''Classics'' is a 1995 compilation album by the

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

artist and producer Richard D. James, more commonly known by his

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

. The album collects James's early releases, including the ''

Analogue Bubblebath ''Analogue Bubblebath'', also released as ''Aphex Twin ep'', is the first record by the British musician and producer Richard D. James. The EP was released under his alias The Aphex Twin through Mighty Force Records in September 1991. It wa ...

'', ''

Digeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was develope ...

'', and '' Xylem Tube''

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

with a handful of other songs, including remixes of Mescalinum United's "We Have Arrived". It was released by

R&S Records R&S Records is an independent record label founded in 1983 in Ghent, Belgium. R&S represents the initials of Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes, the couple that created the label. R&S Records has had several subsidiaries, most notably Apollo R ...

following James' success on

Warp Records Warp Records is a British independent record label that specialises in Electronic music, electronic, indie rock and experimental music. It was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by Steve Beckett, Robert Mitchell and Robert Gordon. It has released recor ...

. James was not involved in the release of this compilation. A

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed version of the album was released on 2 June 2008. The cover for this reissue resembles that of '' Selected Ambient Works 85–92'', albeit with the black and white inverted.

Background

James' first release was the 1991 12-inch EP ''

'' on Mighty Force Records. In 1991 James and Grant Wilson-Claridge founded Rephlex Records to promote "innovation in the dynamics of

Acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

— a much-loved and misunderstood genre of

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

forgotten by some and indeed new to others, especially in Britain". From 1991 to 1993 James released two ''Analogue Bubblebath'' EPs as AFX and an EP, '' Bradley's Beat'', as Bradley Strider. Although he moved to London to take an

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

course at Kingston Polytechnic, he admitted to

David Toop David Toop (born 5 May 1949) is an English musician, author, curator, and emeritus professor. From 2013 to 2021 he was professor of audio culture and improvisation at the London College of Communication. He was a regular contributor to British ...

that his electronics studies were slipping away as he pursued a career in the

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

genre. After leaving school James remained in the city, releasing albums and EPs on Warp Records and other labels under a number of aliases (including AFX, Polygon Window and Power-Pill); several of his tracks, released under aliases including Blue Calx and The Dice Man, appeared on compilations. Although he allegedly lived on the

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

Elephant and Castle Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The n ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

during his early years there, he actually resided in a nearby unoccupied bank. In 1992 James also released the '' Xylem Tube EP'' and ''

'' (first played by DJ Colin Faver on London's Kiss FM) as Aphex Twin, the '' Pac-Man EP'' (based on the

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

) as Power-Pill, and two of his four ''Joyrex'' EPs ('' Joyrex J4 EP'' and '' Joyrex J5 EP'') as Caustic Window. "Digeridoo" reached #55 on the UK Singles Chart, and was later described by ''Rolling Stone'' as foreshadowing

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

. He wrote "Digeridoo" to clear up his audience after a rave. These early releases were on Rephlex Records, Mighty Force of Exeter and R&S Records of Belgium. James had no creative input and was against the release of this compilation, accusing R&S of "milking as much money as they can out of me, because they know I'm not going to give them any more records."

Track listing

Notes

* "Isopropanol" is an extended mix of "Isopropophlex" from James's ''

''. The track time, 6:23, matches that of "Isopropophlex" from the original ''

'' EP. * "Analogue Bubblebath 1" is extended by a few seconds from its original version, with a different ending. It was the track included on some versions of the ''

'' EP instead of "Isopropanol". * "Tamphex" contains looping samples from a television advertisement for

Tampax Tampax (a portmanteau of tampon and packs) is a brand of tampons currently owned by Procter & Gamble. It was based in White Plains, New York, US until its sale to Procter & Gamble in 1997. It is a subsidiary of P&G's Always brand and is sold ...

. * This album was chosen as one of ''Q'' magazine's 50 heaviest albums of all time in July 2001 and noted for its crunching, metallic malevolence. * "We Have Arrived (Aphex Twin QQT mix)" was later re-released on the remix compilation '' 26 Mixes for Cash''. * A 3rd remix of We Have Arrived appeared on his 2015/2016 SoundCloud dump (a collection of 275+ "leftover" tracks from all eras of his career) under the title "Pcp 2 (unreleased version)".

Personnel

* Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) – synthesizer, producer * The Mover – producer

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Classics Aphex Twin compilation albums 1995 compilation albums R&S Records compilation albums