[Orb bio by Heinz Reese]

THE ORB - AMBIENT DUB HIPPY RAVE
1989 - 1994

Ambient Beginnings 

It all began at EG Records & Music. In the mid 1980s, undisputed ambient
overlord Brian Eno founded his revolutionary record label and laid the
groundwork for the Orb's future collaborations. But before all that, it
began with the musical imaginations of two young men who were buddies in
Church-run high school and wound up at EG Records together. The first of
the duo was signed to Brian Eno's legendary ambient showcase as a bassist
for the most important punk band of all time. His name is M. Glover (but he
has henceforth referred to himself only as Youth), and his band was Killing
Joke.  The second of the two jumped on the bandwagon as the drumtech roadie
for that band.  His name is Alex Paterson.

Killing Joke revolutionised the punk scene by transforming it from a self-
destructive adolescent protest gimmick into mature social criticism.
During their profoundly influential career, the Joke dabbled equally in
ambient soundscapes as they did in biting, intelligent rock (most
importantly in songs like "Love Like Blood", "Wardance", and their cult hit
"Requiem"). Inevitably, the band fractured on the classic 'ego-war'
grounds, and Youth happily dumped his burgeoning 'big rock star' stage
posturing to pursue a more faceless career as a producer.

What About Us?

Youth joined forces with guitarist Jimmy Cauty of the newly-conceived KLF
Communications and bassist Guy Pratt in the ambient pop band Brilliant,
who tongue-in- cheek approach foreshadowed much of the Orb's future
hijinks. Alex Paterson continued with Brilliant in his roadie capacity.
After and due to his stint as Youth's sidekick, Alex was signed to EG as an
A&R rep. His travels took him around the globe, where he met with many of
his future Orb collaborators, among them German electronic music boffin
Thomas Fehlmann of Teutonic Beats, Marathon (now Time Unlimited), and
Fischerman's Friend (who were to become Sun Electric). Alex joined up with
Thomas in 1989 in Berlin to forge an enduring musical friendship. At around
the same time, a brilliant teenager (who had managed to fluke a job as a
tea boy in a recording studio when he left school - ironically, another
Church-run institution) was pioneering electronic dance music with
techno-tricksters Fortran 5, and toiling in the studio as an engineer for
renowned British DJ Mark Angelo. His name is Kristian Weston.

When Brilliant turned in, Youth and Alex founded and became co-owners of
the record label WAU! Mr Modo (What About Us!; Mr Modo being Alex's
manager, Adam Morris, the third partner). At first designed to showcase
their own music, Alex, Youth, and Adam's label soon became the watershed
for independent ambient and house music.  Their small roster grew to
embrace several different acts, and, soon enough, enlisted the aid of Kris
Weston as a remixer. Having a record label, they now needed a place to
record.  Jimmy Cauty conceived his Trancentral studio, and the Orb began to
take shape.

Chill Out

DJ Paul Oakenfold awarded Alex and Jimmy with their own floor at the Land
Of Oz in his seminal Heaven nightclub. The duo turned it into the
first-ever 'chill out' room, mixing together hours of ambient music and
found sounds culled from soundtracks, films, and records like Rainbow Dome
Musick by 70s progressive rock legend Steve Hillage, founding member of
Gong. Little did Alex know that Hillage would one day step into the Land Of
Oz. When Alex meet Steve, their combined musical interest spawned a
collaboration called System 7 (which was to come together in 1991, named
for a new operating system on the Apple Macintosh Computer), first
consisting of a myriad collaborations including Alex, Steve Hillage,
Miquette Giraudy of Gong, Youth, Kris Weston, Steve Waddington of the
Beloved, and Paul Oakenfold.

At Trancentral, the groundwork for the Orb and the KLF was being laid in
the way of Jimmy and Alex's ambient improvisationals. On Sundays, partly to
put their heads back together from Friday and Saturday night, Alex and
Jimmy improvised hour-long mixing sessions at the Trancentral studio. From
these sessions came the original versions of three tracks that would all go
on to become top ten dance hits two years later.  Those were "What Time Is
Love?", "3 A.M. Eternal", and "Last Train To Trancentral" - the KLF's
future 'Stadium House Trilogy'. Deejaying for a six hour stretch at
Trancentral's 'Ambiathon', Alex turned out a large chunk of what is found
on the KLF's groundbreaking first album, "Chill Out", a work that virtually
defined the term that it uses for a title. Several early Orb projects also
resulted from the Trancentral sessions.

