The Orb

Although the genre of "ambient-house" is perhaps nothing new to those of us who have heard such obscurities as Pink Floyd, the Orb nevertheless created a genre resting on the fusion of house beats and relaxing ambient noise. The result, predictably enough, is music that you can dance to or relax to, depending on how you feel in the given day. The project was conceived by Dr. Alex Patterson and Jimmy Cauty of KLF after the Doc finished his work with him and Drummond on the KLF's untypical but classic Chill Out album. Releasing two singles, "Little Fluffy Clouds" and "A Huge Ever Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Center of the Ultraworld", the act became famous among those coming down from drug-induced highs for the sense of calmness portrayed in the tracks. As the KLF song "3 AM Eternal" suggested, this was the ideal come down music for those who had exerted themselves clubbing all night. Not wanting the Orb to be seen as a KLF-spin off, Cauty and Patterson separated, with Patterson keeping the Orb name. He rounded up the young Kris "Thrash" Weston and producer Thomas Fehlmann to complete the early lineup.

Since then, the Orb has quickly become the stuff of legends. In their early 90's heyday, the band was uncharacteristically popular for their type of act. The Orb displayed a strong sense of melody when needed, and an ability to cover a track with enough samples and layers to ensure the listener wouldn't get bored of the music, and Patterson’s keen sense of humor keeps things interesting. They have taken many different approaches over the years, but in general this is a sample-based group, usually writing a few keyboard lines and drum loops and layering samples from all sorts of various and obscure sources to usually great effect. Their sound is usually dictated by whoever is in the group at the time, as Patterson was the only constant member, and his skills generally seem centered around finding and manipulating samples. The group also functions as a remix unit, and the result of all the configurations and remix work results in a lot of remix albums and collaborations that I don’t have, but you’ll find all the main releases here:

The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991) ****1/2
A career-defining double album, Adventures is a 2-hour long journey beginning on land, ("Earth") then lifting off out into space ("Back Side of the Moon"), and to a strange dimension ("Into the 4th Dimension"). Each track is an aural trip, starting and ending with the band's two singles up to this point, "Little Fluffy Clouds" and "A Huge Ever Growing Brain That Rules From The Center Of The Ultraworld". The discs seem divided between beat-oriented material such as "Earth (Gaia)" and the reggae-infused "Perpetual Dawn" and more spacey ambient material. The second half of each disc is where the stronger material is; the band (group?) would never be able to replicate the laid-back, jazzy, and weightless groove of "Spanish Castles in Space" or the funky and shimmering "Star 6 & 7 8 9" again, and the closing "Ever Growing Brain" is a free-form work, featuring everything from a sample of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You" to the rooster crow that opens the album. While most musical works are sort of like a straight line, building from a clear beginning to the end, “Ever Growing Brain” is something of a musical sphere – there are different configurations of the main hooks, different types of beats and a host of samples, but no structure, and it’s never performed the same guy twice. The other ambient track, "Back Side of the Moon" is no slouch either - ridden with samples of astronauts reporting from space, the music sounds like it could have been taken straight from the best sections of Brian Eno's Apollo album.

The beat-driven material is hardly much worse, but anyone expecting an album full of catchy tunes in the style of "Little Fluffy Clouds" will be disappointed; instead, the band goes for more jam-laden tracks that take a groove and stretch it until it gets tiresome. The exception, "Into the Fourth Dimension", is truly an oddity in the Orb canon, the only track that seems rich in hooks but low on identity. The only clunker is "Outlands", a track that seems to be based off the opening notes of Kraftwerk's "Europe Endless".

For a nearly 2-hour journey through space, there's a surprising amount of ideas, and even more surprising is how many of them work. Recent editions of this album contain an extra disc of bonus tracks, including the famous live "Ever Growing Brain" that would become the most requested Peel Session. For the U.S. release, the Orb was forced to edit the album down to a single disc, which cut out "Back Side of the Moon" and "Spanish Castles in Space". It's currently the only downloadable version on iTunes. Both of the tracks cut are fantastic, so avoid it.

Perpetual Dawn (single) (1991)
Contains a remix of "Star 6 & 7 8 9" that includes a beat, as well as the "Solar Youth" remix of the title track which emphasizes the reggae aspect of the song and adds vocals. Pretty good stuff that serves of more evidence of early Orb's wealth of creativity. Worth a listen.

