Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Production

James stated that the sounds on Selected Ambient Works Volume II were inspired by lucid dreams, and that upon awaking, he would attempt to re-create the sounds and record them. He claimed to have natural synaesthesia, which contributed to this album.

Style

Simon Reynolds commented that on the album Selected Ambient Works Volume II James changed styles "from the idyllic, Satie-esque naivete of early tracks like "Analogue Bubblebath" to clammy, foreboding sound-paintings." Reynolds stated that along with other artists such as Seefeel, David Toop and Max Eastley, that artists have moved from "rave into the vicinity of "isolationism", a term coined by critic Kevin Martin which "breaks with all of ambient's feel-good premises. Isolationism is ice-olationist, offering cold comfort. Instead of pseudopastoral peace, it evokes an uneasy silence: the uncanny calm before catastrophe, the deathly quiet of aftermath." Volume II differs significantly from the first volume in the series, in that it consists of lengthy, textured ambient compositions with minimal percussion and occasional vocal samples, in a vein similar to Brian Eno's ambient works. James described the album as being "like standing in a power station on acid"

Release

Select Ambient Works Volume II was released in the United Kingdom by Warp on 7 March 1994. Warp has released Select Ambient Works Volume II compact disc and triple vinyl. The album charted in the United Kingdom on 19 March 1994 where it debuted and peaked at the 11th position on the charts. The album sold 9,336 copies in its first week of release. It stayed on the charts for three weeks. Sire released the album on compact disc on 12 April 1994. The album was re-issued on vinyl by 1972 records on 6 March 2012 without the extra track (Stone in Focus).

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Spin gave the album a positive review, stating that the album has "plenty of the shimmeringly euphoric and majestically melancholy tunes that have won James so many devout fans." but that the album "will leave you not so much blissed as spooked out." Rolling Stone stated that "While many of his disciples have done little more than propel New Age atmospheres into the computer age, producing comforting but often emotionless elevator music, James has used the medium to confront his shadowy demons, exploring realms of spooky, textured sound." The review concluded that the album "provides a visionary perspective on ambient electronic music." Commenting on the audience's reaction of the album in 1999, Simon Reynolds stated that on that "Many in the Aphex cult were thrown for a loop" and that "Aphex aficionados remain divided" on the album. Select stated that "Anyone who thinks they know what to expect on the basis of 'Volume I' might care to sit down, have a nice cup of tea and prepare themselves for a shock." The review noted the album was not successful "as a conventional dance record", but "as an album to wallow in at 5am while watching the wallpaper conduct a heated argument with the lightshade, it is indeed the knees of the bee." Robert Christgau gave the album a B– rating and critiqued reviews by Frank Owen, Simon Reynolds and J.D. Considine finding that "James is rarely as rich as good [Brian] Eno, not to mention good Eno-Hassell or Eno-Budd." and that "these experiments are considerably thinner ("purer," Owen wishes) and more static ("pulse dreamily," Considine dreams) than the overpriced juvenilia on the import-only Volume I." Entertainment Weekly wrote that "At its best [the album] is an avant-garde score in search of a postapocalyptic theater piece, a la Philip Glass. More often, it’s chamber music for humorless cyber-nerds"

Retrospective reviews

At the end of the decade, Selected Ambient Works Volume II was included on several publications' lists of top albums of the 1990s including Rolling Stone and Spin. Rolling Stone stated the album was James creating "an enriched, wraparound style of burp-andwhoosh programming, the perfect soundtrack for pulling the pieces of your brain back together after spilling them all over the club floor. The first dance album to celebrate the rhythms in your head." Spin placed both Selected Ambient Works 85–92 and Selected Ambient Works Volume II at number 56 on their list of the top albums of the 1990s, calling it "an awe-inspiring feat of avant-techno texturology". Pitchfork placed the album at number 62 on their list of top albums of the 1990s, stating that it "spurred on one of the great trajectories of pop music in the 1990s, influencing everyone from Radiohead to Timbaland." Pitchfork later ranked the album second on their 2016 list of the best ambient music albums of all time.

Aftermath and influence

Online music zine Pitchfork noted described that Selected Ambient Works Volume II as "a very early example of a record being anticipated, experienced, and, ultimately, analyzed in minute detail through online communication." Pitchfork noted that the Electronic mailing list titled IDM (Intelligent dance music) had a profound influence on how the album would be received in the future, noting that the community's influence has to do with the album's mysterious non-titles. List member Greg Eden, who kept a detailed discography, gave the tracks names based on a word or two that related to the corresponding images. Eden would later work for Warp, the original label for Selected Ambient Works Volume II.

A book on the album was released in the 33⅓ series on 13 February 2013. The series are short books inspired by or focused on albums and are generally written as longform essays. The book was written by Marc Weidenbaum, a music journalist and former editor of Tower Records' in-store magazine Pulse!.

Track listing

The tracks on the album do not have names but are represented by pictures on the record's artwork.

UK CD version

All tracks written by Richard D. James.

UK vinyl edition

All tracks written by Richard D. James.

UK Cassette edition

All tracks written by Richard D. James.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Selected Ambient Works Volume II liner notes.