The Orb Is Born

Watching Woody Allen's "Sleeper", Alex Paterson listened to people crying
out for the Orgasmatron: "the orb, the orb, give me the orb! I want the
orb!". He decided it would be a well smart name for a band. He also decided
that what he and Jimmy had been cooking up in Trancentral would be good
enough to market.

The Trancentral studio consisted solely of an eight-track Akai console, an
OBX organ, and a 303 drum machine. Youth's "Eternity Project One", a
compilation designed to showcase the wellspring of talent gathered on WAU!
Mr Modo, was put together over several sessions at Trancentral. The Orb's
first musical outing, "Tripping On Sunshine", described by Alex Paterson as
"a joke", saw its release on the project.  Apparently, this song, a goofy
live improv, was recorded rather uniquely; "we used to take the studio
apart and stick it in the air. Then we'd lay on the floor and mix
upside-down", Alex says.  Among the cross-section of people to hear the
Eternity Project was fashion designer Calvin Klein, who promptly bought the
name 'eternity' to use with his line of colognes and perfumes.

Kiss Your Love

Next came a tribute to New York's pioneering ambient/house radio station
KISS FM, whose innovation was saluted by Alex and Jimmy by way of generous
sampling.  "Kiss Your Love" became the Orb's first release, "The Kiss EP".
On the record, Jimmy and Alex were credited as Rockman Rock and LX Dee. The
record quickly sold out of its 949 first pressing copies and was deleted;
there has never been a reissue. The track itself, completely unlike any
subsequent Orb material, is just a series of samples from KISS FM thrown
together with a melody pilfered from the song "Prepare To Energize" by
Torch Song, a band William Orbit was part of in the early 80s. It pales in
comparison to everything else they have done.

Pulsating Brain

The token Orb track, "A Huge Ever-Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From
The Centre Of The Ultraworld (Loving You)" was the next project by Alex
and Jimmy, a gorgeous 22-minute collage of choral voices from Grace Jones'
"Slave To The Rhythm", Minnie Ripperton's soul classic "Loving You", and an
unforgettable analogue synth line that inspired DJs to proclaim it the
first 'post-rave' house track. This song will be remembered as the anthem
of ambience in years to come. Alex says it was hard to persuade Jimmy to
take the beat off the track, but he ultimately convinced him.

WAU! Mr Modo mailed out 100 white label 12"s to DJs and radio stations
like KISS FM; the feedback they received was either ecstatic or disgusted.
Lawyers jumped on the sample of Ripperton, so the Orb followed up the
success of the first 12"  with a remix 12" that had a dancier version of
the song on it. The vocals for the new version were provided by an imitator
who could not properly match Minnie's vocal pyrotechnics. The longest mix
of "Pulsating Brain" broke the UK Gallup rules for length, which stated
that a single should not exceed 20 minutes. It went unnoticed until the
record entered the top 50.  When the original 12"s went out of print, the
Orb made a licensing deal with Jaz Summers' record label Big Life to do a
reissue. Big Life re-pressed the 12"s and a new CD, chopping off the last
four minutes of the song to appease Gallup. This act, by which Big Life
took the reins of Orb distribution, signalled a change that would prove
problematic in the future. The Orb recorded their best interpretation of
"Loving You" for BBC Radio 1's John Peel on December 3, 1989 - a live
in-the-studio mix.

Space

The seeds for the Orb's debut album Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld were
planted with an aborted project called "Space", recorded in early 1990 and
containing Alex and Jimmy's prototype versions of "Fluffy Clouds",
"Supernova At The End Of The Rainbow", and others. At this time, a dispute
developed between the two members of the Orb. Jimmy apparently saw Alex as
merely a DJ, and Alex wanted more musical input.  They split over this, and
Jimmy omitted Alex's contributions to the "Space"  album (including the
song titles) and rerecorded it, releasing the work under the band name
Space. Following the non-release of the original "Space" and a planned
triple album on Cauty's KLF Communications label, Alex and Jimmy parted
company in mid-1990, leaving behind them a wealth of early work and remixes
for a host of bands.  Jimmy hooked up with ex-WEA A&R rep Bill Drummond and
set to work. They almost immediately released the KLF's highly-acclaimed
album, "Chill Out", whose "Madrugada Eterna" chord structure is a direct
offshoot of the Orb's "Loving You".

