None of his recordings have captured the competing impulses to lull you to sleep and blast out your eardrums as well as Richard D. James, his third and best album. As the title indicates, James has turned inward for inspiration, painting aural pictures of real and imagined scenes from his west country childhood. "Goongumpas" is a fanciful, playful tune that wouldn't sound out of place on the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As his adventures with the family upright indicate, James was a bit of a devil even as a child. "Beetles" is the sound of a boy frying bugs on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass, and "To Cure a Weakling Child" shows flashes of the sort of sadism found only on preschool playgrounds. If you still doubt that young Richard developed early on, the romantic Nino Rota-style strings on "Girl/Boy Song" are just made for passionate seductions, and the tune appears in three mixes, each one hot and hornier than the one before.

The raucous undercurrents of even his calmest tunes and the sources of many of his most common sounds are what link James to the rock tradition. With Richard D. James, the artist solidifies his position as an electronic music mastermind who has earned a spot beside such well-respected innovators--whether or not he's destined for stardom. --Jim Derogatis

1. 4
2. Cornish Acid
3. Peek 824545301
4. Fingerbib
5. Corn Mouth
6. To Cure a Weakling Child
7. Goon Gumpas
8. Yellow Calx
9. Girl/Boy Song
10. Logon Rock Witch

When bringing the album to America, the record companies decided that 32 minutes was too short for an album and added on the (entertaining, but IMO inferior) 5 tracks from the Girl/Boy EP.

11. Milkman
12. Inkeys
13. Girl/Boy Song [18 Snare Rush Mix]
14. Beetles
15. Girl/Boy Song [Redruth Mix]

Those five tracks are BONUS TRACKS - they are NOT part of Richard D. James Album. Please consider this when reviewing the album.

As for my opinion, RDJ Album is a masterpiece of Drill n Bass, which is the term for the lightning quick, spastic drumming that is so prominent in this work. Note that this rather up-tempo drumming isn't always intense...it can actually be quite soothing (For the best example of this, see Flim from the Come to Daddy EP). For this, I couldn't do anything but give it 5 Stars. Once again, Aphex Twin has released something completely alien to my ears and I love it.


Odd, Inspiring, Intelligent, Beautiful   September 19, 2000
 17 out of 21 found this review helpful

this is my first Aphex Twin album and I must say it's so good I have to write the review before I even finish listening to it. the basic structure is to have pleasing, relatively simple and light melodies on top of disjointed, interruptive rhythm patterns underneath. it's a most interesting contrast and counterpoint throughout: the lighter melody adds structure to the music and the harsher rhythms improvise and entertain. the character of the melodies is somewhat Japanese/Asian and the instrumentation is similarly light with various bells, chimes, organ and traditional synth sounds carrying the tune. The rhythms are pure techno/trance, could be taken right off a Chemical Brothers, Autechre or Oakenfold CD but given the importance of rhythmic improvisation they are allowed to expand further and roam free on their own.

for some listeners this will take them out of their comfort zone because the patterns never last long enough to settle in to one danceable, toe-tappable or head nodding groove (or whatever it is one does with driving beats!) but for me the effect is to keep the pieces fresh and the attention level high throughout. no mental lapses allowed here or you might miss something and it's all too good for that to happen.

impossible to pick a stand out track as they're all excellent and follow this basic format. I'm going to keep listening to this for a long time I am sure.

one question, on the inside jacket, the grave stone: is that when the artist was born (1968) or is that an ode to a relative (i.e. father)? any one know?


A Sound As Strange As the Cover   November 4, 2005
 12 out of 40 found this review helpful

