Product Description

The Orb are the rave scene's resident gods of ambient psychedelia. ORBLIVION's beats don't so much swing with techno's hyperkinetic verve as they imply that swing through their extreme, dubbed-out feel. At times a spaced-out bassline serves as more of a grounding factor than the dissolved backbeat.Yet that lack of a solid bottom gives Dr. Alex Patterson and his cohorts the flexibility to morph into whatever fourth world musical creation they choose to become, incorporating everything from funk grooves to Third World woodwind textures on a digital floor that seems more natural than synthetic.
The Orb's fifth full-length album frames all these sonicfreedoms within various vocal samples that symbolise eitherits curtailing (McCarthy-era Congressional hearings, a monologue on the apocalypse from Mike Leigh's NAKED) or its fullblossom (a TV commercial-like chorus praising LSD). Augmented by music that is in constant weirdo flux, the members of The Orb are revolutionaries destroying borders and fences (physical, psychological, and musical) while on a downward spiral towards the millenium.

Track Listing

1. Delta MkII
2. Ubiquity
3. Asylum
4. Bedouin
5. Molten Love
6. Pi
7. SALT
8. Toxygene
9. Log Of Deadwood
10. Secrets
11. Passing Of Time
12. 72

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50741 in Music
• Released on: 1997-02-10
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dr Alex Paterson used to be a roadie for Killing Joke, before he got caught up in the acid-house revolution alongside fellow punks Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond (of KLF fame). Under his Orb moniker, he has taken electronic music into the realm of eccentric dreams, bringing together disparate musical threads and whisking them all together with his magic dub-stick. Orblivion doesn't contain any classic songs like "Little Fluffy Clouds" or "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain…" but it is a return to form after weaker albums like Pomme Fritz and Orbus Terrarum.

In contrast to the apocalyptic vision that its title conjures up, Orblivion is essentially a happy merry-go-round that takes a typically kaleidoscopic approach. There is an element of dystopia in the use of dialogue snatched from Mike Leigh's stark classic "Naked", but apart from that the usual oddball humour, floppy madness and dubby dance music is very much in abundance. Enjoyable stuff. --Paul Sullivan

Customer Reviews

Orb at nearly its best.
Well, I've only been listening to this album for a day now and I already love it. Although its not the Orb's best album (a la U.F.Orb), it has some quality tracks on it e.g. the big beats of Ubiquity, the techno-ness of Asylum, the bounciness of Toxygene (which wasn't commisioned from Jean Michel Jarre, that was just a joke made by the band). Also, the album has an obvious oriental quality to it, which also helps me like it because I like parts of Chinese/Japanese music. If you're an Orb fan add it to your collection, if you haven't heard them try U.F.Orb or Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld first, and if you don't like them then...what are you reading this for? Buy and Bye.

A great album
This is Orb at their most inventive, with tracks like Asylum and Molten Love, which both have an eastern quality to them them, and the bouncy Toxygene. Probably their best yet.

Some classic tunes but sounding a bit dated.
Although there are still some catchy tunes on this album (ie Little Fluffy Clouds) they are beginning to show their age.