U.F.Orb

U.F.Orb
Studio album by The Orb
Released July 6, 1992 (1992-07-06)
October 1, 2007 (2007-10-01) (15th Anniversary Edition)
Genre Electronica, ambient house, dub
Length 73:55
Label Big Life
Producer Orb, Steve Hillage, Youth
The Orb chronology
The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
(1991)		 U.F.Orb
(1992)		 Live 93
(1993)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Entertainment WeeklyA[3]
NME9/10[4]
Record Collector[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Select5/5[7]
Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10[8]
Uncut[9]
The Village VoiceB−[10]

U.F.Orb is the second studio album by ambient house/techno group The Orb. It was released in July 1992 and reached #1 on the UK Album Chart. It featured an edited version of The Orb's single "Blue Room". Noted graphic design group The Designers Republic designed the cover art.

Background

Orb member Kris Weston integrated his technical and creative expertise with Alex Paterson's Eno-influenced ambience on U.F.Orb, creating "drum and bass rhythms" with "velvet keyboards" and "rippling synth lines".[11] U.F.Orb reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart to the shock of critics, who were surprised that fans had embraced what journalists considered to be progressive rock.[12] Heavily influenced by The Orb and U.F.Orb in particular, many trip hop groups sprang up emulating The Orb's "chill-out blueprint".[13] U.F.Orb expresses The Orb's fascination with alien life with its bizarre sound samples and in the album's title itself.[14] The album's single, "Blue Room", is itself a reference to the supposed Blue Room of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which was heavily investigated as a possible UFO evidence holding room.[15]

"Blue Room", a near 17-minute piece, features bass playing by Jah Wobble and guitar by coproducer Steve Hillage. The full version of the song is 40 minutes and was released as a single. The initial UK vinyl release featured a limited edition which came in a sealed blue heavy PVC cover and featured two art prints and a bonus 12" of the soundtrack to the film The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld: Patterns and Textures.

On October 1, 2007, the album was reissued on two CDs as part of Universal Music's "Collector's Series". Although all the tracks are remastered, its release is to coincide with 15th anniversary of the album's release. The second CD includes remixes from the singles released around the period of the original album.

Track listing

Original album

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."O.O.B.E."  12:51
2."U.F.Orb"  6:08
Total length:18:59
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Blue Room"  17:34
Total length:17:34
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Towers of Dub"  15:00
Total length:15:00
Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Close Encounters"  10:27
2."Majestic"  11:06
3."Sticky End"  0:49
Total length:22:22

1992 US Double CD Edition

CD: Mercury 314 513 749-2 / CDP 804

Disc one
No.TitleLength
1."O.O.B.E."  12:51
2."U.F.Orb"  6:08
3."Blue Room"  17:34
4."Towers of Dub"  15:00
5."Close Encounters"  10:27
6."Majestic"  11:06
7."Sticky End"  0:49
Total length:73:55
Disc two
No.TitleLength
1."Blue Room (Edit)"  3:09
2."Blue Room (Remix)"  7:37
3."Assassin (The Oasis Of Rhythms Mix)"  15:14
4."Blue Room (Full Length)"  40:00
Total length:1:06:00

15th Anniversary Edition

CD: Universal / 5300703

Orbit One: U.F. Orb

  1. "O.O.B.E." – 12:51
  2. "U.F.Orb" – 6:08
  3. "Blue Room" – 17:34
  4. "Towers of Dub" – 15:00
  5. "Close Encounters" – 10:27
  6. "Majestic" – 11:06
  7. "Sticky End" – 0:49

Orbit Two: Remixes

  1. "O.O.B.E." (Andy Hughes Mix) - 11:58
  2. "Towers Of Dub" (Ambient Mix) - 10:14
  3. "Blue Room" (Ambient At Mark Angelos Mix) - 8:57
  4. "Close Encounters" (Ambient Mix 1) - 12:49
  5. "Majestic" (Mix 1) - 11:52
  6. "Assassin" (Chocolate Hills Of Bohol Mix) - 14:37

References

  1. ↑ Bush, John. "U.F.Orb – The Orb". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-857-12595-8.
  3. ↑ Svetkey, Benjamin (4 December 1992). "u.f.orb". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  4. ↑ George, Iestyn (7 April 1992). "The Orb – UF Orb". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Grady, Spencer (December 2007). "The Orb – UFOrb". Record Collector (343). Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  6. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 604–05. ISBN 0-743-20169-8.
  7. ↑ Perry, Andrew (August 1992). "The Orb: U F Orb". Select (26): 96.
  8. ↑ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  9. ↑ Uncut (p.115) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Peppered with surreal humour, hypnotic sound paintings like 'Close Encounters' and Top 10 single 'Blue Room' have barely dated."
  10. ↑ Christgau, Robert (November 23, 1993). "Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  11. ↑ Prendergast, Mark (2003). The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Moby-The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. pp. 407–412. ISBN 1-58234-323-3.
  12. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (1993-04-09). "Breakdown". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ Shapiro, Peter (1999). The Rough Guide to Drum 'n' Bass. Rough Guides. pp. 327–329. ISBN 1-85828-433-3.
  14. ↑ Holthouse, David (1997-04-30). "Eye of the Orb". Phoenix New Times.
  15. ↑ Sandall, Robert (1992-07-12). "Hippie dippie draw". The Times.
Preceded by
Back to Front by Lionel Richie		 UK number one album
July 18, 1992 – July 24, 1992 		Succeeded by
Greatest Hits: 1966-1992 by Neil Diamond
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