Little Fluffy Clouds

Alex and Youth moved into a flat in Battersea in the former neighbourhood
of DJ Andy Weatherall, who lived there when founding Boys Own Productions
with Cymon Eckel. The two wrote "Little Fluffy Clouds", the most well-known
Orb track.  The song's main sample is from an interview that LeVar Burton
did with Rickie Lee Jones on PBS's Reading Rainbow. She reflects about her
childhood memories, including what she calls the "most beautiful skies" in
Arizona. Jones reacted negatively to the sampling, and Big Life settled the
matter out of court; the Orb were unwilling to omit the sample because it
is so intrinsic to the song. Also among the samples are Ennio Morricone's
harmonica from his score to Once Upon A Time In The West, and Pat Metheny's
"12 Guitars". The combined effect of creative sampling and catchy music
results in what is one of the most unique dance singles of all time.
"Little Fluffy Clouds" was released as a single in the UK, and was soon
heard in North America.

Orb In Full Effect

When Youth and Alex headed into the studio to remix "Little Fluffy
Clouds", 18 year-old sound engineer Kristian Weston came on board to
contribute his prodigious talent. Kris had left Fortran 5 and been working
on remixes for WAU! Mr Modo in the interim, including interpretations of
"Hotel California" by Jam On The Mutha (a one-time collaboration between
Alex and Youth). Alex and Kris hit it off, and the Orb's new pairing was
established. Youth awarded Mr Weston the moniker Thrash as a poke at his
past inclination to thrash metal, and Kris went on to work in full
partnership with Alex, eventually becoming the driving musical influence in
the band.

Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld

In the upper purple lounge of that Battersea flat, Youth, Alex, and Thrash
assembled the concept of "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld", culling the
aid of the full Orb posse. Among them were Thomas Fehlmann, ex-Gong
members Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, ex-PiL bass god Jah Wobble,
Brilliant bassist Guy Pratt, Tom Green, and Andy Falconer. The Orb released
their first 'real' LP in 1991 on Big Life Records, completely redefining
the importance of ambient music and gaining praise and dissent from critics
worldwide. It moved to a national top 30 chart position.

Alex talks about the production of the LP: "I still had a day job, though
Big Life gave me a budget of 25,000 to make a double album. I eventually
did it for 23,500...the idea was to integrate them all (songs) with lots of
strange noises...". The cover of "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld" was a
subtle hint to buyers: the Battersea power station, made famous by Pink
Floyd's "Animals" album cover, stood bold in purple and magenta. The Orb
had originally planned to fly an inflatable dolphin over the station as a
parody of Floyd's pig, but they've made up for it with their latest live
album (see below).

The Americanisation of Orb music began with the US release of "Little
Fluffy Clouds", on which Big Life called in dance artists Coldcut to remix
the song.  Alex was not happy with the mixes, however: "they're crap.
That's Big Life remixing behind our backs". Collectors do not share Alex's
sentiments; because the US single has been out of print for a long time, it
is a prized item. Further commercialisation of Orb music resulted in the
transformation of "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld" from a double album
(as it was in its original form in the UK) to a terrible single-disc
cut-and-paste job for the U.S.  The Americans couldn't fathom releasing a
double album from an unknown artist. Alex explains: "they missed out on a
lot. They wanted to cut down all ten tracks and make it into a single
album, with five tracks a side. How do you cut a track like 'Spanish
Castles In Space' down into anything? It is what it is...the whole of side
two is missing". The U.S.  release took eight of the original tracks,
slashed out "Back Side Of The Moon" and "Spanish Castles In Space", and
opted for a 4-minute version of "Star 6 & 7 8 9" and a silly 4-minute pop
version of "Perpetual Dawn" (see below).

Pollution Statement?

On May 4th, 1992, the Orb received a phone call from the American Lung
Association during its "Blue Sky" campaign for Clean Air Week. They were
congratulated on their skill in bringing attention to the problem of
pollution with the video for "Little Fluffy Clouds". Alex and Kris were
baffled, but nonetheless somewhat honoured to be among the other recognised
artists (Julian Lennon, Alabama, the Grateful Dead, the B- 52s, Midnight
Oil, Talking Heads, and Santana). The video for "Little Fluffy Clouds"
consists of dolphins floating through brightly-coloured cloud formations
in space.

