In a post to the Orb list I asked about a bootleg CD called _Unidentified
Frequencies of Orb_, and someone replied with this great review, which I
figured would fit nicely on IDM-reviews....
Neil Hetrick
nh6957@wcuvax1.wcu.edu
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Subj: RE: the other _U.F.Orb_
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Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 11:05:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: mbconkli@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Mark Conklin)
Subject: Re: the other _U.F.Orb_
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at Jun 28, 95 11:00:58 pm
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Originally From: mbconkli@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Mark Conklin)
quoted 4 lines Is there anyone on here who has this bootleg and can comment on it (ie.> Is there anyone on here who has this bootleg and can comment on it (ie.
> sound quality, apparent availability, aesthetic appeal of the various
> mixes, etc.)?
>
I'll answer the easy questions first. The sound quality is good. Probably
recorded on DAT. The only problem is that its mixed kind of soft, so you'll
have to turn it up a bit more than your other cd's. I'm not sure of its overall
availability. I've seen it twice and I shop for cd's a lot, which makes me
assume that its pretty hard to find (I live in the Midwest though). BTW, I
think I paid $30 for it. The aesthetics are routine. Nothing special. Pictures
are from Adventures and pasted on some green and grey clouds. The booklet has a
picture of Fluffy with the track listing.
Now the harder part. Most of the mixes are good. I haven't a clue who remixed
them, although I doubt it was the Orb. One thing that was strange though...when
I saw the Orb play live a couple of weeks back, some of their live mixes were
strangely similar to some of the cuts on this boot. Heres a track by track FYI.
quoted 1 line Little Fluffy Clouds - Out of Ultraworld Mix> > Little Fluffy Clouds - Out of Ultraworld Mix
This is the worst mix of the disc. Its not bad, but its nothing that the other
remixes of the track haven't covered before. Add a synth part in the middle of
the track (just chords) and a slightly different drumtrack thats more complex
than the original version (if you have other LFC mixes though, the different
drum track is hardly noticable). Very dancey & upbeat. TT = 8:47
quoted 1 line Out Of Body Experience - Crack in the Sky Remix> > Out Of Body Experience - Crack in the Sky Remix
A good mix that adds drums to nearly the entire cut. Most of the vocal samples
are taken out, but the underwater flute is used extensively. An analog synth
sound is repeated midway through the track until the end that is similar to the
meat of a dancier Namlook tune. The ending of the track is very similar to the
original except for the addition of the weird synth sound. I like this version
better than the original most of the time. TT = 14:02
quoted 1 line UFOrb - Russian Intervention Mix> > UFOrb - Russian Intervention Mix
This mix is great. It starts similar to the original, but about 1 minute into
the track it adds a bossa nova beat before it kicks into the really intense,
upbeat, dancable part. Most of the vocal samples remain and some xtra ones are
added (including the Radio Moscow bit). The break down in the middle of this
remix is similar to the beginning of the original track, but then adds the nice
bossa nova beat again with the guy babbling something like "omm be dis a giza"
(I've never been able to figureout what he says, but you probably know which
sample I'm talking about). Once the song kicks back in full force the beat is
much chunkier than the original. The ending of the mix just gets spaced out and
distorted, which (believe it or not) sounds really cool. TT = 11:00
quoted 1 line Close Encounters.. - Lunatics Feel Love Mix> > Close Encounters.. - Lunatics Feel Love Mix
Up and Down, Fast and Slow, etc... The beginning of the remix is just like the
ending of the original except the remix has some footstep sounds which I don't
remember hearing before. Its a really ambient beginning and does a lot of
speaker switching. A couple of minutes into the tune the bass and hi-hat are
slowly faded in and than the tune totally changes tempo and goes upbeat. A 4/4
bass beat is added and its now a dancefloor jam. Some windchime sounds are
added and the bass line gets really wicked. But wait, its reggae now, just for
a few seconds though. Back to ambient weirdness with a slow dub beat. Back to
upbeat...you get the picture. This mix is all over the place. One of my
favorite cuts on the disc. Its incredibly unstructured. TT = 15:21
quoted 1 line Blue Room - Universum Mix> > Blue Room - Universum Mix
A spacey start not unlike the original 17:34 mix. Has some crashing wave sounds
and some vocal samples at the beginning ("Over the past few years...", the
rooster, etc). Doesn't take too long before the "aw ow wow" sample comes in. A
different drumbeat kicks in and then that unforgettable bass line kicks in and
that sample from Earth (Gaia) where the sinister character zapps the earth.
Lots of spacey, distorted samples thoughout. Dancable for the most part.
Weirder than other mixes I've heard of this track, but it keeps the major part
of the original intact. TT = 14:01
quoted 1 line Towers of Dub - Perpetual Twilight at Dawn Mix> > Towers of Dub - Perpetual Twilight at Dawn Mix
I swear that the Orb played this version live a on the Happy/Joy tour, but they
added a lot more samples and sounds and made it more uptempo. This mix starts
off sounding much like the TOD Ambient mix (minus the Lenny Bruce sample). The
harmonica and bass are added about 2:00 into this remix and than the "laughing
guy" sample from Perpetual Dawn is mixed in. In fact, I think its lifted
straight of the Perpetual Dawn (Ultrabass II) mix, music and all. This mix
doesn't do much, as there's not much altered from other mixes I've heard.
This mix wouldn't require much more than a 2 channel mixing board you could buy
at Radio Shack. Not hard to listen to, just nothing new.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the disc. Its not one that I bought,
listened to it once, and shelved it for a listen when I had nothing better to
play. I play it quite a bit...some tunes more than others of course.
MC
- Mark B. Conklin (MC)
= mbconkli@ilstu.edu
= mconklin@mail.ice.net
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