Music CD - The Orb: U.F.Orb

	Music CD: U.F.Orb Artist: The Orb List Price: $15.98 Our Price: $8.64 Your Save: $ 7.34 ( 46% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Polygram Records
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Tracks: 1. O.O.B.E. 2. U.F.Orb 3. Blue Room 4. Towers Of Dub 5. Close Encounters 6. Majestic 7. Sticky End
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0731451374920 Format: Deluxe Edition Label: Polygram Records Manufacturer: Polygram Records Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Polygram Records Release Date: 1992-11-03 Studio: Polygram Records
Related Items The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld Orblivion Orbus Terrarum Lifeforms Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: A Scientific Journey for Orb Pioneers Comment: Since releasing Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, I think U.F.Orb is where DJ's like John Digweed got influences. This album is good because it is almost like a soundtrack of some sci fi music when having the listening experience with some tracks that give energy. Favorites on this disc are U.F.Orb, Towers of Dub, Close Encounters, and Blue Room. If you like Future Sound of London's release of Lifeforms and Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, dig your ears in this!! The Frank De Wulf mix of Blue Room kicks butt!! Customer Rating: Summary: Drone ship in orbit... Comment: I got this album when it was released back in 1992, it is the limited 2 disc set, the first being the complete U.F.Orb album, the second disc being the complete "Blue Room" (running at 39:58 minutes, and also made it to #8 on the UK charts back then) with two edits and a fourth track titled "Assassin." Compared to some other ambient music in my collection from back then, these two albums have aged extremely well. I think the key to this is the number of different sounds and samples - it never relies on synth pads to make its point. All of the music on both discs have enough burbles, wild cat noises, NASA conversations, throat clearings, melodies show snippets (one funny one; a portion of the background intro music from the Nintendo SNES game "Darius Twin" appears as the main melodic line in "The Blue Room (Remix)" on the bonus disc - fits in amazingly well, has a great sinister sound to it) and interesting sounds to make it a happy listen. The 40 minute version of "Blue Room" and "Towers of Dub" are my favorites, Towers features some nice harmonica work and a great sample from Woody Allen's "Sleeper." One of the most played albums from my collection. Thank you very much Alex Paterson. Highly recommended - buy the album, take it for a spin and go meet Haile Selassie at Babylon & Ting. Customer Rating: Summary: The sound of an epoch Comment: This is a condensed version of the original triple vinyl release of 'U.F.Orb', which came 'hermetically sealed' in blue-grey PVC and had to be cut open with knife or scissors - a typically elaborate Paterson/Cauty marketing gimmick that also seemed to say something about how they viewed The Orb as a cultural project. It was as if 'U.F.Orb' was a time capsule, a distillation of the sprawling experiments on 'Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld', a sealed container flung into space to show the rest of the universe what it was like on Earth (or at least in Britain) in 1992. As a summation of a point in musical time, it's as evocative as 'Revolver' or 'Ziggy Stardust' or 'Sound Affects'. And like all of those, there's something ineffably British about the way The Orb took beats from Detroit, minimalist compositions from New York and dub from Jamaica, and stretched and warped them into a completely new form. If the clubs were full of house and techno, the bedrooms were full of smoke and ambient dub, and The Orb were responsible for much of it. 'U.F.Orb' is their finest achievement, proving that 'Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld' wasn't a novelty record but the herald (along with The KLF's 'Chill Out') of a new genre. The sound here is both denser and more dubby, with more going on but less dependence on the BBC sound effects records and slowed-down house beats that were the backbone of their earlier work. 