AFX* – Third Analogue Bubblebath

I've only heard about half of AFX's output and I must say this isn't his best release. I prefer vinyl 1 so much more than vinyl 2. The problem with vinyl 2 is that the tracks are so repetitive. Especially track ".1993841". I seriously wanted to stop it half way through but thought; "It's RJD, something’s gonna happen." and it didn't. I will say though that vinyl 1 was brilliant. Track ".215061" and the one after have such great bass lines and beats. Some of the best production I've heard from AFX is on the first vinyl, and some of the worst is on vinyl 2. Not a great listen for AFX beginners for sure.

A couple of tracks on here are excellent, but for the most part this is not a very enjoyable release. Normally Aphex Twin's work is indeed very complex and wild, but this release is particularly annoying on the ears, with screeching synths at some points, and repetition and lack of creativity all throughout. If you want some of his better analogue releases, take a look at his later Analord series, summarized in his "Chosen Lords" CD.

Brilliant album. It covers a lot of different style including 2 of AFX's very few forays with Trance. Track one is trancey, borderline cheesy but amazing, it has a rather industrial and repetitive beat glossed over with really nice synthesizers and uplifting chord-changes.

Track 2 is a highly repetitive track with incrediblyspooky synths and a heavy simplistic beat and beautiful high-pitched noises, it reminds me of a desert at night. Track 3 is weird, more spooky synth sounds, a really funky hiphop beat, strange illegible vocal samples and a metal clank, love it.

Track 4 is an atmospheric gabba-techno hybrid with overtones of calming ambient sounds reminiscent of Super Metroid. Track 5 is a nice intermission song which is pretty much indescribable but very enjoyable. Track 6 starts out as what sounds like a hairdryer pointed at a speaker and explodes into another Trance track although a lot harder than Track 1, great song.

Track 7 is vintage mental-as-fuck AFX acid in its purest form with a bit of Caustic Window spliced in. Track 8 is a really sweet ambient song with nice beats and sounds throughout. Track 9 is slightly industrial squelchy acid with a sample of a delirious laugh being looped, great track too.
Track 10 is thirty-five enjoyable seconds of mental Gabber. Track 11 is a very dark full-on Ambient tune with a really spooky vibe. Track 12 sounds like satan taking an analogue bubble-bath. The final track is slightly dated techno which wouldnt sound of place on a Caustic Window EP, good song though.

I hate to say it, but for vinyl junkies this is the version to have not the two originals. I used to own the AB3 LP and the later AB3.1 EP but this combination of the two is better.

On the original AB3 LP, two of the tracks played simultaneously. You had to turn the balance full left or right to hear them seperately which meant they only came out of one speaker. Here they play properly as seperate tracks. The three proper tracks from the AB3.1 EP are included here too, all that's missing is the 9 second sound of water going down a plug and the two and a half minute converstaion about the smell of shit!!??!!.

I do miss the packaging for the original AB3 LP but hey, it's the music that counts and you get a better deal with this re-issue. And believe me, the tracks on this are fantastic.

Analogue Bubblebath 3 (most notably track 2) proves that a prolonged, beyond-repetitious, not-exactly-complex string of tinnitus-inducing hi-hat-like samples, sometimes gritty and nasal booty bass booms, and atonal-yet-pretty, feather-light-yet-cheaply-overdriven ambient synth tones can actually be aesthetically pleasing. Listening to this disc gives me the same sense of wonder that I experience when I view paintings in an art museum - more so than listening to any Western "art music" I've ever heard. Genius, indeed.

Several Tracks are different from the CD and the re-release. The first track is longer. Track 3 & 5 on cd are one track on here. One is in the left channel, the other in the right. The short blips between tracks are different than on the cd as well. Analogue Bubblebath 3.1 has three of the cd only tracks on it.