Aphex Twin has blinded me - with science! I wish that I could have read my own review for this record before buying it, since most reviews I've read on Aphex Twin have been very misleading, almost to the point of providing misinformation. I expected this CD to be full of musically dense and emotionally intriguing collages, but that is nowhere near my own impression. First of all, it should be said that there is a segment of the population that would be hard-pressed to even qualify this CD as music, at least in the narrow sense of the term. Aphex Twin, who for all intents and purposes is Richard James, constructs bits of sound using electronic widgets and extraneous paraphernalia, such as warp-speed drum machines and penny whistles. The end result sounds more like a science experiment gone array than a collection of songs, but then again, maybe that's only my impression.
The best word to describe much of the content found here is manic, and possibly depraved. The majority of `songs' here are full of near-spastic syncopations, created with a drum machine whose tempo button must have gotten stuck on 800 BPM. For a while, it's pretty cool to hear these incredible beats rush by, but the effect gets predictably tiresome by track three. On top of these synthetically created, adrenalin-fueled beats are keyboard effects that are intended to either mock, annoy or lull the listener into a false sense of complacency, at which point things only get weirder. When James finally adds his own voice to the mix, he comes off sounding like Nigel Tufnel, creating a B-side for the latest Spinal Tap opus. This is especially true when he sings lines like, "I wish the milkman would deliver my milk in the morning..." ad nauseum. And, you don't want to know how he wants his milk delivered, believe me.
Throughout the CD, melodies are superfluous, or nonexistent. More than anything, The Richard D. James Album suggests what it feels like to be caught inside the micro-chip of a high-tech pinball machine. All the while, this insane bleeping goes on all over the place. It's enough to drive a sane person crazy, really. Listening to this CD repeatedly started to push me over the edge, until I really felt as though I needed to escape it and relax. For fun, I think I'll go play with my microwave oven for awhile.CTom Ryan


Weird, wacky, crazy stuff to help make you go insane   July 24, 1998
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be spinning inside the head of an insane genius at the peak of his insanity and creativity? Well, probably not, but if you find yourself wondering what the soundtrack to such an event would sound like, then you should check this album out. The tracks move along at such dizzying paces that you don't have time to catch your breath throughout the 45 minutes that he has a hold of your throat. Each song has its own, unique cheesy melody to accompany often non-rhythmic beats that would be utterly impossible to dance to. That's why this album is the anthem of the sanity-free: the music grabs ahold of you, and you want to do something like dance to it, but you can't. You have to sit there while he's rummaging through your brain breaking everything he can find, rendering you helpless to breathe, think or move for 3/4 of an hour. The only downfall of this album is that it's not longer.


Pretty friggin cool.   October 30, 2000
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

I like this CD. Not the best Aphex Twin out there, but nonetheless pretty cool.

(1) 4 - This is one cool beat. It's a precussion based tune, and it's got a lot of energy. The beat is really fast and it's a very well done song. {5}

(2) Cornish Acid - Hmm. This is very not Aphex Twin style. Lot's of bass and wierd scratchy sound. {2}

(3) Peek 824545201 - OW. This has some really harsh squeal sounds, and if you have it remotely loud, prepare to turn it down. {1}

(4) Fingerbib - Alright! This is pretty cool. Still not very Aphex Twin style, but still. It's got a lot of bass and some cool synth sounds too. {5}

(5) Corn Mouth - Ok. So here's another song full of energy and beat. This is more breakbeat then Richard's previous style. {3}

(6) To Cure A Weakling Child - Here we go. This is a very cool song, using children's voices and some other cool sounds. It's also got a drum and synth in the background. {4 1/2}

(7) Goon Gumpas - This is a pretty odd song. Using a circus-y style music, it kind of reminds me of Moby's style (a little bit). {3}

(8) Yellow Calx - This is a pretty cool song. It again has a sharp squeal noise for part of the track, just not as prominent as Peek 824545201. It has some pretty cool slow parts which then bust into a cool, fast beat. {3}

(9) Girl/Boy Song - Wow! This is IMHO one of the best techno songs to come out in a long time. Starting in a kind of mellow symphonic stage, it goes into a great beat, with a great synth behind it. It feels like there's an entire symphony making this track. WOW! {5}

(10) Logan Rock Witch - Uh... This is one of the stranger songs on the album. It has a kind of wierd BOING BOING drum beat, with a slide whistle in the background. The beat seems kind of cool. And the bell in the background is pretty cool too. {4}

(11) Milkman - Some people will criticize this song for it's somewhat inappropriate lyrics (that's right Richard sings on this track) but uh... hm. It's kind of catchy, but it's just IMO in bad taste. He has a real soothing voice in this, but well, I dunno, maybe you'll like it. {2}

(12) Inkey$ - This has a very breakbeat sound from the start, and the bassy noises is kind of wierd. This sounds remind me of a subway. It's pretty cool. {4}

(13) Girl/Boy Song (18 pounds Snare Rush Mix) - Wow. Another great song, even if it is a remix, it has a whole new sound. {5}

(14) Beetles - Very cool. Richard sings on this track too, and now it's more appropriate for younger ears. This has a really cool synth, with Richard singing about his beetles. {4}

(15) Girl/Boy Song (Redruth Mix) - Cool! Another remix of a great song, this one almost surpasses the original! {5}