U.F. Orb (1992) ****
The Orb's commercial peak, due to “Blue Room” bizarrely becoming a Top 40 single in the UK. The single itself was 40 minutes long, the longest allowed by U.K. chart rules, thus ensuring that it will always be the lengthiest single to hit the charts. Add to this their "Top of the Pops" performance in which they simply played the single edit while Paterson and Weston played chess in space suits, and it's easy to doubt the band was taking themselves seriously at all - not surprisingly, the British audience ate it up.

But U.F. Orb proved them different. A worthy follow-up to Ultraworld, the album gives a true definition of "ambient house". With the exception of the purely ambient "O.O.B.E.", and the up-front beats of the title track, all of the songs are both chill and danceable, making the album a unique experience. The album runs a gauntlet of now-classic tracks - the chill bass line and aquatic percussion of "Blue Room" and the tongue-in-cheek "Towers of Dub", which intersperses friendly melodies with bass-heavy dub music, are the longest and best tracks. It’s a very cerebral album, with sounds both alien and beautiful, and like the last album, it’s a long and relaxing journey into space.

Live '93 (1993) ***1/2
Releasing a double live album after only two regular albums seems suspect, but the Orb easily had enough material. Although hard to find nowadays, this live set was a godsend for Orb fans - it's improv heavy, sometimes sticking only to the basic structure of the song, and thus they were able to inject new life into the tracks. The idea is that Orb tracks really do not take on much of a structure and often change over time. Much of the material is from Ultraworld, with some of the best coming from U.F. Orb; the "Blue Room" and "Towers of Dub" are both excellent and true to the originals, while the addition of a beat to "O.O.B.E." gives the song a new dimension. The Ultraworld tracks are the most experimental - the band throws in improv on more than just "Ever-Growing Brain", as favorites "Little Fluffy Clouds" and "Perpetual Dawn" are half over before they take shape. "Star 6 & 7 8 9" is easily the best example - the live performance replaces the keyboards with a steel drum sound, giving the track a warm Caribbean feel, and once the track starts to take shape the effect is downright entrancing.

A few complaints though - one, the Orbus Terrarum prototypes don't really seem to develop as they're not really done yet, and "Assassin" was just never that interesting in the first place. Two, "Outlands" is still fairly boring and overlong, and three, the sound quality leaves a bit to be desired, particularly during the last two tracks - the bass line in "Spanish Castles", which was the centerpiece of the song, seems to have dropped out entirely, and various sections of "Ever Growing Brain" will have you reaching for the volume dial. It's still essential listening for fans of the early Orb albums and paints a great picture of how creative and whimsical the early group really was.

Pomme Fritz (1994) ***1/2
An unexpected detour that caused many fans and the music press to label Patterson insane, even relating him to Syd Barrett. Although touted as only a "mini-album" (being that it was "only" 40 minutes), there's quite a wealth of bizarre ideas here, mostly dealing with some truly evil-sounding vocal manipulation. It's more interesting than it is enjoyable, although the underwater sounds and twisted melody of the title track and the "Back Side of the Moon"-recalling "Alles Ist Schon" are on par with the band's better material. Sort of a mixed bag; knowing that many wouldn't like it, Patterson was quick to say that the album was a toss-off, recorded in merely a week, although a few listens will reveal that it's certainly not the case - this is as densely layered as anything you'll find by the Orb. An interesting statement, but not necessarily a serious one - anyone accusing the Orb of pretension only need listen to "His Immortal Logness", the two-minute closer to realize the in the end, which is basically a musical joke. It’s the most off-putting Orb album you can get, and the overall bizarreness factor alone makes this a worthy listen.

Orbus Terrarum (1995) *****
The Orb's return to Earth, Orbus Terrarum is, perhaps, the most densely layered ambient album recorded yet. The British Press, still upset over Pomme Fritz, slagged off the album, but American audiences were ready to embrace the Orb. And there was no better time; 6 of the 7 tracks on this album are provocative and earthly sonic paintings, some of which groove ("Valley"), some of which are catchy and melodic (the magnificent "Oxbow Lakes", "Occidental"), and some that take unexpected turns (the underwater drum bashing that concludes "Montage D'or"), but none of which feature danceable rhythms. The last track, the psychedelic "Slug Dub", is certainly one of the most memorable and epic, yet at the same time laid back and lightweight (the vocal samples are from a reading of a children’s book).

