The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 2 April 1991 | |||
Studio | Do Not Erase, Marcus Studios, Berwick Street Studio, and Trancentral, London | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 109:41 | |||
Label | Big Life | |||
Producer | ||||
The Orb chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld | ||||
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Alternate cover | ||||
The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld is the debut studio album by English electronic music group the Orb,released as a double album on 2 April 1991 by Big Life. It is a segued,progressive and psychedelic trip which draws from various genres (including ambient,house,dub reggae,and hip hop) and incorporates a huge number of samples and sound effects. Much of the album was recorded after founding member Jimmy Cauty left the group,leaving Alex Paterson as the central member,with additional contributions by Kris Weston,Andy Falconer and several others.
The album was preceded by the charting (No. 78) 1989 single "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld," which closes the album,(No. 87) 1990 single "Little Fluffy Clouds," which opens the album,and (No. 61) 1991 single "Perpetual Dawn," which opens the second half of the album. The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld was well received in Europe and reached number 29 on the UK Albums Chart. It has since been credited with popularizing the UK's nascent ambient house movement.
Alex Paterson began his music career in the 1980s as a roadie for the post-punk band Killing Joke before eventually leaving in 1986 to pursue his own musical interests. Influenced by the growing popularity of Chicago house music in Britain during the decade,shortly thereafter he began working with another ambient house pioneer,Jimmy Cauty,who had been involved in the Killing Joke side-project Brilliant with Paterson's childhood friend [7] Youth. [8] [9] Paterson,Cauty,and Youth also performed chill-out DJ sets in Paul Oakenfold's "Land of Oz" night at the club Heaven. [7] Paterson said of these events:
We'd build melodies up by overdubbing and mixing multiple tracks and then take an eight-track, or was it a twelve-track, into Heaven, just linking it up to three decks, loads of CD players, loads of cassettes... we used to keep it very, very quiet. We never used to play any drums in there. It'd be, just like, you know, BBC sound effects, really... four or five hours playing really early dub reggae... For All Mankind . We had white screens so we could put up visuals as well. We had home movies of ducks in the park. We'd go for everything. It was all layering on top of each other. [10]
Following success in the singles market with their releases as the Orb, including 1988's "Tripping on Sunshine" and the Kiss EP and "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld", both released in 1989, Paterson and Cauty started work on the first Orb album but split in April 1990 due to disagreements about releasing the Orb's work on Cauty and Bill Drummond's record label KLF Communications. [11] While Cauty released his portions of the planned album as Space and continued with his other group The KLF, Paterson moved on to his next collaboration, "Little Fluffy Clouds", in autumn 1990 with Youth. [7] The track was recorded by an 18-year-old studio engineer and future Orb collaborator, Kris "Thrash" Weston.
Slant Magazine critic Sal Cinquemani called The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld a blend of "loping house beats and shades of reggae-dub with atmospheric sampledelia (film dialogue, wildlife, radio broadcasts, strings and choirs)" which defined the ambient house movement of the early 1990s. [12] Matt Anniss of International DJ noted the album's "then unique blend of head-nodding grooves (often recycled from old hip hop and dub reggae records), horizontal ambience, and all manner of tongue-in-cheek spoken word samples." [13]
In April 1991, the Orb released The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld for an audience familiar with their groundbreaking singles and several John Peel radio sessions. The album was received in the United Kingdom and Europe with critical acclaim and reached number 29 on the UK Albums Chart. [14]
By mid-1991, the Orb had signed a deal to release the album in the United States but were forced to edit the double-disc 109:41-minute UK release down to one 70:41-minute disc. This version replaced "Perpetual Dawn" with a remix by Youth and "Star 6 & 7 8 9" with its "Phase II" version, both available on the "Perpetual Dawn" single; and removed "Back Side of the Moon" and "Spanish Castles in Space" entirely. The full double-disc version and cassette were later released in the US by Island Records.
