The Orb
| The Orb | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Ambient , electronica , intelligent dance music |
| founding | 1988 |
| Website | www.theorb.com |
| Founding members | |
Keyboard , programming |
Dr. Alex Paterson |
Keyboard, programming |
Jimmy Cauty |
| Current occupation | |
Keyboard, programming |
Youth |
Keyboard, programming |
Kristian Weston |
Keyboard, programming |
Thomas Fehlmann |
| former members | |
Keyboard, programming |
Jimmy Cauty |
The Orb is a British musical band formed in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty of The KLF .
history
Originally the band consisted of Dr. Alex Paterson (real name Duncan Robert Alex Paterson, the initials of Duncan Robert result in the "doctorate") and Jimmy Cauty.
One of their first releases is the 23-minute long song A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Center of the Ultraworld , which The Orb became known in one fell swoop and made them icons of the British rave movement. The opus was characterized by a playful rocking understanding of electronic music and paved the way for bands like The Prodigy or Chemical Brothers . After that, Jimmy Cauty left The Orb and concentrated on his recently successful music project The KLF . Paterson built up a network of musicians with whom he played from then on under the name The Orb. Killing Joke member Youth , a school friend of Paterson's, took the place of Cauty and co-wrote the next hit single Little Fluffy Clouds in 1990 (based on rhythmically arranged samples from a Rickie Lee Jones interview).
In 1991 Kristian Weston (Thrash) joined the band. In the same year, The Orb's debut album, Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, was released. Thomas Fehlmann , Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy have also played here . Weston and Fehlmann became Paterson's constant companions over the next few years.
With the 1992 single Blue Room , they broke a record: with a length of almost 40 minutes, it was the longest single to ever top the British charts . Dr. Paterson lived out his psychedelic ideal here , but the next album UF Orb already announced a departure from the ambient house typical of early Orb .
The following albums, Pomme Fritz and Orbus Terrarum, disturbed many fans with their wild soundscapes and openly paid homage to Paterson's indie roots. On Orblivion , gloomy soundscapes continued to shape the album. Only in the new millennium did The Orb find their way back to their ambient house roots.
After Bicycles & Tricycles in 2004, the album Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Compact was released in 2005 .
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1991 | The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld | - |
UK29  (5 weeks)UK |
- | |
| 1992 | UFOrb | - |
UK1 (9 weeks) UK |
- | |
| 1993 | Live 93 | - |
UK23 (2 weeks)UK |
- | |
| 1994 | Pomme Fritz (The Orb's Little Album) | - |
UK6 (6 weeks) UK |
- |
EP with 6 tracks
|
| 1995 | Orbus Terrarum | - |
UK20 (4 weeks) UK |
- | |
| 1997 | Orblivion | - |
UK19 (4 weeks) UK |
US174 (1 week) US |
|
| 1998 | UFOff - The Best Of | - |
UK38 (3 weeks) UK |
- | |
| 2001 | Cydonia | - |
UK83 (1 week) UK |
- | |
| 2010 | Mettalic Spheres |
DE95 (1 week) DE |
UK12 (3 weeks) UK |
US73 (2 weeks) US |
featuring David Gilmour
|
| 2012 | The Observer in the Star House | - |
UK93 (1 week) UK |
- |
featuring Lee Scratch Perry
|
| 2015 | Moonbuilding 2703 AD | - |
UK90 (1 week) UK |
- | |
| 2018 | No sounds are out of bounds | - |
UK51 (1 week) UK |
- | |
| 2020 | Abolition of the Royal Familia | - |
UK62 (... weeks) UK |
- | |
More albums
- 1991: Aubrey Mixes (Ultraworld Excursions)
- 1996: Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty (The Orb Remix Project)
- 1997: Orbscure Trax
- 2002: Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty Part 2 (The Orb Remix Project)
- 2002: badorb.com Bless You
- 2003: Back to Mine (mix album)
- 2004: Bicycles & Tricycles
- 2005: Orbsessions
- 2005: Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Compact
- 2008: The Dream
- 2009: Baghdad Batteries
- 2011: C Batter C
- 2012: The Orbserver in the Star House (featuring Lee Perry )
- 2016: COW / Chill Out, World!
EPs
- 1989: Kiss EP
- 1991: Orb in Dub
- 1991: Peel Sessions
- 1996: The Peel Sessions
- 2002: Daleth of Elphame
- 2003: compassion
- 2004: plot
- 2005: comfort
- 2016: Alpine
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1990 | A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Center of the Ultraworld The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld |
UK78 (3 weeks) UK |
|
| Little Fluffy Clouds The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld |
UK10 (8 weeks) UK |
Highest ranking on re-entry in 1993
|
|
| 1991 | Perpetual Dawn The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld |
UK18 (6 weeks) UK |
Highest ranking on re-entry in 1994
|
| 1992 | Blue Room U.F. Orb |
UK8 (6 weeks) UK |
|
| Assassin |
UK12 (5 weeks) UK |
||
| 1995 | Oxbow Lakes Orbus Terrarum |
UK38 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| 1997 | Toxygene orblivion |
UK4 (4 weeks) UK |
|
| Asylum Orblivion |
UK20 (2 weeks) UK |
||
| 2001 | Once More Cydonia |
UK38 (2 weeks) UK |
More singles
- 2004: Aftermath
- 2007: Vuja De
- 2009: DDD (Dirty Disco Dub)
- 2012: Golden Clouds (featuring Lee Scratch Perry )
- 2012: Soulman (featuring Lee Scratch Perry)
- 2013: Ball of Fire (featuring Lee Scratch Perry)
Web links
- The Orb at Discogs (English)
- The Orb at Allmusic (English)
- Official website (English)
- Backside of The Orb: Orb Discography (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dave Simpson, How we made the Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds . In: The Guardian of June 7, 2016.
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK US
- ↑ Gold / platinum database (search) of the BPI (Great Britain)