Disco de The Orb: “Metallic Spheres”

I was way excited for this release. I had ordered the Deluxe edition from the UK, so it took a while to get here. Then I was a little apprehensive reading the reviews, how it did not live up to what people had "EXPECTED".

First off I am a huge Floyd fan, I mean huge. The Orb??? Electronic dance techno? Never heard of them before or listened to any (For an uneducated guess at a genre I know nothing about) techno music at all.

In other reviews it states uninspired ambient music with random samples of Gilmours guitar thrown in hap hazardously. So I was a little deflated before I ever listened to it.

Fast forward til today, received it in the mail. Explained to my wife that I bought electronic music, popped it in the trucks cd player. Didn't groove. Read the liner notes "please use headphones for optimal effect". OK, yeah. Optimal effect, to the fullest. I was gonna let go of any expectation I might have, light up a bowl and close my eyes, with Hi Fi Headphones. Give it an honest listen.

Now for my review, it doesn't seem random to me at all. Well mixed, well timed, mellow music. A nice changed for me. The guitar seems to be layered in perfectly with the music. I have respect for who ever put this together, to listen to samples and blend together so nicely. Seems like it could have taken a long time. No digs on any other reviewer, but open up, man. Maybe it helped that I have never listen to any Orb before.

That's it. Use as directed. Let go of what you might expect from either the Orb or Gilmour, and just enjoy the tunes alone by yourself.

A cross between the early days of Pink Floyd, the toned down feel of On An Island, and the ambient house mix of The Orb, and all cut in a style similar to Tubular Bells, this album has the legendary signature of David Gilmore all over it. For those who want to stare up at the partly cloudy skies on a nice warm Spring Day and just zone completely out for about an hour or so, this one will do it for you.

Thanks for the wonderful collaboration!

If you're an Orb fan, and you enjoyed "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" you'll have some idea of what you're getting with this CD. The Orb specialize in the sort of ambient soundscapes we usually associate with mid-1970s German bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, albeit updated for the 21st century. David Gilmour's participation here pushes the Orb ever closer to the type of material Pink Floyd recorded before "Dark Side of the Moon," namely epic-length science-fiction themed suites like "Atom Heart Mother" and "Echoes" or their soundtrack fragments like "More." If you enjoy this type of Pink Floyd music - and I do - you're going to particularly enjoy the first of the two suites here.

This isn't really a David Gilmour solo CD. I thought that would have been clear since his name comes below the Orb's in the title, and he's given a "featuring" status which implies that he's a guest. The Orb are using his guitarwork on a jam as the basis of this album in the same way that they have used samples as the bases of their other work. Suffice to say, Gilmour's personality and style are so strong even in samples that this comes across as more of a collaboration than what it really is. For what it's worth, this comes a lot closer to what I was expecting from "The Island" as that CD was billed as being chilled, laid-back, and ambient. This is the real deal. "Metallic Spheres" is meant to be listened to on quality headphones, preferably in the dark, late at night and to challenge your own imagination. It isn't meant to challenge the status of "Dark Side of the Moon."

It'd be great to have heard a true Gilmour/Orb collaboration, and it's my hope that in the near future the success of this CD pushes them in this direction. If you're expecting something tuneful and discrete, forget it. But if you're expecting something that's rhythmic, hypnotizing, and entrancing you've come to the right place.

I'm more into Pink-Floyd than The Orb.

For me Metallic Spheres is one big track (48+ minutes) with very original music in an Ambient-Minimalist fashion like Mike Oldfield used to do (Amarok). Open spaces, lots of background effects, great rhythms, and, of course, David Gilmour guitars!. Every time I listen to it I find new passages and sounds. Some passages reminds me other artists like Passport, Enigma, Jerome Froese, and many more. I like it and it was a great deal (less than 10 USD).

Hats off to The Orb and David Gilmour.

Eduardo. Mexico City.

if you want to just relax and let your mind go free. then this disk is the one i love it. just put on the head phones and let go. gilmour really does a great job on this disk his guitar just sings in your ears. first time i heard it i was just blown away.