The cover for The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld was designed by graphic design collective The Designers Republic, who are credited for "orbsonic love deep space & sampling image" in the liner notes. [15] The album booklet features an image of the Battersea Power Station, as photographed by Richard Cheadle and "treated by dr/chromagene", as well as an image of cumulonimbus clouds over the Congo Basin, taken from the Space Shuttle Challenger on 1 April 1983. [15] The Battersea Power Station image was utilized as cover art for the US release of the album.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [16] |
NME | 8/10 [17] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
Select | 3/5 [18] |
Slant Magazine | [12] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10 [19] |
In a contemporary review, NME critic Sherman called The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld "an album sounding like Pink Floyd without all the self-indulgent solos", concluding, "Reality is inside a pair of headphones overflowing with the Orb. Life will never be the same again. The flotation tank beckons." [17] Select 's Russell Brown wrote that "long and strange as it is, Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld is without doubt a good trip." [18] The Washington Post considered it "eight slices of meandering electro-throb, decorated with whooshes and chatter and various found noises". [20] The Province labeled the album "a lengthy sound montage that endeavors to take ambient house music off of the dance floor and place it square into the third eye of those who like to bliss out with headphones". [21] At the end of 1991, Melody Maker ranked it as the year's 22nd best album and commented that it "boasted some of the most unique sounds of the year." [22]
In the years following its release, The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld has received continued critical acclaim. It was voted the 45th greatest album of all time in a 1993 poll of NME staff members. [23] In 1999, it was included at number 82 in Spin 's list of the best albums of the 1990s, with critic Richard Gehr opining that "Ultraworld is art at its most functional: It works equally well as both acid-peak booster rocket and as Prozac-ian relief from an ecstatic all-nighter." [24] In 2002, Muzik named it the seventh best dance music album of all time, [4] while Slant Magazine listed it as the fourth greatest electronic music album of the 20th century. [1] The following year, Pitchfork ranked it as the 100th best album of the 1990s, with Alex Linhardt's accompanying write-up noting that it "managed to make ambient house a perpetual 'next big thing' for the rest of the decade." [2] John Bush of AllMusic deemed The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld "the album that defined the ambient house movement." [3]
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Little Fluffy Clouds" (Earth Orbit One) | Alex Paterson, Martin Glover | 4:27 |
2. | "Earth (Gaia)" (Earth Orbit Two) | Paterson, Kris Weston | 9:48 |
3. | "Supernova at the End of the Universe" (Earth Orbit Three) | Paterson, Miquette Giraudy, Steve Hillage | 11:56 |
Total length: | 26:11 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Back Side of the Moon" (Lunar Orbit Four) | Paterson, Giraudy, Hillage | 14:15 |
2. | "Spanish Castles in Space" (Lunar Orbit Five) | Paterson, Jake le Mesurier, Guy Pratt | 15:05 |
Total length: | 29:20 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Perpetual Dawn" (Ultraworld Probe Six) | Paterson, Eddie Maiden | 9:31 |
2. | "Into the Fourth Dimension" (Ultraworld Probe Seven) | Paterson, Andy Falconer, Paul Ferguson | 9:16 |
3. | "Outlands" (Ultraworld Probe Eight) | Paterson, Thomas Fehlmann | 8:23 |
Total length: | 27:10 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Star 6 & 7 8 9" (Ultraworld Nine) | Paterson, T Green, Hugh Vickers | 8:10 |
2. | "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" (Live Mix Mk 10; Ultraworld Ten) | Paterson, Jimmy Cauty, Minnie Riperton, Richard Rudolph, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson, Bruce Woolley, Trevor Horn | 18:49 |
Total length: | 26:57 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Little Fluffy Clouds" | Paterson, Glover | 4:57 |
2. | "Earth (Gaia)" | Paterson, Weston | 9:48 |
Total length: | 14:15 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Supernova at the End of the Universe" | Paterson, Giraudy, Hillage | 11:56 |
2. | "Perpetual Dawn" (Solar Youth Mix) | Paterson, Glover, Maiden, Jeffrey Nelson, Simon Phillips | 3:48 |
