16 years after its initial release on Apollo Records, the ambient subdivision of the world famous R&S Records, SAW 85-92 is getting re-released by R&S, digitally remastered and digitally available for the first time through Beatport. Being released alongside Model 500 ‘Classics’, Ken Ishi ‘Jellytones’ and Dave Angel ‘Classics’, these albums represent the first batch of the Master Series of which R&S are using to relaunch the seminal label for 2008. This news has already been greeted with rather incredible excitement by original fans and is also seen as a chance to educate and introduce a whole new generation of electronic music enthusiasts to R&S, a label that defined a whole era and genre in dance music.

Widely regarded as a masterpiece, it’s fair to say that SAW 85-92 had such an effect in 1992 (when it was first released) that it changed the lives of many and gave a whole new outlook on techniques and rhythms for electronic music, taking it out of a party scenario and straight into homes and radio stations across the land.

Having been a club DJ in the late 1980s and early 1990s in his hometown of Cornwall, Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) had learnt a new way of approaching the sounds and structures in music making. An innovator, James had a unique and exciting style that had gained him a loyal underground following that soon went global after the release of this album. The collection of tracks he selected were mostly recorded before he started DJing, with the album consisting of instrumental, occasionally radio-friendly songs. The fact James was born in 1971 means that the earliest material on this album would have been recorded when he was just 13-14 years old! A rather ridiculous notion, but a true one and a fact that highlights just how much of a talent he was and still is.

Gently weaving itself in and out of the mind, it’s very hard not to get completely lost in the album, from the uplifting peak time trance melodies on the opening track ‘Xtal’ to the wonderful chill-out vibe of ‘Ageispolis’, the detailed and classic ‘We are the music makers’ and the Detroit influenced ‘Ptolemy’, SAW 85-92 will have you hooked from the start to the finish. Acid peaks and beautifully subtle soothers are laid out in a whole range of styles and BPM’s, with each making total sense as both a piece of music and in it’s position on the tracklisting. It’s full of psychedelic wisdom and exquisiteness.

To many people, this album is a welcome addition for 2008, but also an LP that they are very familiar with and will enjoy purely for the nostalgia and the clearly improved sound quality compared to the original. But for the thousands of young devotees that currently circle the world of dance music, this is a real chance to learn about the roots of electronica and an incredibly important artist and label, all at the click of a mouse.