Perpetual Dawn

"Perpetual Dawn" was the next single to be released. Long an issue of
contention among Orb fans, "Perpetual Dawn" is the Orb track most perverted
for North American audiences. The original version on the UK album is over
9 minutes long, and primarily ambient. The American version, mixed by
Youth, adds vocals in the verse-chorus format, and eliminates all aspects
of the true dub reggae style used in the original.  This interpretation,
which, ironically, turned a lot of people unwittingly onto the band, is
cited as the worst Orb track ever, surpassing even the directionless "Kiss
Your Love". The "Perpetual Dawn" single has recently been reissued in all
of its UK formats, including a special picture-disc 12".

A Taste Of Things To Come

As one of the formats for the "Perpetual Dawn" single release, the Orb
offered "Orb In Dub", a limited edition 12" EP with DJ Andy Weatherall's
'Ultrabass II' remix of "Perpetual Dawn" (available elsewhere only on the
US release of Perpetual Dawn) and a new track called "Towers Of Dub
(Ambient Mix)". Written by the Orb with Thomas Fehlmann, the latter of the
two would become a highlight of the Orb's second album, and the choice by
many fans as favourite track. On this EP, "Towers Of Dub"  begins with a
long, intricately layered cascade of bell-like sounds, which eventually
leads into an ambling dub beat supported by bass guitar. Samples of a
comedy skit called "The Hippy And The Redneck" by Jaeger and Evans
punctuate the thick soundscape. The final sound in the mix is a frantic
loop of a dog bark, which would become the hilarious sample featured in
the later version (see below).

"Towers Of Dub" signified a fundamental change in direction with the Orb's
sound. Throughout Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld and its accompanying
releases, they had crafted an obscure sample-based mix that evoked images
of outer space, trips to the moon, and interplanetary exploration. "Towers
Of Dub" had none of that escapism.  Here, the Orb were digging for roots
and discovering a warmer, prettier sound.

Peel Sessions and Aubrey Mixes

The Orb issued the results of their live recordings for late-night radio
show host John Peel on an album called "Peel Sessions" in October of 1991.
This LP featured the mix of "Pulsating Brain" recorded two years previous,
plus two other interpretations recorded in 1991 ("Back Side Of The Moon
(Tranquility Lunar Orbit)" and "Into The Fourth Dimension (Essenes In
Starlight)"). These versions were entirely ambient in nature. They
abandoned the beats that tightened parts of "Adventures Beyond The
Ultraworld" together, and opted for a more free-form means of collage.

In December of 1991, the Orb released an album and deleted it on the same
day, immediately making it one of the most sought-after collectors' items
by the band. "Aubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld Excursions" culled both
unreleased mixes and those that had found their way onto US singles,
including Pal Joey's interpretation of "Little Fluffy Clouds" and Thomas
Fehlmann's remix of "Outlands". Also included was the 'January Mix 3' of
"Perpetual Dawn", with samples from "Dueling Banjos", music from the film
Deliverance.  There is a joke in the title of the album: 'Aubrey Mixes' is
a play on the British accent - how one would say 'orb remixes' as
'aubremixes'. "Aubrey Mixes" was eventually picked up by Caroline records
in the US, and Peel Sessions by Dutch East India Trading, so rarity was
defeated until both pressings went out of print. Ironically, the cover was
another Floyd parody, this time from an unused proof cover for the
"Animals" LP (the Battersea power station floating in space). "Aubrey
Mixes" is rumoured to have been re-released.

Blue Room

In 1991, Gallup modified the rules concerning the length of singles in the
charts - now, only if a song exceeded forty minutes in length, would it be
disqualified from chart contention. The Orb responded with their epic
masterpiece, "Blue Room", clocking in just under the mark at 39 minutes and
fifty-eight seconds as the longest single ever created.  Written by Steve
Hillage and Miquette Giraudy (of Gong and System 7 fame), Alex and Kris,
and Fraser and Jah Wobble, "Blue Room" was a collaborative effort.
Released in the UK as a two-CD set, and in Germany on one CD, it never saw
a US release except as a 12" and a CD promo included in early copies of the
US U.F.Orb LP.