Total length: | 15:44 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Into the Fourth Dimension" | Paterson, Falconer, Ferguson | 9:14 |
2. | "Outlands" | Paterson, Fehlmann | 8:20 |
3. | "Star 6 & 7 8 9" (Phase II) | Paterson, Green, Vickers | 4:22 |
Total length: | 21:56 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" (Live Mix Mk 10) | Paterson, Cauty, Riperton, Rudolph, Darlow, Lipson, Woolley, Horn | 18:47 |
Total length: | 18:47 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Little Fluffy Clouds" | Paterson, Glover | 4:27 |
2. | "Earth (Gaia)" | Paterson, Weston | 9:48 |
3. | "Supernova at the End of the Universe" | Paterson, Giraudy, Hillage | 11:56 |
4. | "Back Side of the Moon" | Paterson, Giraudy, Hillage | 14:15 |
5. | "Spanish Castles in Space" | Paterson, le Mesurier, Pratt | 15:05 |
Total length: | 55:31 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Perpetual Dawn" | Paterson, Maiden | 9:31 |
2. | "Into the Fourth Dimension" | Paterson, Falconer, Ferguson | 9:16 |
3. | "Outlands" | Paterson, Fehlmann | 8:23 |
4. | "Star 6 & 7 8 9" | Paterson, Green, Vickers | 8:10 |
5. | "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" (Live Mix Mk 10) | Paterson, Cauty, Riperton, Rudolph, Darlow, Lipson, Woolley, Horn | 18:49 |
Total length: | 54:07 |
No. | Title | Mixed by | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" (Peel Session) | 20:14 | |
2. | "Perpetual Dawn" (Ultrabass II) | 7:12 | |
3. | "Little Fluffy Clouds" (Cumulo Nimbus Mix) | Pal Joey | 6:39 |
4. | "Back Side of the Moon" (Under Water Deep Space Mix) | Steve Hillage | 8:42 |
5. | "Outlands" (Fountains of Elisha Mix) | Ready Made | 8:39 |
6. | "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" (Aubrey Mix Mk 11) | Jimmy Cauty and Dr. Alex Patterson | 7:13 |
7. | "Spanish Castles in Space" (Extended Youth Mix) | Youth | 13:39 |
Total length: | 1:12:18 |
Credits for The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld adapted from liner notes. [15]
Year | Format | Label | Catalogue no. [26] |
---|---|---|---|
1991 | CD | Big Life | 314-511034-2 |
1991 | Cassette | Big Life | 314-511034-4 |
1991 | CD | Big Life | 511034 |
1991 | Cassette | Big Life | 511034 |
1994 | CD | Big Life, Island Red | 535005 |
1994 | Cassette | Big Life, Island Red | 535005 |
1994 | CD | Big Life | BRDCD5 |
2006 | CD | Island, Universal | 948,002-2 |
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, The Orb, The Future Sound of London, the Black Dog, Pete Namlook and Biosphere.
James Francis Cauty, also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo the KLF, co-founder of the Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million.
Ambient house is a downtempo subgenre of house music that first emerged in the late 1980s, combining elements of acid house and ambient music. The genre developed in chill-out rooms and specialist clubs as part of the UK's dance music scene. It was most prominently pioneered by the Orb and the KLF, along with artists such as Global Communication, Irresistible Force, Youth, and 808 State. The term was used vaguely, and eventually fell out of favor as more specific subgenres were recognized.
Chill Out is the debut studio album by British electronic music group The KLF, released on 5 February 1990. It is an ambient-styled concept album featuring an extensive selection of samples, portraying a mythical night-time journey throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast states, beginning in Texas and ending in Louisiana. Chill Out was conceived as a continuous piece of music, with original KLF music interwoven with samples from songs by Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Acker Bilk, Van Halen, 808 State and field recordings of Tuvan throat singers.
Martin Glover, better known by his stage name Youth, is a British record producer and musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the rock band Killing Joke. He is also a member of the Fireman, along with Paul McCartney.
Space is a 1990 ambient house concept album by Jimmy Cauty under the alias Space. Originally intended to be The Orb's debut album, Space was refactored for release as a solo album following Cauty's departure from that group. Space was independently released on KLF Communications, the record label formed to distribute the work of Cauty's other project, The KLF.
Kristian "Kris" Weston is a British electronic musician, record producer and remixer best known for his work as a member of the Orb. Around the beginning of his career, he worked with Andrew Weatherall on remixes of Meat Beat Manifesto, remixed for Primal Scream, Saint Etienne, U2 and others. He was still a teen when working on the first few albums by the Orb.
