Although many argue that The Orb’s debut album, The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, released in 1991, was their best, this did not stop the group from reaching new heights afterwards. This album, to the surprise of many, actually reached #1 on the UK charts when Nirvana and Grunge were rapidly gaining popularity, alongside other music trends of the time. However, it seemed that The Orb was boldly predicting the beginning of the popularity of more diverse EDM-based music, past the Acid House of the late 1980s and the UK Hardcore scene of the early 1990s. This is an interesting release in the fact that it features on the track Blue Room both the phenomenal bassist Jah Wobble and guitars by Steve Hillage. That says a lot about The Orb wanting to invite the best of the best to perfect this album. The album itself was recorded in Metalworks Studio in Toronto, Canada and was released on 6 July 1992 on Big Life Records. It was produced by The Orb, Steve Hillage and Youth. The main album consists of seven tracks and runs for over 73 minutes, itself not short of a listening experience. Many reissues out there include additional tracks, namely remixes, but we will be focusing on the main recordings on this album for this review. Let’s go back to 1992 and hear exactly what the fuss was about.

1. O.O.B.E. runs for nearly 13 minutes. It begins with the sound of wind and textures combined. It launches into a dark exploration tune that sounds deep. Soon enough, ethereal sounds and minor key melodies emerge. It sounds grand and fantastic. The Orb make outer space sound very inviting indeed. This is music to lie in bed, eyes closed and with headphones on. Still, it is seriously good to hear. Other Eastern melodies emerge, which sound warm and welcoming throughout. A fine piece of music that isn’t dull or unintellectual; it just sounds brilliant and divine throughout. It has some sampled vocals about the potential construct of the world and its illusion based presence. No doubt fans of The Matrix and other similar films will dig this sort of listening experience. It continues to shift and emerge into some different and amazing sounds throughout. This is magical music of the sort that is rare today. Compared to what is popular now in both the UK and abroad, this music is light years ahead of most postmodern Pop Music. This has so many pretty, futuristic and wonderful listening moments about it all that it never bores one. The sampled vocals and Jean-Michel Jarre styled construction musically is absolutely fantastic. Like a Psychedelic trip, it sounds phenomenal and unforgettable in a musical sense, especially if you experience musical synesthesia. In the middle of this tune are some digital bleeps, wind instrumentation and progressive melodies to boot. A real joy and a fantastic listen throughout. It is music that calms the soul, and sends you into both inner and outer space. It eventually changes into a soulful and imaginative section with loops and sounds that are indescribably awesome. All in all, a fantastic tune with beeps, bleeps and sonic textures that will blow your mind from listening to it all. This launches into an Acid House-based melodic loop in the second half of this track, loaded with delay and other sounds to match. Light years ahead of the competition, The Orb impresses the listener. This continues to morph and change, and extra rhythmic melodies are added into the mix. A fantastic trip into the musically unknown. This sounds surreal, psychedelic and fascinating throughout. A stream of music consciousness of imaginative proportions. The music stops with the main vocal sample playing away. This is followed by near silence, then by some unusual Indian style sounds, mainly singing and sitar, alongside some other interesting textures. A truly amazing listening experience that sounds consistently good. Towards the end are some trippy Electronic sounds, followed by the singing again, and other random samples and sonic creations. This continues up to the end, with the sound of billiards being hit. It finishes up nicely, segueing into the next track.

2. U.F.Orb begins with trippy chimes and the sound of water. This is beyond Psychedelic in its listening experience. In actual fact, it sounds like the most potent DMT trip that you will ever take in a music sense. Melodies that are stereo panned enter, and this track continues along in an amazingly extraordinary listening experience. This has some randomly sampled voices alongside some strange and melodic Electronic sounds. Again, this sounds welcome and amazing throughout. Soon enough, 4/4 beats enter, and this tune gets grooving along nicely. This has some samples about UFOs and other Techno styled music elements to get you grooving away. A seriously enjoyable listen. Beats, textures and bongo drums follow, and we go raving with The Orb. Nonetheless, this is an absolutely fantastic listen throughout. In the midsection of this track, we are pleasantly dancing away to this brilliant music. Certainly, this is one of the greatest albums of all time to listen to, in its respective field. It does sound fresh, imaginative and amazing. The percussion-based textures are sweet, enjoyable and exciting. This album never gets at all dull or boring, not for a moment. A pulsating and energetic tune that sounds exciting and interesting, with some interesting cut-up editing, loops and rhythmic electronic melodies to match. Towards the end, this becomes a lot more minimal and quickly wraps up with some sweep-delayed samples. It segues gently into the next track.

