The Orb Album: “U.F.Orb [Bonus Disc]”

If I could give this album six stars, I would. Or even ten. The original is an absolute 5-star classic, simply a must-have. When I first heard it, the sound changed my concept of what music could be. I found myself floating in some other world, completely adrift in space. The one disc alone was as mind-expanding as I imagine psychotropic drugs to be.

The second disc is remixes of tracks from the first one, and a single-only track. The mixes are all quite good, though the ambient mix of Towers of Dub still bugs me with its extended comedy routine. The audio clip running through the song of a comedic drug bust is mildly amusing, but it brings the track down to earth instead of letting it float in space as the album version does. For me, this is the only low as the other mixes either enhance hidden aspects of the original songs or add fascinating new dimensions to their spacey vibes.

If you've never heard The Orb, you should at least get the original U.F.Orb album. If you have that, then there's no reason not to get this version, with improved sound and a second disc of superb remixes. This was possibly the peak of the group's sound, and it's well worth revisting. This music never gets old.

This is a brilliant, timely rerelease of The Orb's second (and arguably best) album. It certainly deserves to be an electronic/ambient/dub classic for all time! However, despite the great rare mixes and alternate versions added on disc 2, there's a huge chunk of missing beauty that DESPERATLY deserves to be here, and that's the 40-minute long version of "Blue Room". It was the centerpoint of this era for The Orb, and not including it in this rerelease is a egregious error, in my opinion. Also, the reissuing label could've included the Mad Professor dub mix of "Towers of Dub", the Frank DeWulf mix of "Blue Room", and "Assassin" (The Oasis of Rhythms Mix). Oh, and "Assassin" (Bandulu Mix). Granted that might've required a 4th disc...hahaha. The music of The Orb is worth it, though, don't you agree...?

Techno, Trance, Ambient-House, and the such have truly saturated the music market of the last 15 years. So much so, that most of it hardly gets heard by anybody because there is so much of it. And so much of it can all sound alike. Even the ultimate techno fanatic could not possibly hear it all in his (or her) lifetime. And what's more, VERY few new Techno artists, can have, what the world would call, a "classic album".

I still believe the humble beginnings of techno music, was simply called "electronic music" or by today's terms - "electronica". And that all began in the 1960's with Kraftwerk (Organisation), Silver Apples, and even Walter (now Wendy) Carlos. Moog music was another term for electronic music. In the 1970's, the early stages of "Techno" started to show up even more. Artists like Tomita, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, and Jean Michel Jarre, were all brave pioneers of a new sound in music, a new cold electronic sound.

I'd be willing to say that the first successful "Techno" album has to be Kraftwerk's 1977 album, "Trans Europe Express". It's even sampled often by many of today's Techno-Ambient House artists. The earliest album that I could call the bravest venture into spacey electronica is Tangerine Dream's 1971 album, Alpha Centauri". Check out "Fly and Collision of Coma Sola" off this album. It's simply mind-blowing! Although, if you really want to reach back. Check out "Ventures in Space" by The Ventures (1963).

With the music market suddenly getting slammed with new ventures in Techno, Ambient House, Trance, Electronica, IDM, Ambient Dub, etc., suddenly in the early 1990's comes THE ORB. With their first triple album set "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld", the world was introduced to another whole new adventure in electronic music, that earns universal success. Their first commercial successful single was "Little Fluffy Clouds". It even received airplay on regular contemporary pop radio. Big time in the UK, I'm sure. Already feeling that this is a new landmark album for the genre, it really blew my mind when their second commercial release "U.F.Orb", came out. When I heard a store playing "Blue Room", I couldn't believe that this was something new from The Orb. They weren't playing the CD of U.F.Orb, they were playing a CD single of "Blue Room" that went on for nearly 40 minutes! Wow! That blew my mind!

In the early days of buying The Orb, the first release of "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, was a single edited CD of the full double CD that came out of the UK, that is currently released worldwide today. I'm actually glad to have this edited version of "Adventures Beyond..." The tracks "Spanish Castles in Space" and "Backside of the Moon" were omitted from this CD. I heard the both of them on a borrowed copy of the double CD, and I found that those two tracks (that are together on CD One), offered a very long, boring 30+ minutes of very uninteresting sound passages. Plus a few of the other tracks are a little different. "Perpetual Dawn" on my copy, is a shorter more upbeat, reggae-version, which I enjoy more. Thank God I have this (now totally obscure) initial US release.

The early release of "U.F.Orb", offered a bonus CD of a few remixed extras, which included a rare track called "Assassin", and the "ardently sought after", 40 minute version of "Blue Room". I also have an alternate mix on "Towers of Dub", which is really cool.

Notice on "U.F.Orb", the regular version of "Towers of Dub" has the very same percussion used on Pink Floyd's, "On the Run" from the "Dark Side of the Moon" album. The Orb seems to like to mess with your head about making Pink Floyd references. On my two Ultraworld albums, the building that was on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album "Animals", are on these Orb releases. And also, check out the Orb's "Live 93" album. It's not a pig, but it is some sort of animal jumping over a power plant, just like the pig jumping over the building on Pink Floyd's "Animals", album. I am certain that there are probably alot more hidden Pink Floyd references thoughout their other albums. The Orb started to lose their uniqueness for me after "U.F.Orb", They started to sound like typical Ambient House music. No longer the innovators that they use to be.

Another totally hard to find CD is a remix follow-up to their first album. If you can find it, get The Orb's, "Aubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld Excersions". It has a really cool, jazzy version of "Little Fluffy Clouds". Other scarce obscure CD releases of early Orb, are "Ultra Rare Trax", and "Morphology". These two were never commercially released, and were very expensive inside the locked-up glass cabinet of the CD store I bought mine from.

It seems though, that the sound of The Orb has become outdated when compared to today's new "electronic sound" known as IDM (Intelligent Dance Music). Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, and the such are todays Techno wizards.

The latest releases from The Orb that I've checked out are "Cydonia" and "Bicycles and Tricycles". Nothing fabulous, but I think they are a little more appealing than what The Orb has done with "Pomme Fritz" and beyond. "Orblivion" has a few great tracks, but the album, as a whole, has too many weaknesses that loses my interest quickly. I don't think that The Orb will ever have another "classic" album like their first two. But, those two are certainly to be cherished.

These bonus tracks are pretty cool, but it's too bad that it doesn't include the full 40 minute version of "Blue Room." It seems like everyone expected that. But, maybe, if they re-release and remaster "Orb Live 93", maybe they'll apply that to the bonus disc. We'll just have to wait and see.