Customer Reviews

Metallic Spheres (Vinyl)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Anyone expecting this to be David's next solo album is going to be let down, this is an Orb album. If you read how this album came to be, you will find it was born out of a relaxed jam session with Mr. Gilmour. Later on the Orb realized they had a bunch of David's guitar work on tape, and got his permission to make an album using it. Now we have Metallic Spheres, which should be a blessing to all who cant get enough of wonderful Floydian guitar. Listening to this album however, one feels like there was a missed opportunity. This album was born out of a jam session and for the most part sounds like it. Completely missing are the strong guitar melodies from Floyd and the excellent "On an Island." Instead we have much simpler guitar noodling in the background, which sounds great but makes you yearn for more. One cannot blame David Gilmour for this, he was jamming in someones backyard and someone decided to turn it into an album. A truly thought out and planned collaboration between these artists would have been epic.

For the Orbs part, they do an admirable job of creating a sound tapestry to hold up the guitar recordings. Using a nice mix of both electronic and acoustic sounds, most of the album cruises by on chilled beats that cover familiar territory, including trance, tribal, and dubstep. The overall sound is staunchly old school which could be good or bad depending on your tastes.

With controlled expectations I think many fans of the Orb and David Gilmour will enjoy owning this. Its a relaxing old school techno journey.. and even a little David Gilmour is better than none at all. We should be thankful for experiments like this. With any luck this partnership will grow into something truly special.

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.

There isn't too much to say about this. You have the Orb creating inspiring soundscapes, and Mr. David Gilmour's guitar scattered throughout on top. It's something many of us have been dreaming about forever, and it almost lives up to expectations. But you know what you are getting when you get these artists, one 28 minute track and one 21 minute track! It's brilliant, gorgeous, good beats, amazing guitar, just a fantastic album. If you are a fan, buy it! You can't go wrong...

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!

These 4 slabs of heaven have a little bit of all thats good in music. There's so many subtley introduced rhythms and styles, carefully crafted into these 20 minute plus journeys.

Some times you here classic KLF/Orb ambient bliss, then a slow bass drum kicks in and you start to groove, and before you know it added rhythms are thrown in between that bass and you can be dancing like a loon, like at the old Club Dog/ Whirlygig days of early 90's progressive acid house.

Thrown into this are the soaring licks of the incomparable Mr Gilmour.

The idiotic reviews I've read in the press are ridiculous, clearly written by idiotic kids who flipped through it on there car stereo and havn't really listened to it.

Marvellous stuff

You know...

I have read some of the reviews and... I have to say, it is somewhat disheartening to hear others say things like... If you are expecting a solo Gilmore... Or... it just sounds like The Orb...

That is because it is The Orb featuring David Gilmore. And furthermore, to those who say it is the end result of a jam session... And the problem is? If you have ever just wanted to sit back and listen to Gilmore jam... this is your chance.

David Gilmore is a jam guitarist. In fact that is where he is at his best! This CD is a well needed fusion between two Greats. The Orb is awesome! Gilmore hands down is the ultimate emotive guitarist.

These two together have created something that was long in coming. If you loved Pink Floyd's Echoes, or Shine on, and ANYTHING by the Orb, I urge you to buy this CD. It is worth it, and I could only dream to create works of the caliber of these fine gentleman.

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.

The Orb's latest album might be their best, in no small part thanks to David Gilmour's contributions. His work here is instantly recognized as the music opens, comfortably making its way to The Orb's signature sounds, and taking its time in doing so. The sonic plane they create is the perfect space in which Gilmour can explore; in this, he and The Orb work perfectly, neither one overshadowing the other. There are moments here that make the listener think of an updated version of Pink Floyd's epic early song, "Echoes," as well as a few twists and turns that are Oldfield-esque. For what it is -- remember, this is not Pink Floyd or David Gilmour, but The Orb -- this album is nearly perfect. The Orb with David Gilmour is a brilliant pairing. If this is the product of what was more or less a jam session, it is much too good to never happen again.

It has been a while since the last Orb album release. Actually, it has not been that long since Baghdad Batteries was out in October of last year. It seems Dr. Paterson is up to some more audio trickery, incorporating one David Gilmour of prog, psychedelic , rock masters..., well you know who. How this particular setup was conceived, thought-up, dreamed, will most likely be info only those that contributed to this will be privy to. But all is well, cause an Orb project with Gilmour should be out of this universe, right?

Different set up here. Youth is probably the main producer here, with Nock and Bran assisting both on the mix and in programming. You hear through the mix all kinds of samples thrown in at what seems to be random moments. These samples seem distant at times and filtered or effected at other points in the mix. The albums' sound has an airy, delicate and dreamy ambience to it. At the beginning of side 1, there sounds like an audio humm level brought up in the mix for musical effect and then as soon as it came in, it was faded back out in to more static and then some very cosmic sounding melodies. Could almost hear the air blowing through the speakers at some very quiet parts of the album. Love how the music just slows right down, almost blown to a stop by an Orb conductor with about nine minutes left in side one.

It would be interesting to know what samples Alex was using for this one, but then again, that might be missing the point. Maybe at points, he was resampling older Orb? Will never know I guess-maybe after copyright clears!

Playing this album reminds me of listening to Dark Side of the Moon over and over again with friends in the dark. Nothing but a black light and silence as we studied the brilliance of what made that record so enduring. I think this record is kinda low on real structure. (Although there seem to be quite a bit of starts and stops) It doesn't really present itself as whole concept. Just go in and jam away over this sequence and edit it together in the end. That said, I feel like this project is supposed to be real ambient in feeling overall.

Also seems to be less of an Orb contribution on overall mix.

The Orb is back with a LP that demands a few listens before the listener truly hones in on the nature of the sound that was intended by all involved. A very relaxing way to spend an hour.