3. Blue Room is the centrepiece of this album, running for over 17 minutes. It begins with sonic digital bleeps of various textures and frequencies, sounding amazing. Soon enough, the sound of crashing waves emerges, and this tune moves along nicely. Some distant guitar work emerges as well by Steve Hillage. The tune at this stage is mostly bleeps and textures, however. It does sound seriously amazing, all the same. There are some siren samples and other textures that sound dark and unsettling in this tune at this point. It is otherworldly, yet intellectually and amazingly brilliant to listen to. This sounds incredibly otherworldly. Some randomly liquid and water sounds emerge, and these sounds are extremely Pink Floydian in structure and nature. A slight sense of rhythmic nature is present here as well. This is a great creation of the most wonderfully mindblowing sounds, loops and textures throughout. R2D2 is sampled as well. This is gorgeous and wonderfully intellectual music of the best kind. This is also freeform and extremely Psychedelic in nature. Soon enough, it enters into another section of amazing and original melodies that sound gentle and warm. Towards the middle is a gentle and gradual change into UFO sounds, delayed vocals and other random Electronic noises to match it all. Nonetheless, it does sound wonderful and fantastic throughout. An absolutely spacey and tripped-out tune. This has many interesting and well-executed sonic fragments. In fact, this is so well done that it may inspire you to make Electronic Music of your own after hearing it all. As we gradually progress on through this listen, it sounds refreshingly interesting and will get you thinking about music from a whole new perspective. All in all, this is extremely fantastic. In the midsection are watery loops, delayed female harmonies and a listening experience like no other. A fine and interesting listen with some of the most unusual and sweet electronic sounds throughout. Soon enough, 4/4 beats enter at the beginning of the second half of this track, sounding exciting and propelling us into the next phase of this tune. This continues on wonderfully. The harmonies and sounds throughout are top. This continues on with Jah Wobble’s deep bass guitar work, which is deep, borderline subsonic and precise. 4/4 beats resume, and this enjoyably concise tune keeps on going nicely, well on into the second half of the track. An awesome and sweet tune, and something that listeners both young and old can truly appreciate. This grooves along nicely and continues to build and shape a listening experience that sounds both essential and unique to hear. The tune sounds amazing and from the year 3000 throughout. As we go on, some old TV samples and other wacky sounds emerge. A truly wonderful, fantastic track to listen to. Midway through the second half are some reversed sounds and Atari 2600-style textures that sound amazing, although the latter is actually digitised guitar by Steve Hillage. Nonetheless, this sounds good. It continues on well, and we explore the possibilities of the sonic landscapes of humanity. Towards the end, the percussive 4/4 beats return along with some interesting distorted bongo percussion that sounds cool. The beats segue out, followed by a section of watery brilliance from earlier on in this piece. Again, brilliant. A sampled beast screaming in the background, alongside other random trippy sounds, follows. This musical brilliance continues, and we hear watery sounds and rushes of sound conclude this over 17-minute-long piece. Excellent from start to finish. It segues into the next track.

4. Towers Of Dub is 15 minutes long, so strap yourselves in. It has a rather humorous recording that is obviously a satirical section of dialogue, but intellectually delivered for those listeners who get it. There are some sound effects on the vocals. Soon enough, a delayed dog bark enters, and other sounds emerge. The tune gets going nicely at hand, and it sounds gentle, imaginative and more Psychedelic than any of the Hippies could ever dream of, in a musical context. This eventually continues on into a gloriously arranged and crafted tune with some original and interesting sounds throughout. A more structured EDM piece emerges with harmonica thrown into it all. This music is, above all, a real winner. Some subsonic and simple bass enters, alongside other brilliant digital sounds. Jah Wobble is obviously a contributor to this piece. It sounds life-affirming, joyous and musically fantastic to listen to. A genuine trip through what humans can make musically if they have a genius about what they are doing. The deep bassline, delayed sounds and other samples make for the most Psychedelic Dub Music piece that you will ever hear. Never a dull moment is present, either. This tune is a winner. Soon enough, a breakdown with loads of harmonica emerges, before the bass kicks in again. This is an inspired and fantastic listen throughout. Very, very catchy as well. This is one of the best moments from a brilliant album to listen to. Just before the midsection, it becomes more sparse musically, except for the heavy Dub bassline. An absolute winner to listen to. Sensationally amazing. This is a sonic adventure that all must hear. The groovy, subsonic bassline continues our journey along nicely, and sounds like a thriller. As the second half of this tune emerges, cut-up sounds of dog barking return, complete with stop/start sections of samples and melodic brilliance. This changes with some emphasis for maximum effect throughout. The bassline is worth hearing for days on end. It is simply excellent. Tripped out sounds and samples throughout are really cool. A really awesome and fun listen throughout. This is music from the future that you will not want to miss. A world-class standard is applied to everything on this album. In retrospect, one can hear why this topped the UK charts. It is simply fantastic and so well done that you will be hooked on every single moment. The second half continues on with edited dog barks, treated samples, that iconic bassline, and a very interesting Psychedelic and Electronic feel to it all. Not bad for a 15-minute-long epic. Amazingly fluid music. As we reach near the end, this music continues to surprise and dazzle the listener with its stop/start time signatures and approach. The harmonica returns, which sounds really cool. An absolutely wonderful listen. The main section of music eventually fades out, replaced with an outro. This tune eventually comes to a minimalistic conclusion that sounds sweet and enjoyable. Modified flanger sound effects emerge right at the end, and this moves smoothly to segue into the next track.

