Orblivion

The Orb

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 11, 1997)
• Original Release Date: March 11, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001EAU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #88,037 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's the end of the world as we know it, and Dr. Alex Patterson is feeling just fine. Returning with his seventh release under the moniker of the Orb, the grandfather of ambient house and the master of transcendental techno has made the cheeriest album about millennial tension and apocalyptic craziness that you're likely to hear. Not since Prince's 1999 has the beginning of the end sounded like so much fun. With music industry institutions from MTV to Billboard rushing to proclaim that electronica is the next "next big thing," the contributions of veterans like Patterson and Richard James (a.k.a. the Aphex Twin) are being overlooked, while relatively slight talents such as the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers are being lauded. Meanwhile, Patterson is at his turntables leading a new version of the Orb with Andy Hughes and Thomas Fehlmann, and the group is making some of the best music of its career. Over the ominous sounds of "S.A.L.T.," a paranoid Scottish preacher predicts that the number of the Beast described in The Book of Revelations is showing up on our credit cards. Elsewhere, a solemn voice intones, "The rocket is waiting," and a perplexed weather girl stumbles when she reads that temperatures tomorrow will be sub-zero, "continued mild." Throw in a snippet from Joe McCarthy's red-baiting Senate hearings and an hysterical commercial jingle with a bouncy chorus about "the youth of America on LSD," and you may find yourself rushing in a panic to the bomb shelter. Considering the subject matter, it's ironic that "Delta MKII," "DJ Asylum," and "Toxygene" contain some of the Orb's happiest hooks ever, as well as the uniquely fluid and jazzy mid-tempo grooves that have come to characterize the combo's live performances. Like the ravers who throw roof-top parties to greet the aliens in Independence Day, Patterson is going out dancing, and judging from the pleasantly disorienting swirl of sounds in his patented Orb mixes, he's probably high as a kite. And why not? In his warped but wonderful vision, the end of the world is just one more groovy trip. --Jim Derogatis

Product Description

2008 digitally remastered and expanded two CD edition of this long-deleted classic from the British Ambient House outfit, originally released in 1997. Features a bonus disc containing nine rare and previously unreleased remixes compiled by main Orbman, Dr. Alex Paterson: 'Delta Mk II' (Love Bites Mix), 'Bedouin' (The Sheik's Film Mix), 'Log Of Deadwood' (Implanting Machines Mix), 'Secrets' (I Love A Woman In Uniform Mix), 'Passing Of Time' (Ambient Mix), 'Molten Love' (Orbits of Venus Mix), 'S.A.L.T.' (Snow Mix), 'Toxygene' (Kris Needs Up For A Fortnight Mix Edit) and 'Asylum' (The Soul Catcher Mix). Orblivion contains the Top 20 hit singles 'Toxygene' and 'Asylum'. Enhanced packaging features brilliant sleevenotes by long time Orb collaborator Kris Needs.Universal. 2008. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A trip on a trip, January 21, 2000

By	greencalx (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews

This is as much of a nostalgia trip as much as a review...

Taking a leap of blind faith at a CD trade store the day before leaving North Carolina, I selected this as my cross-country excursion on my way moving to California after turning in two REM CDs and a Green Day CD in exchange for this album. Suffice to say, I'm glad somebody else hated it enough to donate it to a trade store, because I loved it when I got it and listened to it.

For thousands of miles my parents and I enjoyed the sci-fi like electronic atmospheres and ambient compositions throughout this album, keeping our sanity from a horrendous road trip in check. This being my first Orb album was the gateway to owning more Orb--a financially dangerous addiction, if you will.

Back to the content of the music. Nothing, nothing is better than having the sunroof opened when driving in the starry Arizona desert night with "Passing of Time" playing, or "Asylum"'s early-morning-dance-club techno rhythms moving along with the road's dashes and painted lines on a highway in Tennessee. And staring at a red sunset in New Mexico without blinking throughout the 6-minute duration of "Molten Love" and it's futuristic surreality (something about it's flutelike percussion will bring forth vague memories you can't put into shape or form, but you know they're there) is like reaching the state of nirvana (though, "Little Fluffy Clouds" from OABTUW might have been more fitting if I had it then :)).

This album is not only a good introduction to The Orb, but also a good introduction to a more intelligent form of electronic music, especially for those who are tired of more cliche-based genres.

Orblivion -does- get somewhat tiring and monotonous in theme and style by the 8th track, but you get used to it. Some people criticize this album for not being like "the old Orb we used to know", but listening closely to both Orblivion and OABTUW side-by-side, you can tell Dr. Patterson put more love, devotion, and creative output into Orblivion.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just for the record, I'm not crazy, nor on drugs., December 22, 2004

By	Lufao Sponge - See all my reviews

As I was listening to the last song, which is stated to be 6 seconds long, kept going after so. Waiting for what I had a feeling would be coming on, I opened the CD case just a crack, the smallest bit, and peered inside. A big clearing with the part that held the CD in the middle. This reminded me of the front of the case, which features famous buildings, whether it be from our earth or other worlds, in a star formation. I pictured the middle of the clearing in the CD case a vast city scape, and with the ideas and inspiration still from the CD this is what spawned from it:
A furturistic city, with phsycadelic pulsing skies which represented the catchy beats.
Drifting essences, spirits of those who lived underground, which represents the awesome ambience.
And all that existed represented the melodies.
And, I thought to myself, please let me try living in this city- at least one day. Then, the secret track began- and my thoughts were answered.
MASTERPIECE!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Orb Reinvented, June 27, 2000

By	El Reanimator-o (The CO) - See all my reviews

One thing to understand is that The Orb is constantly evolving, and no one album sounds like the one that came before it. That having been said, this makes "Orblivion" even more stunning than it already is. Dr. Alex Patterson, along with Andy Hughes and Thomas Felhmann have created an epic leading into the new millenium. The lead off track, "Delta MKII", is a frenzy of bleeps and bloops and constantly changing percussion over samples about Communists and the military. A barrage of pinball machine leads us into "Ubiquity". A sweeping array consisting of a bouncy beats, a nice floating keyboard hook, and a multitude of crazy sounds. Quite a nice track. "Asylum" is a nice 5 minute break from the cranks and whirs of the first two tracks. Probably one of the standout songs on the album. "Bedouin" has a playful tribal vibe to it which dissolves into utter creepiness, and "Molten Love" keeps the closest ties to "Pomme Fritz" and "Orbus Terrarum". The short barrage of noise that is "Pi" brings us into "S.A.L.T.", a barrage of jungle beats over a Scot ranting about the apocalypse. "Toxygene", the first single from the album, is incredibly catchy and will make you want to get up and groove. There's yet another small noise track, "Log Of Deadwood", then we're lead into "Secrets". A relatively subdued track, this has to be heard to describe just how great it is. "Passing of Time" is a Pink Floydian epic for the '90s, while "72" is just quite simply, the youth of America on LSD.

This album seems to tie up everything The Orb has done. It manages to catch the ambience, randomness, and off key humor of "Pomme Fritz" and "Orbus Terrarum", while adding in the dance-like beats, catchy hooks, and utter bliss of "UFOrb" and "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld".