One of the first Intelligent Dance Music albums to tear through the club scene, English electronic duo The Orb's ambitious debut, The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, sounds as fresh as it did back in 1991. This may be because it's influence is widespread, or possibly because it's vintage portrayal of space age psychedelia is of the classic breed that forever runs parallel to the passing of time. The Orb take the kitschy concepts of movies with flying saucers and giant starfish aliens and douses them in lysergic acid diethylamide until they can't remember what bore them. The resulting album is one that can be had fun with as much as taken seriously, and is as abrasive as it is relaxing. This is the classic contradiction of IDM, but it is a contradiction that The Orb utilizes to the utmost. They capitalize on atmosphere just as much as club friendly beats. The opening Little Fluffy Clouds just might be the most lovable and sexy. It is the start of a grand journey, and after the opening cock-a-doodle-doo, the listener is transported up into the stratosphere, past planes, funky synthesizers, and fun vocal samples. Just about every song is similarly fascinating and unique. I can only imagine what listening to this album on drugs would be like. I would think it would begin to sound like the holy grail of modern music, but to the sober ear, some of the sound effects are no more than appreciably silly. This, however, does not stop the better effects from being downright amazing. The album hits its atmospheric highpoint with Backside of the Moon, a slow progression of eastern beats infused with a floaty backdrop of running water, twinkling stars, and strange vocal samples. One would think with high points like this, the album just couldn't be consistently awesome, but it is, and even into the second disk, the songs have surprising clarity, such as the reggae infused Perpetual Dawn, and the gloriously energetic Into The Fourth Dimension. However, the albums conclusion, A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld, is the most interesting of all, and the perfect way to end. It needs to be heard to be believed. After listening to The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, you have traveled millions of miles, and seen things that no one has ever seen. Err, maybe. At the very least, you have gotten about as close to being high as you have ever gotten without actually ingesting or snorting something illegal. And you have also heard probably the best IDM album this side of Selected Ambient Works 85-92, and I would say also the sexiest album of all time.

The Orb is heavily influenced by Pink Floyd, and it's easy to see why. This album seems to live in it's own world, like Dark Side of The Moon; it easily conveys the space and peaceful darkness of space that Us and Them conveys. It is very easy to do that in pretty much most of the tracks. The Orb's double album is said to be a concept album evolving the way humans travel. The song titles are pretty self explanatory.

But an album like this is not without it's problems. Some of the tracks on this album do seem a bit dated, and some songs DO drag on a bit, especially if you haven't found a way to make certain parts of the album entrancing. It's extremely long too, and I can't imagine someone listening to both discs without stopping. Yes, not everything is horribly interesting, Outlands is the biggest culprit. The Orb also fail to keep a consistent album, as the second album, overall, doesn't sound as great at times, and vise versa for the first album. And it's price is expensive, and you DO NOT, ________ NO, you DO NOT want the single disc version.

However, it's strengths beat out it's weaknesses by a _________ mile. Part of it's pleasing effect is their production values, as they know how the sound should sound like. Just take a listen to the way they convey going into the air in Supernova at the End of The Universe, the beginning of Earth, the way they make the sound swirl, they have plenty of really cool tricks up their sleeves that make the album have staying power. It's also great for ambiance, and quite relaxing. There's some interesting space feels in this record that you need to try in the dark. This album is best listened to in the dark. And there will be some parts that will make you get up and dance, or at least a stone groove, baby.

The shortest track, Little Fluffy Clouds, is the most down to ground sound, but when you get to the final track, you'll probably wonder where the ________ else the Orb can take you. These guys cover A LOT of ground. Spanish Castles in Space, when I first heard it, conveyed a Castle floating in space, where i could see it's door open and a piano ghostly being played by itself. These guys easily have enough emotional power to convey things the way Alien does with it's atmospheres, only mostly in your mind (unless your able to listen to this when performing space related activities). Heck, The Orb's song titles alone are intrigiung enough. A Perpetual Dawn sounds pretty bad@$$.

Alright, enough yacking. IF you like spacey stuff like this, this is a must listen, though I wouldn't make it your only purchase. In addition, if you like stuff like this, get The Orb's follow up along with Brian Eno's Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, and of course, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon.

8/10

I really don't know anything about this CD. I purchased on request from my friend for her birthday. She seems to be enjoying it. =)

This is easily one of the most influental albums in electronica. It is of course, a classic of the genre (Ambient House/ Dub). One thing that people seem to miss is that the album is not just a journey in the figurative sense, but also thematically.
First off, the track number's aren't typical (1. 2. 3. etc.), but are known as Earth Orbit One, Earth Orbit Two etc. progressing through Lunar Orbits, on to Ultraworld Probes until finally by the last track, Ultraworld Ten- "A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain That Rules from The Center Of The Ultrworld: Live Mix MK 10" The music follows suit. The farther out towards the "Ultraworld" the album goes, the more "spacey" the album gets.
Also, it's the first in a three album cycle. The second album, "U.F.Orb" is equally as good if not a little better than "... Ultraworld", but it's the Orbs return journey from the Ultraworld. Finally there's "Orbus Terrarum", which as the title suggests finds the Orb exploring Earth itself with song titles like, "Oxbow Lakes" & "Valley".
Do I have too much time on my hands?

I can't believe no one has reviewed this album.

I first heard of it through pitchforkmedia.com's best albums of the 90's list and I enjoyed it upon first listen, though it is a little intimidating. By contrast "Little Fluffy Clouds," the opening track, was the albums single and starts an intense and foreboding album off on a tangible and rewarding foot.

I describe this album as intimidating for a few reason's. It's huge. Songs are very long and not one doesn't fit the overused description of "epic." It's house music, but the sound reminds me a lot of the sound experiments of "Echoes" on Pink Floyd's album Meddle. It also reminds me of the Boredoms Vision Creation Newsun in that the album is a sort of song cycle. It has to be listened to in one fell swoop (or at least it's hard to imagine someone putting just one of these songs on repeat). It's an album of intense atmosphere, but the songs are good enough that you needn't only dwell on one thing that makes the album intriguing.

It's hard to recommend this album to anyone not knowing what music it fits into. It is house music but, that being said, if I read this review I might not be too intrigued (not being too into that specific genre). But how about this; From one music geek to another- this is one of the most interesting and repeatable albums from a decade of many interesting and repeatable albums. I don't think you would need to be afraid of this excellent album because it doesn't fit in with your collection.

Certainly not an album for everyone. If you are at all interested in the different possibilities in sound and music I would recommend this album. I don't think I would recommend it to someone I work with.