5. Close Encounters is a reference to the famous 1977 film Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. It is a 10-minute-long piece. It begins with laser-styled sounds, trippy UFO-style effects and an eerie sounding music backdrop. Things begin to speed up tempo-wise a bit, although this is still very much based on a rhythmic structure. Some interesting melodies emerge, and this tune becomes alive. A deep and interesting listening experience that is very much Ambient Techno at its finest. All in all, this continues the excellence of this very flawless album. 4/4 kick drum beats enter, and this tune gets rather danceable. Some Psychedelic chimes enter as well. This is a stunning piece of artistic and well-served music. Bongo drum beats enter to match this as well. A tremendously sweet and wonderful tune with no words or lyrics, just imaginative and intelligent textures and beats for those of you who love to hear some fresh EDM-based Electronic Music. A seriously great tune to listen to. The attention to detail throughout is seriously amazing, and it sounds very much advanced in its own way. Towards the middle of this track, some watery sounds emerge, alongside a minimalist and precise EDM Techno-styled tune. It sounds beyond awesome; it is life-changing upon hearing it. A sensational and groundbreaking listen. The midsection continues this tune very nicely, and it has some sweet, ethereal textures. The track itself is very unique musically. In the second half, there is a neat mixture of pounding 4/4 beats, percussion, trippy textures and Acid House-based liquid sounds. An absolutely wonderful tune that sounds amazing to this very day. This music is spacey, electronic, tripped out and danceable. There is a ton of layers of sound present here, including a sample of an old phone ringing. This emerges into a section with people sampled from a film of sorts, and the music stops for a bit. This is quickly followed by some stereo panning, followed by some unusual male harmonies that are like Buddhist chanting. This is followed by a deep, dark bass-driven section, and it sounds really great. The section here likely inspired FSOL to do their own artistic electronic works. This continues right up to the end of it all, and the chanting continues, alongside other dark and spacey textures, before seguing into the next track.

6. Majestic is an 11-minute-plus-long track. It begins with some digitally edited vocal samples, Kookaburras and a voice repeating, “Wake up!” This is followed by some funky, glassy textures. Some vocals singing away emerge as well, and this tune launches into a detailed yet concise piece of music with Roland TR-808 and TR-909 styled beats. This is a fabulous tune, and the likes of what 808 State themselves would be jealous of making. A decent, solidly Electronic Music piece that never fails to impress. The sounds present in this tune are indescribably good to listen to. This is a much more danceable piece of music than anything before it on this album. In any case, this is EDM Music to sit down and think with, rather than pill-popping party music to rave on. The original and mindblowing sounds throughout this track prove a point that, even in today’s 21st-century computer-run world, you can make some music with machines that sounds original, exciting and amazing throughout. A very interesting tune with a heavy bassline breakdown, before percussion and drum sounds propel this tune along nicely towards the midsection of the song. A grand and brilliant sounding track. The consistency of this album is absolutely amazing, and even on the more minimal music moments, there are no boring or lacking sections. Case in point, this track. The midsection has some female vocals followed by deep, driving basslines and trippy drum sounds. Throughout the second half of this track, the 4/4 beats return once more, and this gentle yet driven tune is truly an excellent and inspired listening experience. Soon enough, a female voice sampled about being on TV emerges, and this essential listen emerges to be a wonderful and emotionally moving one, in a positive way. All in all, this music was #1 in the UK at the time for a real reason: it was cutting edge. The minor key melodies that follow sound really cool, and this is followed by a sampled phone conversation. As we gradually approach the end of it all, this has delayed melodies and some trippy textures to boot. A minimal listening experience is right at the end, with spare and cut-up hi-hats, alongside washes of vocals. Soon enough, tripped-out drums enter, followed by reverberated vocals. This is a very good way to wrap up this track. It finishes with water sounds and wind instrumentation, before seguing into the last track on the album.

7. Sticky End is only 50 seconds long. It sounds as though it is a waterfall being recorded underwater. Nonetheless, this is a good conclusion to a fantastic album, with squelching sounds thrown in for good measure. Top.

This album is an absolute gem to listen to. From beginning to end, it is a seriously underrated and undervalued masterpiece that has some brilliant and excellent music moments throughout. Alongside their debut album, this release by The Orb is an essential listening experience throughout. Not a dull nor poor listening moment is present. Yes, do give this album a listen. It is the equivalent of a DMT trip set to music, and is life-changing.

The peak of Ambient-based Techno Music.

9/10