There's simply amazing work done here, especially for those who feel that ambient music is too boring for their tastes, and anyone who liked the densely layered and strange beats of Pomme Fritz would be right at home here. To be sure, it's a departure from their famous spacey atmosphere, but listening to the first few minutes of "Oxbow Lakes" (based around a rotating piano riff) should convince anyone that it was worth it - they use lots of 'earthly' sounds here which can call up some pretty evocative visions. Seems to follow the standards that made "Ever Growing Brain" so great - that is, you can base a long track off a single rhythm or melody, but throw in enough to ensure the listener can't get bored. This is some of the most complex (and soothing) ambient music I've ever heard, and it's amazing how much gets 'hidden' in the mix without ever making the tracks feel overbearing. Definitely an album where there are things to discover with each listen. Don't miss it.

Orblivion (1997) ****
Having released an album with few hooks and no danceable beats, it seems only natural that the next Orb album would be full of the stuff. With plenty of dance-oriented tracks, Orblivion may be the most listener-friendly Orb album. While they certainly haven't lost their resonant streak ("Secrets") or layered beats, there's a clear shift to more accessible sound. Luckily, it works out great, as many of the hook filled tracks are catchy ("Ubiquity", "Molten Love"), and there's one song that could have been a dance floor smash ("Toxygene", a remix of Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene 8" that was rejected for being too far from the original). The apocalyptic "S.A.L.T." shows that above all, the Orb still stick to their laurels, layering an interesting end-of-the-world prophecy speech over a frantic drumbeat. I wouldn't call it a real change in their sound - there's still plenty of samples and the same spacey atmosphere that they became famous for - it's more of a refactoring, and it’s exactly what you’d hope late-90’s Orb would become.

U.F. Off: The Best of the Orb (1998)
The year is 1998, and electronic music is not only gaining popularity but being labeled as the next major musical movement after grunge. It’s not surprising that a group like the Orb that had been plugging away for nearly a decade would see this as an opportunity to pick up a few new fans. This is a "best-of" collection, but it’s still a good buy for existing fans, as pretty much every track here is altered in some way from its original. Sometimes it's just editing a track down ("Blue Room", which is cut to a 3 minute single), but other times an alternate form of a track is given (a raw and sample-laden "Towers of Dub", an early dance mix of "Ever-Growing Brain"). There's a few otherwise unreleased tracks - "Mickey Mars" is a new one, featuring some fairly expressive and wordless singing, and "DJ Asylum" is the best remix of the track, grafting a couple new hooks to a track that needed one. A pretty good selection and a nice Orb primer that won't ruin any of the studio albums, least of all Orbus Terrarum, which isn't represented until the bonus track, an ambient beatless underwater mix of "Oxbow Lakes".

Cydonia (2001) **1/2
Along with Orbital's The Altogether, Cydonia gave many the hint that the electronic movement was losing its edge. Originally slated for a 1999 release (when early versions of the album were leaked) but bogged down with record company problems, Cydonia was more or less an attempt to get back to their roots, with the pop single "Once More" seeming to recall "Little Fluffy Clouds". The band enlisted Nina Walsh and Aki Omori, a couple of female singers with soft-spoken and inward-looking voices, causing many to slag off the album. They aren’t really so bad – “Once More” is serviceable, and the hypnotic “Centuries” works wonders with a steady rhythm and a beautiful vocal line. Still, the music press and many of the fans simply called the Orb a dinosaur and that Cydonia was the beginning of the end. It's not that bad, but the complaints were valid; many of these tracks were simply unmemorable and trite compared to their earlier work, and the more tedious stuff seems to last forever (“Turn It Down”, “Hamlet of Kings”, “Plum Island”). However, there's enough good material to make this one worth a listen, particularly since the lengthy closing "Terminus" (featuring Robert Fripp) is one of the Orb's best yet – the last 3 minutes may be the Orb’s finest moment . "Promis" is a catchy trip-hop inspired tune that develops a great hook late in the track, and the Propellerheads-inspired "Thursday's Keeper" is a welcome respite from the underdeveloped space jams that fill this album, even though it’s untypical for the group. The problem with this album is that it gets boring after the third track and doesn’t pick up much until the album is nearly over. The good news is that both “Centuries” and “Terminus” are indispensible. Overall, there’s about half a good album here, and another half that will try your patience. Enter at your own risk.