The single entered the charts and went as high as position 8, which
garnered the Orb a spot on Top Of The Pops. Alex muses, tongue firmly in
cheek, about the experience: "the last thing we want to do is go on Top Of
The Pops. How degrading can you get?" Of course, the Orb are not very good
pop stars. They agreed to the appearance for a laugh (they were filmed
playing chess on a stage bathed in laser light), and ended up having a
difficult time with it: "the whole show was like 'This Is Spinal Tap'. You
get shouted at for moving. We nearly got thrown off the set. I slipped, my
chair went back, and Kris got up to see if I was alright and there was
uproar: 'don't move!'.  But that's the music business establishment for
you. It's really nice, really gorgeous. It really makes you want to become
pop stars. It makes you feel you want to be with them".  Needless to say,
Top Of The Pops played a pathetic 3-minute edit of "Blue Room".

The song itself is a brilliant work, encompassing sounds from all around
the world in its scope (the British air-raid siren, wildcats from Tibet,
Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday" to Kennedy, recordings of the
first-ever spacewalk on Gemini 4 - "the flight director says 'get back
in'", and a voice that is eerily reminiscent of Roger Rabbit).  However,
the obvious samples do not make the piece. The Orb was now moving in a
different direction, taking everyday noises and natural sounds and using
them as instruments. Alex explains: "the first Orb album was a
sample-spotter's dream. But we're now into the idea of taking weird noises
and making them sound vaguely musical. It's just a slightly more
intelligent approach to sampling. We do things like turning the pages of a
book and treating the tape to produce a hi-hat, and using cutlery or
scissors or spinning coins as percussion. We once used two swords. Thrash
and I had a fight with them in the studio. That was fun. Apart from the
fact I almost killed Thrash".

The origin of the song's name is interesting and frightening. At the
Wright- Patterson Air Force Base in America, there is a special compound
called Hangar 18, in which the U.S. government allegedly stores, documents,
and maintains the remains and survivors from UFO crashes. Hangar 18 is
called the Blue Room.

U.F.Orb

This album, the Orb's second, entered the the UK charts at number 1, a
spot it deserves whole-heartedly. Like "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld"
was the definitive record for ambient house, "U.F.Orb" was the definitive
record for ambient dub. The six songs on the LP showed fully how the Orb
had grown from a "Sunday band making strange, 303 Oberheimer-type acid
house music" (Alex's words) to a first-class, cerebral well of lush,
fascinating sound. Every song is an aural journey through which the
listener moves and learns. One does not listen to this album; one
experiences it.

Three editions of the album were released in the UK, and another variation
in the US. The UK releases consisted of the standard album set, a
two-record set with two art prints sealed in a black vinyl sleeve, and a
triple-LP package that included a live record ("Adventures Beyond The
Ultraworld: Patterns and Textures", a digitally-remastered recording from
a live show at London's Brixton Fridge). Early copies of the US release
included a promo CD featuring the full version of "Blue Room", a "Blue
Room"  remix, the edit from the Top Of The Pops show, and a new track
called "Assassin"  (see below).

As a companion to the album, Big Life released a 51-minute video
("Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld: Patterns and Textures") comprising the
performance at the Brixton Fridge and lots of ambient-type spacy computer
graphics, done by a woman that Alex says the following of: "she was doing
things for six grand when she should have been paid sixty. Six grand for
51 minutes of film!" Early copies of the video included the live recording
on CD. The Orb do not appear in the video once. We see audience members
dancing about, a light show that would rival the most beautiful of UFOs,
and even porpoises making love in swirling whorls of colour to the sounds
of "Towers Of Dub", but Alex and Thrash remain hidden behind their
machines.

"Towers Of Dub" is transformed from its first version (the 'Ambient Mix' on
the Orb In Dub EP) to a lively, bright romp dappled with barking dogs, warm
reggae pulses, and...lo and behold - a harmonica! Trust the Orb to merge
Western music with African music in an utterly successful mix. The speech
that opens the song is a crank phone call made by prankster Victor
Lewis-Smith to an ignorant security guard at London Weekend Television who
doesn't know who either Haile Selassie or Marcus Garvey is.  The final
track on the album, "Sticky End", a mere 49 seconds, is based around a
sample of an elephant defecating that Alex culled while in Nepal.

The stories behind U.F.Orb are based on several books - Timothy Good's
"Above Top Secret" and "Alien Liaison", Frank Waters' "Book Of The Hopi",
Hill Cooper's "Behold A Pale Face", and Zecharia Witchin's "Genesis
Revisited", which, according to Alex, give "anyone with an interest in
UFOs a good read and an introduction to advances not yet believed by a
Church state".

