Search - Afx :: Analogue Bubblebath 3

Certainly different, but good

K. Ribbens | Perth, Australia | 03/05/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In relation to the rest of Richard D. James' influential and broad discography, "Analogue Bubblebath 3", lacking any comprehensible titles, is often overlooked. The tracks on the album generally consist of a mish-mash of styles, including industrial, acid-madness, ambient and just plain bizarre. Some of my favourite "classic" RDJ tracks are found here, most notably tracks 1, 4, 6 and 8. However, the best thing about the album is the mystery surrounding it. With the minimalist packaging, and lack of "official" titles", the listener really has not a clue whatsoever as to how, or even why, the album was made. Obviously Richard does though, and the album exists as another key to trying to understand the man and his music."

A great bath, but the fourth one was better.

blackburn6600 | 06/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, I'm not sure where the titles for these tracks came from. My copy of the album didn't have a track list. Maybe they came from a previous issue of this record...



Anyway, this is a great work of raw techno. My personal favorites were track 1, 4 through 8, 10,(an intense short track,) and 13. I love the first song! It makes me want to take on the world,(in a good way, if that makes sense). The second track is a long, repetitive string of alien notes with an awesome bass track to follow. 3 isn't too interesting. The fourth is an awesome piece fit for any mind numbing rave. Track 5 is really good, but it seems to come out quieter than the other songs, so I just turn it louder. 6 seems to have an oriental flare of some sort, pretty neat actually. (I'd bet anything that the sample at the beginning is a vacuum cleaner). Track 7 presents a really good loop of synth percussion. The eighth song is really pretty, I like it a lot, it's very comforting. Like 3, 9 isn't too interesting either, but grows more entertaining towards the end. Track 10 is half-a-minute of something really intense. Track 11 sounds like it should have been on Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2, and 12 is a minute of what sounds like rain and a man hyperventilating. The last song is quite sinister, like an angry synthesizer gaining revenge on humanity. All the way through I can't help but think that AFX put more effort into producing Analogue Bubblebath 4. Sure there are only five tracks,(the last being a snippet of an interview with Evel Knievel,) but they just seem much more thoughtful. I haven't gotten to buying the first bubblebath yet so I can't say anything about that one. Both 3 and 4 are great buys, especially 4. Thanks for reading."