Selected Ambient Works Volume 2 may be less of a "watershed" than its predecessor, but I like it more, mainly because that chill-out-head-nodding metronome is much less in evidence. So it feels more like proper ambient. That's part of what I was going on about yesterday in terms of ageing: the first sign that I was (while still the right side of 30) turning into a seen-it-before(-and-better) bore. The disappointment I felt here was a different kind to that I felt with Nirvana or, later, Radiohead, with whom I never felt any resonance. I wanted to like Aphex Twin, and I kind of do. This album has got many pieces I enjoy, and there's no aspect about it that I'm even wary of. If I'd been born a few years later and only come to Eno, Cluster and Conrad Schnitzler (whom a few of the more minimalist pieces at the end of the album evoke) after hearing this album, I'm sure it would have sounded fresher to me then, and would hold more weight for me now. As it is, it washes over me, not unpleasantly (much as most of Lord Eno's work over the same period does).
MusicBrainz entry for this album
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