The title of this says at it all. This is a great album for relaxed listening.

The dark ambient sounds layered in light beat makes the music infinately enjoyable. Tons of rythmic tones and cords to pick apart and enjoy from every song, over and over again.

I've been a huge fan of "electronica" since I heard the first synth on a pop record, say about 1968. Since then, I've availed myself of just about every bit of electronic music I could find.

When this came out in 1994, I was underwhelmed, and listening to it right now I still am.

This is bland, formulaic, and trite. Folks who think this is relevant have never heard Another Green World or maybe Music has the Right to Children or even something like Feed me Weird Things.

I've never understood the cult around Mr. James, because to me he's not even in the top 10 much less number 1.

Admittedly I'm not a fan of Richard James' berserk musical gestures. I'm usually left crushed shrugging my shoulders and shaking my head. Not being popular in the conventional sence, nonetheless he has grown a cadre of dedicated enthusiasts......Out of his chaos comes "Selected Ambient Works 2". Carefully analyzed refined compositions. James takes the ambient genre into a new measure. An innovative 2 disc set that avoids falling into that peculiar quagmire which entraps many ambientarians....Strangely transparent simply curved compositions employ unnaturally elogated texts and haunting melodies. A masterful work executed under an alien hazed torchlight. Mysterious timeless music which shall be evaluated and appreciated for millenniums. (But why did he put titles onto these pieces on subsequent editions?)

Compared to the earlier ambient album by this artist, Volume 2 is a step forward in every sense. It discards much of the easy going, low-key techno beats of the earlier Volume in favor of a true descent into a minimalist soundscape. The whole album sounds far more sparse and ethereal in comparison to Volume 1. Depending on your tastes and needs, you'll either be fascinated or bored and annoyed.

Atmosphere is the all pervading artistic sensibility at work here. This is a musically liberating conception, opposed as it is to the noise and stress of everyday life symbolized by the aggressive nature of much of pop music. Instead of brutal noise and vacuous musical value, Richard D. James wants to slow down our constantly moving environment and hault the continual desensitization of our senses.

This is a wind down album, perfect for listening to at 3 a.m. in the morning, all alone, away from the frenetic madness that most people deal with on a day to day basis. Some of the tracks can be slightly disturbing in their atmosphere. James is never shy about creating a creepy, quasi-modernist avant-garde vibe.

But just wait until you listen to track 3 on disc 1, entitled "rhubarb" and track 8 on disc 2, entitled "lichen". Slow, melodic minimalism of the kind you don't find very often, capable of transporting you into a blissful state of which Beethoven himself would be proud.