Here`s my opinion on the Orb:
The Orb were the first idm band I heard, and it was their music that
introduced me to this whole scene. This was back in summer 1991. I thought
that the "...Ultraworld" album was pure genius (I still do) and that "A Huge
...Brain" was excellent (I still do).
However, by the time their 2nd album came out I had heard a lot more
ambient/techno stuff and, in comparison, U F Orb seemed weak apart from OOBE
and U F Orb itself. Then, when I saw them live last November they weren`t as
good as they had been back in 1992 and Live 93 is a pretty transparent
marketing ploy to keep up interest in the band.
So, basically, I think that the Orb are `past it`, that they have nothing
new to offer and that they are just the commercial face of the
ambient/intelligent techno scene.
Also Alex Paterson is meant to be pretty obnoxious, and ignores the London
ambient scene totally (he wouldn`t even put Mixmaster Morris on the guest
list at Brixton) and I`m a better ambient DJ than him so maybe that makes me
a bit biased...
Brendan Nelson
Lost Transmission From Cowley
PS For whale noises on Orb tracks check out "Into the Fourth Dimension" on
the Peel Sessions mini-album. The track ends, there`s about 45 seconds of
just whale song, then a rendition of "I do like to be beside the seaside" on
a big cheesy organ like the ones at beaches (UK) or baseball games (USA).
PPS Clive Neil, Scott Nelson and Dom: your tapes of Cosmic Strings are in
the post now! Look out for Cosmic Strings in June/July on Worm Interface,
Ambient Soho`s record label!