U.F.Orb is the second studio album by English electronic music group the Orb. It was released on 6 July 1992 as their last work with record label Big Life. Upon its release, the album reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. The music database AllMusic described it as "the commercial and artistic peak of the ambient-house movement."
"Little Fluffy Clouds" is a single released by the British ambient house group the Orb. It was originally released in November 1990 on the record label Big Life and peaked at number 87 on the UK Singles Chart. The Orb also included it on their 1991 double album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. "Little Fluffy Clouds" was re-released several times with different B-sides, with its 1993 re-release reaching number 10 in the UK.
Andy Falconer is an English-born engineer, producer and artist mainly associated with electronic and ambient music. As well as his own musical project afp. He is also along with Alex Paterson a member of the band Sedibus, and former member of the bands The Orb and Apollo XI.
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U.F.Off: The Best of the Orb is a greatest hits album by the Orb released in 1998 by Island Records. There is both a double disc and single disc version, the latter being the first disc of the former. The second disc contains alternate mixes of many of the tracks on the first. Unlike many "greatest hits" releases that include the tracks as individual, stand-alone pieces, the tracks included here are seamlessly continuously-mixed like other DJ mixes.
"A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" is the debut single by the ambient house group the Orb. It was originally released in October 1989 and made the UK Singles Chart in 1990, peaking at #78. The 'Peel Session' version was also voted into #10 place in John Peel's 1990 Festive Fifty. In April 1991, it was released on the debut album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. The title is taken from a sound effects track from Blake's 7 on BBC Sound Effects No. 26 - Sci-Fi Sound Effects titled "The Core, A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain which Rules from the Centre of Ultraworld".
"Lovin' You" is a song recorded by American singer Minnie Riperton from her second studio album, Perfect Angel (1974). It was written by Riperton and her husband, Richard Rudolph, produced by Rudolph and Stevie Wonder, and released as the album's third single on November 29, 1974. The song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on April 5, 1975. Additionally, it reached number two on the UK Singles chart, and number three on the Billboard R&B chart. In the US, it ranked number 13 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1975.
The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential 1991 debut album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld pioneered the UK's nascent ambient house movement, while its UK chart-topping follow-up U.F.Orb represented the group's commercial peak.
The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld: Patterns and Textures is a 1992 video by the UK electronic music collective The Orb. It was filmed and recorded at a live performance at Brixton Fridge, London, 12 May 1991.
The discography of European electronic music group the Orb includes seventeen studio albums, one live album, six compilation albums, four remix albums, four mix albums, two video albums, ten extended plays, fifteen singles and twenty-two music videos. Founded by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty in 1988, the group's first release was the extended play Kiss EP, issued in May 1989. The single "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld", which marked the group's first foray into the ambient house genre, was released in October 1989 on Adam Morris and Martin Glover's record label WAU! Mr. Modo Recordings. It was later re-issued by Big Life and peaked at number 78 in the United Kingdom despite sample clearance issues. Following Cauty's departure from the group, the Orb signed a long-term recording contract with Big Life and released their debut studio album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld in April 1991. It peaked at number 29 in the United Kingdom and has since been recognized as a seminal album of the ambient house genre. "Little Fluffy Clouds" and "Perpetual Dawn" were released as singles from the album.
Moonbuilding 2703 AD is the thirteenth studio album from ambient house duo the Orb. It is the first album they released through the Kompakt label since the 2005 release of Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt. It was released on 22 June 2015.
Psydub is a fusion genre of electronic music that has its roots in psychedelic trance, ambient and dub music. Incorporated dub elements are melodic basslines, deep reggae roots and producing techniques like dynamically adding extensive echo, reverb, panoramic delay, and occasional dubbing of vocal or instrumental snippets from the original version or other works. An incorporated ambient element is an emphasis on tone and atmosphere. Incorporated psytrance elements are low-bass frequencies and hypnotic melodies and the use of samples. Those samples mostly contain references to drugs, parapsychology, extraterrestrial life, existentialism, out of body experiences, dreams, science, time travel, spirituality and similar mysterious or unconventional topics. Psydub is also highly influenced by the music of India.