'Blue Room' (here edited from its 39'58" single length) and 'Towers of Dub' are the standouts, but The Orb's legacy is even more impressive than their music. You can hear it not only in experimental 'dance' music from Shpongle to Monolake, from Portishead to Lemon Jelly; it's embedded in mainstream pop, soundtracks and muzak the world over. And if you still have that triple vinyl release, with the PVC intact, I bet it's worth a fortune. Customer Rating: Summary: One of 'Ambient House's' Most Enduring Classics..... Comment: Before Acts such as 'The Orb' (as well as: 'The Black Dog, The Klf, Biosphere & Global Communication), the only sort of ambient music largely recognised by the general public, was the reflective sort of reflective, somber compositional ambient music favoured by the likes of 'Brian Eno'. But acts like 'The Orb' with their 'Ambient-House', was a relatively new term/Genre. It took the serenity & cerebral atmospherics of 'Ambient', and coupled them with synth pads, strings, keyboards, sampling & midtempo beats, to create a dreamier and progressively freewheeling sound of 'House' & 'Electronica'. The Duo (Dr. Alex Paterson & Jimi Cauty) take the technique of eclectic sampling, and a heavy emphasis on beat-oriented sounds, and reverb, bass and percussion, and forged several exceptional albums that retained the textured, placid tones of ambient, with the post-rave rhythmic aesthetic of Electronica. And coupled it with trip-hop grooves that successfully marry, themed tracks of 'Space Travel', Spoken Word, floatable tones & ethereal melodies. The first track "O.O.B.E." brings with it, a soothingly cinematic synth arrangement, that is a fair indication of the sort of widescape sound, that you can expect from this stunningly atmospheric track. Think of the sort of Hushed, and delicate ambient textures used on 'Brian Eno's' ambient series of albums, with the serene lilting ambience, that his albums were acclaimed for, but with slight piano keys interspersed & the most restrained use of vocal snippets, that seem to touch on subjective and conscious thoughts...this is electronic music for the mind. And the use of looped beats isn't intergrated until some 6 Min's into the track, signalling the transition into Ambient-House. The theme here (and throughout the album in fact), is 'Travelling Through Space', with various metallic techno-futuristic samples, and dense detached rhythms & free-form ambience, seamlessly intergrated. Yet still retaining that all important balance between subtly detached ambience, and possessing synthesised ambient beats mixed with vocals. The second track "U.F. Orb" mixes swirling, cascading synth work & expertly modified vocal sampling (alarm sounds, Dialogue from the 'Space Program', Environmental sounds...etc), before being replaced with uptempo techno beats (with a sublime use of high-hat rhythm breaks) moving at a relatively quick pace, that works alongside a superb, heavy echoey reverberated dub bass sound. Although the actual arrangement is simple, in its implementation, the effect is similar to a particularly well-judged fusion of World Music mood and instrumentation, intergrated with the smoked-out sounds/grooves of instrumental Dub. This is a beautiful pairing of Western Dub Fusion, and a complete contrast to the subtle tones of the previous track. "Blue Room" is a epic track, the likes of which the 'Air-Raid' sirens to signal the beginning of the track should make that painfully clear, this is then mixed with subtle organs playing in the background, with subtle sounds & buzzing electronic sounds (along with a curious bubbling effect) and cold industrial sounds are all skillfully placed, with the effect carefully intergrated through the use of cleverly Cut & Manipulated editing, that fleshes out the long stretches of atmospheric organ. The occasion female vocal sample of "Awwwww- Whoooah" (taken from a early 90's UK Rave Track), provides the perfect canopy for the transition into thumping bass, that feels like its been modified to emulate thumping beats, this is insistent driving bass, with the harsh edges softened to resemble late-night Ambient-techno. Various snippets of mechanical sounds, Dialogue, Turntable effects (turntable spinback effects) & engaging synths, are all overlayed throughout the track, but care has been taken to give ample space to each sound, and thoughtfully stretched out intelligently over the 17Min's that this track runs to, and such is the beautifully devised arrangement, the time literally flys by, when listening to this astonishing track. The overriding musical theme for "Towers of Dub" is (Obviously) DUB!!, a recorded telephone message or someone ringing "London Weekend Television" (UK television Broadcast), and getting through to a security guard to leave a message, is a highly amusing (or disorientating if you live outside the UK), start to the track. Bizarrely, the frequent use of : dogs barking, chirping birds and rhythmic sounds float in and out of the mix, are all firmly put in the shade by a truly stunning Harmonica sample playing throughout the track, mixing wonderfully with the heavy instrumental Dub, that is produced with pin-point keyboard and electronic sampling, and skitting drum beats audible in the background, the effect of these decidedly synthetic dubby basslines, could arguably have been the work of some of the Dub greats such as "The Mad Professor" or legendary "Lee 'Scratch' Perry", had they decided to make