The BBC Sessions 1989-2001 (released 2008) ****
Live Orb is tough to describe properly since the members generally do not play instruments, relying mostly on a barrage of samples and pre-recorded musical motifs. That said, you’re basically getting the same thing that’s on the albums, but with different arrangements and different groups of samples, and there’s a heavy experimental and improvisational element at play. This a 2 ½ hour set, which can be had for under 10 bucks (so for sheer value, this is an A+), drawn exclusively from BBC sessions over 12 years – only 1 unreleased track (an unexpected cover of the Stooges’ “No Fun”, live instruments and all) , and many of these recordings have been made available through other BBC releases, but if you haven’t heard any of this stuff before (particularly if you’re new to the Orb), this is a tremendous find. Almost every track here gets a pretty drastic reworking, and there are a fair number of curveballs (such as live guitar on “O.O.B.E.” and drums on “Montage D’or”, plus a completely overhauled “Once More” that only samples the vocal part of the original). Overall, this is more exciting and whimsical than the studio recordings, if less coherent as a whole. The one advantage it does have vs. traditional live recordings is the pristine sound quality – if you didn’t own the studio versions, you wouldn’t know if this was a live recording. The only time they lose the plot a bit is during the 2001 Evening Sessions (as none of the tracks played are exactly their A material), and if I could pick and choose the recordings used this could easily score ½ star higher. As it is, it’s still well worth picking up for any Orb fan, and serves as a fantastic (if lengthy) introduction for the uninitiated.

BadOrb.com - Bless You (2003) ***1/2
A compilation album released on Patterson's then-new online-only record label. The idea was to have all the 'signed' artists release an EP, then cull the best material for a full-length for wider distribution. As you could expect it's pretty uneven - S.E. Berlin takes the spotlight with the cerebral "Shuttle" and his bizzaro remix of an acoustic "Barbie Girl", which replaces the lyrics with various Mac singing voices. Really cool track that's worth looking up. There's a number of interesting tracks here, such as "'Ow Much?", relating the rhythmic qualities of an auctioneer, and the groovy "Snowblind". Considering that all of these artists were influenced heavily by the Orb, any Orb fan should find something to like in here, and most of the tracks have at least one interesting idea, even if some of it comes off as amateurish. The Orb contribute a few tracks themselves - "Cool Harbour" is a great one, but would be re-released on a future album, and "I Am the Red Worm" is less great. The Death of Elphame EP adds "Outer Space". Anyways, the set is two CD's, although the second one contains only 5 tracks - if it was cut down to fit on one CD it would certainly have been better, but at it stands it's still a nice diversion for Orb fans.

Whatever happened to Badorb? They only released fourteen 12 inchers and the Bless You double disc. Given that the Orb’s popularity was on the wane, it’s not hard to see why an internet label that only sold vinyl would fail so quickly. As of 2003, they were no more.

Bicycles and Tricycles (2004) **
Having been released in Japan a year earlier, internet-savvy fans were able to see this disaster coming for a while. Just like The Altogether, many saw this as the band's sell-out and last gasp at commercial success. It obviously didn't work, leaving a real embarrassment in the process - "Aftermath", featuring MC Soom T, is musically vapid and otherwise ruined by the terrible rap. It's ridiculously misguided and is deservedly their most hated track. There's a few salvageable tracks - "Land of Green Ginger" is cute and catchy, and "Hell's Kitchen" uses horns and a driving beat to make a short but epic track. Besides that, you get to hear the Orb get stuck in an endless loop ("Gee Strings"), rattle off forgettable, underwritten tracks ("L.U.C.A.", "Abstractions"), and repeat themselves ("Tower Twenty-Three" is just a boring riff on "Towers of Dub", and "From a Distance" borrows themes from "Ever Pulsating Brain". I liked it better when it was called "Master Blaster") before approaching the final two ambient tracks, both of which work well, showing the band still did have some promise left. I say track down "Land of Green's Ginger" and be done with it. There's a few different versions - the US one doesn't have "L.U.C.A.", and the Japan one has some different track times, and replaces "Aftermath" with "Now Here". I'll bet it's a lot better.

Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt (2005) ****
The Orb finally find a record label that would support them, and it's no surprise they picked Kompakt - not only is the label known for its high standard of quality, but Fehlmann had already released two well-regarded solo albums on there. Unsurprisingly, Okie Dokie sounds just like them - the album has much more in common with other Kompakt releases than it does the Orb's. Needless to say, after the last two albums, this is an improvement. The album uses minimalistic beats and lush melodies, resulting in an otherworldly and refreshing experience. Comprised half and half between beat-filled tracks and ambient, it's hard to figure out which side is the best. The beat-driven side can be a little uneven - "Lunik", "Captain Korma", and "Cool Harbour" are all fantastic, while "Komplication" and "Rolo" run short on ideas and take 'minimalism' further than I'd like. The ambient side is a nice treat, especially seeing the they can still pull off such beautiful textures - the tracks seem to have been written in an alternate dimension, even if it does somewhat parallel ours ("Traumvogel"). One of them is actually a repeat of a Bicycles & Tricycles track, with a few differences ("Kompmania", which fits in much better here anyway), and the ending of the album seems to be a reference to U.F. Orb, but the album stands on its own. The change in sound and similarity to Fehlmann's solo work (and indeed, if you like this album, check out his releases) have led many to claim that the album was written mostly by Fehlmann, which I'd say is true - I don't think that Patterson touched much of anything on this one, which (depressingly) may be why it turned out so good.

Orbsessions, Volume 1 (2005) **1/2
A "cleaning out the vault" release that was released concurrently with Okie Dokie. I really do love it when groups with 10+ years of material put out compilations like this, but for God’s sake can’t we at least get a little bit of information in to liner notes as to when these tracks were made or who played on them? This is an exciting prospect at first – “Mummie Don’t” is an outside from the Cauty period, sounding like a Chill Out outtake, even using some of the same hooks and samples of that album. “Sail” is a full-on pop song (!) that was written for Patterson’s late girlfriend, and it’s entertaining if only to see the Orb tackling a style that’s completely atypical of them. The epic “Yungle” follows, which is recognizable as a Cydonia outtake that appeared on several leaked copies, using a few recognizable sounds from that album. All three of those tracks are pretty well-done and fully formed, but the quality gets a little fuzzy from there. None of the remaining tracks seem like more than skeletons or pieces that were never really intended for album release (“Pluto Calling”), and it seems as though most of them are post-Orblivion anyway, so the collector hoping to tap into a vault of unreleased treasures from their golden years are out of luck. There is one track that’s as flippantly catchy as tracks like “Land of Green’s Ginger”, but even that one seems unfinished. Since this group never really wrote songs (“Sail” excepted), it feels at times that you’re listening to about half of an Orb track – the consolation is that there are a few cool ideas and that the running times of the unfinished stuff is generally short (for this group, anyways).

Orbsessions, Volume 2 (2007) ***1/2
Sometimes I just don’t understand my favorite groups – if you had a long-running and improve-based group doing an outtake collection, you’d think you would want to exhaust the best outtakes first, and then move on to the more conceptual or unfinished stuff. But the Orb did it backwards – while Volume 1 seemed composed mostly of unfinished half-ideas, practically every piece on Volume 2 (which runs about 20 minutes longer) is as dense and fully-formed as their album material, and there’s a few must-hear tracks on this one. “It’s a Small World” is just massive, a 13-minute journey of epic and multilayered techno that provides a clear centerpiece, even if it is basically a remix of another track on the collection (“Ralph’s Cupboard”, an outtake from Cydonia). “Jam On Your Honey” spins a number of complex hooks together into one of the Orb’s most upbeat tracks yet, and the result is as addictive as anything in their catalogue. I would say these are some of their most hook-based tracks since Orblivion (the raga-themed “Ba’albeck, also a Cydonia outtake), although there’s stuff for those who liked the spacier, more ambient stuff (“2026”, “D.A.D.O.E.S.”), or for those who like the free-form sample based material (“Shem”, “The Giant Bolster”, “Kidnap”, and yes, the “Ruckzuck” sample did excite me). My guess is that most of this was recorded during the 2000-2004 period, although in general this fares better than some of the studio albums they were coming out with during this time.