In The Aftermath

Following up such a brilliant album is a great task. The Orb turned into a
four- piece punk band and covered Iggy and the Stooges' "No Fun" for John
Peel, but the effort has yet to see release. They also promise a cover of
Hawkwind's "Silver Machine" in the not-too-distant future. One effort,
despite being lost in its DAT form between London and Sheffield, made it
onto disc - a post-LP single called "Assassin", which did not make it past
number 12 in the charts. It was originally planned to feature Bobby
Gillespie of Primal Scream. "Assassin" includes samples of bunny rabbits
and a loop of Kraftwerk's "Kling Klang" (in the opening of the Chocolate
Hills Of Bohol Mix). Alex says the subject matter of the song is "Arabs
and bunnies...that's what the assassin is after...the one that laid the
egg".

Big Life = Big Problems

The Orb's recording activities were suddenly cut off early in 1993, when
the Big Life record label issued two injuctions. The first prevented the
Orb from releasing any more records. The second (which was legally
untenable and dropped in June before it was due to go to court) prevented
the parent label WAU! Mr Modo from releasing any records, should they
perhaps feature the Orb working under a different name.  Thoroughly upset
with Big Life's attempted monopoly on their work, the Orb spent 1993
disconnecting with the label, and made money in the meantime by remixing
(for Yellow Magic Orchestra (Ryuichi Sakamoto and friends), Front 242,
Material (Bill Laswell's dub act, and U2).

Evil Bro 39

After finally breaking with Big Life, the Orb signed on with Island Records
in late November, and immediately released the "Orb Live 93" double LP
(known as "Evil Bro 39"  to its friends). This sprawling two-disc set is a
chronicle of the Orb's live antics in 1993, including dates in Tokyo,
Copenhagen, and Glastonbury (where they played on a floating barge).
Believe it or not, an ambient band can play live. The Orb has from day
one, before their first album was even released. This is because they come
from a DJ culture - a performance culture. Dr Alex says, "as opposed to the
main body of a group being a singer and a guitarist, the main body of our
band is the DJ as engineer. It's just a different way of looking at
things".

Their live arrangements often deviate significantly from the original
interpretations, incorporating live drums and guitar, and new samples,
which Alex and Kris play live. Take a moment to think about the
significance of this band's contribution to music: their second album, an
ambient triple LP, went immediately to number 1. Their next long-player is
a double live album with over 140 minutes of music! Also, they finally had
their album cover dream come true, albeit in altered form: the Battersea
power station against a tasty green backdrop, and none other than Fluff
the giant sheep floating overhead.  Although "Orb Live 93" is primarily a
collection of previously-heard work, there are two new songs included:
"Plateau" and "Valley", supposedly from the upcoming LP.

Orb On The Way

After numerous delays (due to Big Life aggressively reissuing most of their
back catalogue), the Orb plan to release their new single in May, entitled
"Pommes Fritz" (touted by some as a sequel to "Little Fluffy Clouds"). The
album should be available soon after, tentatively titled "Orbus Terranus"
(Orb Terrain - fits with "Valley" and "Plateau", no doubt). The LP will
feature guest spots by electronic sound explorers Black Dog, Thomas
Fehlmann and his friends in Sun Electric, and session violinist Timothy
Good, whose novel Alien Liaison (about the U.S.  government's storing and
feeding of extra-terrestrials) partly inspired the concept behind U.F.Orb.

In order to cash in on the Orb until the last moment, Big Life have
reissued a good portion of the Orb's deleted back catalogue, including the
"Little Fluffy Clouds" UK singles, the "Perpetual Dawn" UK singles, the
"Pulsating Brain" UK singles (once only the prized possessions of
dedicated Orb collectors), and a possible upcoming reissue of "Aubrey
Mixes: The Ultraworld Excursions". Not to be discounted, Island has
reissued the original UK "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld" double album,
and "U.F.Orb".  Coming in the summer will be the Orb's latest
collaboration, FFWD (Fripp (Robert), Fehlmann (Thomas), Weston (Kris), and
Doctor (Alex)), with the album Orbert. FFWD should be touring in November.
There are rumours that the Orb will be playing as part of Lollapalooza IV,
but those suspicions conflict with plans announced by their tour manager,
who says they will be touring Europe during the summer, with one-off dates
on the Isle of Skye and in Blackpool.

But let's leave the promises to Dr Alex Paterson: "if everything goes to
plan, we'll be releasing a new album every three months for the next year
or so. Three albums are already ready to go".