a more electronically orientated album, it's in turns, sophisticated, sprawling and hypnotic, and yet uptempo enough for either late night or daytime listening...working equally as well, whether your chilling out, or merely need some music to lose yourself into. And is so expertly judged and produced that is highlights one of the finest examples of Ambient-House. The remaining 3 Tracks are all equally up the stunning quality of previous tracks, "Close Encounters" shifts the tempo, and moves into a combination of a blended Chicago electro-house orientated track, matched against the stylisation and experimentation of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), and the low-end ambience of "Majestic", manages to feel like a surreal dreamlike track, encapsulating rhythmically and conceptally, the best attributes of 'The Orb' in an 11 minute breakdown, that at times feels like tightly crafted melodies, and creative samples, working in perfect unison. There should be absolutely no doubt, that If you are a fan of either 'Ambient House' or 'Ambient Dub', (albums Such as: "Aphex Twins - Selected Ambient Works", "The KLF - Chill Out", "Future Sound of Londons - Lifeforms", "The Black Dogs - Bytes"), that this album is an absolutely essential purchase. I'm reviewing this album have listened to it for the first time now in 2005, even though it was intially release back in 1992....and surprisingly it still feels vital, and doesn't feel dated. Admittedly if this is your first 'Orb' purchase, then (takes deep breath), you should pick up their incredible "The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" (Double Cd) first, as it is the Duo's Definitive work, with this album a very, very close second. But that album's a sprawlling masterpiece which is a concentrated listen, whereas this albums single cd, is far more manageable listen. And unquestionably stands as one of the genre greatest exponents. Customer Rating: Summary: Beyond the Noosphere (man) Comment: Mine still has the 'Brit Awards Nominee' sticker on the front. I believe this got to number one in the charts, which was dead unprecedented for what was mostly a lot of multi-layered samples with some beats here and there. For some reason it all worked; I have heard bootlegs of the early sessions which led to this album, and there's no magic in the demos. The Orb's later albums were conceptually similar but uniformly rubbish. But U.F.Orb, whether because the band was going the extra mile, or because of some ineffable fairy dust, U.F.Orb actually worked, it was relaxing, funny, mesmerising, an excellent listen with headphones, as background music, and loudly to dance to in the bits which have beats. The samples are all well-chosen and I can still recite most of them; the bit where there is a snippet from Radio Moscow, followed by loud drums, is the best. The second side of the album is noticeably moodier, with 'Close Encounters' sounding as you would expect a song about UFOs to sound. It's also a nostalgic album, for people in their early 30s. The pre-internet 'Wired'-era computer whizz-bang space-age techno-pagan futurism of it all was mirrored in contemporary releases by the Future Sound of London, System 7 and so forth, and although this kind of ambient space music is now as dated as krautrock was in 1992, it's heartbreaking to listen to. So many dreams and hopes smashed to bits. Excellent way to show off a hi-fi system, too, because it has quiet bits and loud bits and they all sound top-notch. 'Sticky End' is a short joke track and 'Majesty' is a bit irritating, but it's otherwise an excellent way to spend fifty minutes or so. Shame they didn't include the lengthy 'Blue Room' single as a pack-in or bonus track (it was basically the album version looped a couple of times, with a different bassline). And it's "Teilhard de Chardin", it took me ages to find that out; he's the one who conceived of a third world, a world of objective contents of thoughts. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: An ambient-techno classic, UFOrb captures Alex Patterson and his sonic henchman at their early peak. While the Orb had already created a dance-floor and chill-out-room sensation in 1991 with Little Fluffy Clouds, this follow-up disc displays Patterson's talent for fusing ambient music with dub science and a club culture mindset. Incorporating psychedelicized samples over the era's reigning techno beats and deep reggae bass lines, heady compositions such as "Towers of Dub" and "Close Encounters" are excessive in length but consistently entertaining. The album's highlight is an 18-minute version of "Blue Room" (there's a 40-minute version out there, too), which features the sensual bass playing of Jah Wobble and the oscillating guitar of coproducer Steve Hillage. A most serious contribution to the legacy of the modern DJ. --Mitch Myers