selected Ambient Works Volume II was my introduction to Aphex Twin after hearing Trent Reznor praise this musician. The influence was undeniable. If you enjoyed "A Warm Place" from Nine Inch Nail's The Downward Spiral, SAW II is simliar, but let Trent stick with industrial. Because Aphex Twin has set the definitive album of ambient music and no one could possibly hope to conquer. SAW II doesn't move forward, it just sort of floats in this restless limbo. Time slow down and it feels like entering some holy sanctuary personally. I get eerie chills and the ground seems to drop out from underneath me. I think I actually go through physical paralysis when I listen to this album. Nonetheless, I find people interpret the music in wholly different ways which is all the more amazing to have a piece of art so abstract. People have called it egotistical or pretentious, but the problem with art these days - music, film, and most forms of entertainment is that it isn't egotistical or pretentious. It's all too "middle-of-the-road", humble, don't wannt scare the horses fodder. So call it what you want to. This album is full of endless possibilities just waiting to be discovered. Play the discs seperately, simultaneous, start one a few minutes after the other...experiment, it all seems to swirl and blend together beautifully. This isn album to be experienced alone and in complete silence. This isn't party music or jeep bumpin' beats so recommend it to your friend, but don't play it with him or her sitting there. If you are someone who is open-minded and not afraid to try something new or believe music is ART (in every sense of the word), doors to new possiblities, life changers - get this album. If you have come to believe that music is nothing but entertainment categorized into your Top 40 chart hits or whine about which member of group/band are better looking, then do yourself a favor and stay away from this album.

wait...
This is an incredible album, but not all of the songs are worth it.
Aphex Twin elitists (I am one, believe me) would insist that every song is incredible because Richard made them, but this is honestly not the case.
He's made albums (ahem drukqs)where some tracks, though works of art, weren't the masterpieces that Mr. James is capable of.
About 60 percent of the tracks on this cd are truly worthy of RDJ, therefore the user should make himself a one disk compilation using a CD RW program. I suggest the following tracks as essentials
From disk 1 tracks 1, 3, 4, and 6
From disk 2 tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 8
and if you can get it from a file sharing service, the unrealesed "stones in focus" song is excellent. Enjoy the good tracks...

The Most Perfect Album I've Heard
I own hundreds of cds from all kinds of genres, yet I have never heard music speak so clearly to me as this Aphex Twin album. This stuff simply can't be categorized. I guess the term "ambient" fits best, but its really a case of no lable being sufficiently decriptive enough to describe what is here. There is no pretense in constructing these sounds to fit a certain musical style. That's why I respect Richard D James' vision so much. No matter where you are, what you are doing, or how you are feeling, there simply is something for any kind of person on this engrossing, 2 disc set. I suppose the only people that won't like this are those looking for instant results, or gratification. You know, the short-attention span type. Still, I'm completely convinced that even the most easilly distracted or bored person would eventually fall under the spell of some of these mesmerizing mood captures. Not songs, mood captures. From compellingly primal evocations to the serenely cerebral and, frankly, settings from seemingly unrecognised, alien-like sectors of the human psyche, this album, more than anything else I've ever come across (Brian Eno's amazing 'Ambient 4: On Land' would possibly equal this depth if it had the sheer variety that's on these 2 discs) captures what it is to be human in sound. The seemingly impossible was achieved here in 1994. That's the highest praise that I think that I could ever give to any music. I simply can't imagine this music ever becoming dated sounding. This exists outside time. Thank you, Richard.

great
Just great. I am a fan of his music for quite a while and all of his records are special in their own way. Tracks with a little twist only RDJ can add. Sometimes a bit sinister, but thats ok for me! Most of his tracks are sertainly refreshing and energy boosting. A philosopher teacher once said: "to enjoy and appreciate the quality of sertain aspects (of whatsoever) you have to have rotten spots besides it". In case of some of the tracks ("ventolin" (medicine for asthmatic patiens) for example in which you hear a sample of a person hyperventilating), annoying bleeps, cracks and sounds are added in such way that when they fade away in a track you almost feel a releef....a contrast between serenety and rotten (no offence) ... Read more

Album Description

RARE ELEMENTS, the first release in a series of groundbreaking albums that will feature the blending of master musicians with the world's top remixers.

Five Points recorded ten original tracks performed by USTAD SULTAN KHAN, a world renowned Sarangi master. Ustad Sultan Khan has collaborated with such artists as MADONNA, DURAN DURAN, PETER GABRIEL, RAVI SHANKAR, and GEORGE HARRISON. Five Points Records then enlisted top remixers: THIEVERY CORPORATION, NICKODEMUS & OSIRIS, JOE CLAUSSELL and RALPHI ROSARIO to interpret and rework the Eastern melodies creating a union of old and new worlds. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Dope Fusion
Great Remixes of one of the world's greatest musicians. Especially Radar One's tracks and Nic and Osiris. It blends together like butter and doesn't lose the original. Got a lot of respect when I played it at my party last night.

DON'T MISS THIS
Let's face it: There have been so many attempts at electronica/Indian fusion, and so many have fallen short. Cast aside your doubts and fears, for 5 Points Records has risen to the challenge with their debut album "Rare Elements: Ustad Sultan Khan", and they have passed with flying colors. These remixers, including the well known Thievery Corperation, have taken the soulful music of Ustad Sultan Khan and transformed it into a loungy, groovy, dancy masterpiece. Perfect for parties, bars/restaurants/hotels, or an iPod stroll through town. Some highlights: Nickodemus and Osiris - Jaadu (Magic), a slamin and groovin banger featuring the deep beats and loops that they have