Track Listing

1. Polynominal-C - Aphex Twin
2. Be No One - Charles Webster
3. Nitrogen Pt. 1 - Juno Reactor
4. Interim - B12
5. Ow Much! - Creature
6. Have You Seen Her - The Chi-Lites
7. I Wanna Be A Fishy - Thomas Fehlmann
8. Falling - Julee Cruise
9. The Land Of Green Ginger - The Orb
10. Blue Calx - Aphex Twin
11. Barbie Girl (TF Long Version) - Electric Chairs
12. You Don�t Fool Me - Joachim Spieth
13. Hempire - F.F.W.D
14. The Light 3000 - Schneider TM vs. KPT. michi.gan

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62841 in Music
• Released on: 2003-01-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Orb--aka Dr Alex Paterson--is a likely candidate to host an instalment of DMC's eclectic Back to Mine series. A former roadie for Killing Joke and an original acid house/ambient stalwart, his musical tastes are notoriously wide and often surprising. Given a blank slate to work with, there was always a good chance he would fill it with intriguing and diverse sounds. And indeed he has. He begins with Aphex Twin's swirling, mystical breakbeat monster "Polynominal-C", before dipping into slow-mo territory with Charles Webster's languid jazz lullaby "Be No One". After these contrasting openers, we get the driven ethno-house of Juno Reactor's driven "Nitrogen Part 1", the epic ambient workout of B12's "Interim", humorous hip-hop with Creature's "Ow Much!" and soaring soul beauty from the Chi-Lites classic "Have You Seen Her?". Add to this Thomas Fehlmann's aquatically strange "I Wanna Be a Fishy", the breathy beauty of Julee Cruise's "Falling" and the Orb's own "The Land of Green Ginger" and you have one varied and entertaining compilation--something not too common these days. --Paul Sullivan

Customer Reviews

ultraworld revisited
Being a fan of both The Orb and the Back To Mine series my attention was instantly grabbed when I noticed this cd available for preorder - (the groovy artwork helped as well).

Since arriving at my abode a few days ago this cd has not been out of my cd player and from the 1st play it was screaming excellence, originality and general Orbness at me.

Firstly the track selection - there are no duds here - these are all "let them eat cake" tunes to quote the orbmeister and Marie Antoinette. The first 9 tracks are described in the Amazon review, from there on we are treated to an otherworldly slice of Aphex ambience with "Blue Calx", the Electric Chairs' acoustic guitar led version of "Barbie Girl" (my favourite track), ambient electronica of Joachim Spieth and Orb side project FFWD, and finally a quirky electronic version of The Smiths' "There is a light that never goes out".

There is a variety in musical genre but all tracks share a definite Orb sensibility so the compilation never falls into the trap of eclecticism for its own sake.

The sequencing of the tracks is well thought out ensuring that the mix never flags and the quirkier tracks are used sparingly. I say mix but it would be more accurate to say the tracks are blended and allowed to stand in their own right. This album really is great and is the best 'Orb' album I have heard since the heady days of UFOrb and the Ultraworld albums but thankfully also feels firmly rooted in the 21st century.

The album is also noteable for featuring the Orb track "The Land of Green Ginger" from their forthcoming album with a vocal sample that instantly brought Mr. Scruff to mind.

I would recommend this album to anyone who likes the Orb or electronic/chillout music in general. Congratulations to Dr Alex Paterson for creating a superb collection which I think is one of the best Back to Mine cds along with Danny Tenaglia & Groove Armada.

Buy and enjoy!!

Too many "indifferent" tracks
I've a great deal of respect for Alex Patterson and his pioneering work on the ambient scene as both a DJ and mainman of The Orb, but this CD seems a bit of a lacklustre offering and very much reflects how Alex Patterson doesn't have his finger on the ambient pulse any more. It doesn't really flow, seeming more of a stop/start affair with a wide variety of music that's OK but nothing special. There are several standout tracks by Aphex Twin, The Orb, FFWD, and Joachim Spieth but a lot of the rest just seems like filler. Yes, it's chilled, but it's aimed more at a mainstream audience that knows nothing about ambient music than longtime fans of the genre that could find a better selection of tracks from their own collection. This stuff all seems so dated now, it isn't necessarily a bad thing that it's got a lot of oldschool ambient tracks here, and they obviously resonate with meaning for the good Dr Patterson.... but it seems very old hat.
It works well enough as background music at low volume, but the track selection isn't really strong enough for actually listening to it. I've a feeling better track selection would have leant itself to a better mixed album, no tracks really sound right next to the ones they follows - whoever mixed the album doesn't display a great deal of skill.

All in all, it's OK but more of a missed opportunity than a triumph.

Not the Orb by a long way
Thought I should post a negative review, just to counterbalance the (in my opinion) overly positive ones here. This CD contains some delights - Polynomial-C by Aphex Twin, a yet-to-be-released Orb track, "The Land of Green Ginger", albeit I suspect a foreshortened version and Alex Patterson's brother Martin's work (under the band name Creature) "Ow Much!".

For many of the other tracks, fans of the Orb (which I most certainly am, having seen them at least once on every major tour since Orbus Terrarum) will recognise bits from live versions of old tracks (eg. on "Hempire" by FFWD you will hear snippets from the live version of Towers of Dub) and not be surprised by the slow, ambient nature of the album.

The trouble for me is that "The Land of Green Ginger" straddles this album like a colossus and reminds you very firmly that the rest of the tracks (except perhaps the aforementioned Aphex Twin) just don't come up to scratch. The track makes me very excited for the next Orb album, however.

Don't get me wrong, this is an enjoyable album, it just contains few real gems that you'd want to put on a compilation for your mates.