The Dream (2007) ***
A clean break for The Orb, seeing the return of Youth and another new record label. The bad news is that Fehlmann is MIA this time, and as such this doesn't sound anything like the Kompakt album (however, Fehlmann did release another solo album, which is Okie Dokie's real follow-up), instead drawing mostly from the first two. At sixteen tracks and 80 minutes (on the Japanese release - "Let The Music Set You Free" is a bonus track), there's a lot to digest, but much of this stays within the same style - there's plenty of dub-influenced material here (of which "Lost and Found" is the best), and most of the songs are based off some kind of diva sung passage ("A Beautiful Day", "Vuja De"). That's enough to turn most fans of the Orb off right there, but if you don't mind a more pop-based sound, it fits nicely. Well, some of the time - there's a few ideas, like the Michael Jackson scream on "Katskills" that are just bad. Nothing really stunning here - both "Mother Nature" and "Vuja De" are good tracks that warrant repeat listenings, but I miss the longer tracks like "Terminus" or "Towers of Dub" of old that suited the band so well. The last third or so of the album is a return to that style, but it doesn't really match up to their earlier work, although spacier tracks like “High Noon” do work well. Kind of a frustrating album, since it does resemble U.F. Orb in a few ways, but doesn’t reach the same heights. Most Orb fans will probably enjoy this album, however, and it's generally more consistent than their other releases this decade (Okie Dokie aside).

Baghdad Batteries: Orbsessions Volume 3 (2009) ***1/2
First of all, I have to note that despite the Orbsessions, Volume 3 subtitle, this is actually all new material, so there is some thematic unity here. Although I did not know the Orb’s lineup when I first got this album, within a few seconds of hitting ‘play’, I realized that Fehlmann was back into the mix. Fehlmann is one of the few on the electronic scene to have a sound that is truly unique – or perhaps I should say palette. In general I think that all of Fehlmann’s tracks (solo and with the Orb) have the same industrial and underwater feel to them, and his techniques are instantly recognizable. I think of him as sort of an industrial techno artist – not in the harsh, pounding way that ‘industrial techno’ is actually associated with, but rather in the way that Cluster was – an attempt to synthesize and control the sounds of metallic machinery in a way that comes out in a musical form – in fact, some of his beats sound nearly identical to the ones Cluster used in the early 70’s. While there are some moments of pristine beauty on this album, with them there is always a hint of coldness or loneliness, and even the more playful moments come out twisted the way they did on Pomme Fritz (“Woodlarking”). In the end, this is an album of texture rather than hooks. If you liked Okie Dokie, particularly the second half, you’ll feel right at home with this collection, which provides a sound juxtaposition between spacey ambient freeform tracks (“Chocolate Fingers”) and beat-driven soundscapes (“Suburban Smog”). There are not quite as many standouts as there was on the Kompakt album, but in the end this is as dense and relaxing as you’ve come to expect from the group, and despite a host of strange sounds, some of these tracks are very vivid – “Oopa” is like sitting alone in an alien forest during a rainstorm – evocative, troubling, but also beautiful. If I had a complaint it would be that they seem to hold back too much during the first half; by the time things really get great, the album's half over.

Appendix: Orb related material


FFWD (1994)
Stands for Fehlmann, Fripp, Weston, and the Doc. Yes, it’s that Fripp. It’s a pleasant and mostly improved album. Full review coming soon.

Transit Kings - Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God (2006) ***1/2
A side project featuring Patterson, Cauty, Dom Beken, and Guy Pratt. This deserved to get more attention than it did. There's a number of great tracks here - "West End of a Duck Going East" is exciting and makes great use of samples, "Free Free" is epic and uplifting, "Oh Shit" is a catchy slice of techno, and "America is Unavailable" is an upbeat guitar-laden groove. Not necessarily a great album - no ground is broken, simply a good and entertaining one with enough interesting moments to warrant checking out. Not quite everything works - some of the more instrumental and slower tracks are seem a little overextended ("Blooze Tracks", "Wagon Wheels"), "Bombay" has an exciting opening but coasts from here, and I wish the ending "Last Lighthouse Keeper" exploded a little more often than it did, but I'm still surprised that this turned out good at all. Worth seeking out.