Van Santos

I now understand why The Orb had to call off their North American tour.

I’m sad to hear that long time Orb collaborator, DJ and producer, Andy Hughes, has passed away at the age of 44. No major details have been released, but it looks as if he had a short lived sickness that focused on his liver. A donation fund was established at King’s College Hospital.

A copy of his obit can be found at Synthtopia.

My thoughts are with Andy’s family and friends.

Way back, in the U.F. Orb days, Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) was supposed to sing on an Orb track.  That track was intended to be Assassin.  For some reason, however, that idea never became a reality. Apparently, The Orb and Bobby Gillespie ended up doing a track together…just not Assassin.

I give you “Sucker” by Maximum Bob.

Sucker is a track sung by Bobby Gillespie, produced and engineered by The Orb, and was only issued as a very limited edition white label but never was released by a major record company.  Frankly, I can understand why…

The track is…less than average.

Maybe it was only intended to be a demo that would be polished up, or just the guys messing about one day, but it’s really nothing impressive. I think this will only be on interest for a collector – someone who simply wants to have everything – but I will let you judge for yourself.

Give it a download here.

While I had not intended to go to the Chicago show, it is still sad to hear - the Orb has cancelled their U.S. tour:

Due to personal reasons, the upcoming tour for The Orb will be postponed. All within the camp are looking forward to making their long anticipated return to the US and plan to deliver nothing less than an experience their fans deserve. With a new album on the horizon, The Orb hope to provide newly rescheduled dates as soon as possible and are excited about what is to come.

I hope all is well with the group.

There was a time, way back when, hearing about an Orb show would have gotten me all hot and bothered.  I am still a HUGE fan of their work, but I fear nothing can live up to the lives shows of the past.  I recall seeing them play with Sun Electric years back… it was pure magic.

Well, The Orb is playing on a Wednesday evening (6/24) at a decent sized venue call the Bottom Lounge, but the place is more of a… um… hybrid club/bar/restaurant…  For example, when they played at the Metro or at The Riv the venue “fit”.  They places were dark, large enough for roughly 1000 people and seemed to be appropriate for the music.  Bottom Lounge seems more…  yuppie.

Don’t get me wrong, the place is really nice but I don’t know if it is the right location for the show. The cost isn’t an issue… or may it’s just that I am getting old, longing for the rave days of past…  who knows.

Come and get it… 5 classic Live Orb Shows now streaming.  

WinAmp is need to listen.

Update - 11:11 - the stream is now off line.

Happy May to everyone.  Once again, time seems to be whipping by as the month of May just seemed to pop up on me.  Ok, time for some random thoughts.  

Trying to get back into the swing

For about a week now I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of things, but I’ve had a little – if any – luck with this.  I’m massively behind on my RSS reading (yes, I hate that), I haven’t had any energy to cook (I’m so sorry, yeswecook.com) and there is plenty I have to take care of at the office.  Basically, I feel a bit behind.

I’m going to try to use this weekend, once again, to get back into a pattern of reading/posting/cooking.  I hope to be successful at this one.

The Orb’s New Album

A few months back I posted a bit of exciting news about The Orb, they have a new album coming out this July title “Baghdad Batteries”.  Well, thanks to Resident Advisor we now have access to the tracklisting:

1. Styrofoam Meltdown
2. Chocolate Fingers
3. Baghdad Batteries
4. Raven’s Reprise
5. Dolly Unit
6. Super Soakers
7. Suburban Smog
8. Orban Tumbleweed
9. Pebbles
10. Woodlarking
11. OOPA

What I really like about this album is the Thomas Fehlmann addition.  I really like the minimal aspect he adds to Orb work. 

The Prodigy Tours North America

For you North American Prodigy fans, you’ll have a chance to see them once again.  The Prodigy will be stateside in the month of May on a mini-tour in order to promote “Invaders Must Die”

Let me just say this… DON’T GO.  The Prodigy, by far, is the worst live performance I’ve ever had the chance to see stateside.  Sure, they pack every venue in the rest of the world – I’m sure they will do so here – but their show is surprisingly uninspiring.  They have the whole “rock star” mentality just doesn’t seem to fit here any longer and cannot be justified by their work (any longer).

Let’s face it, they are a shell of who they used to be. Unless you have a desire to relive the old days, I strongly suggest you pass on the show.

The Rookie

I’m sitting here typing with “The Rookie” on in the background.  The feel good story about a man who makes it to the majors as a 38 year old relief pitcher.  I don’t have a review to write… just impressed how strong the emotion in the movie is.

Fiat is the new Chrysler

As I am sure you know by this point, Chrysler is now in bankruptcy.  Funny thing is you wouldn’t know that from reading their press release. They decied to focus the first portion of their “news” on a partnership with Fiat.

By partnership I mean that Fiat will buy the majority of Chrysler assets.  Oh, yea, that and the company gets an additional 8 Billion from the government to go into bankruptcy.  Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Here is what I would like to know, it’s the two questions that I’ve consistently asked:

1)If Cerberus, Chrysler’s parent company, is not willing to put any more money into the company why – WHY – should the the government?  The parent company obviously sees no value in the Chrysler brand(s), why should anyone continue to support it?

2)The second Daimler Group saw how bad the brand was they ditched, took a loss, and went on with life. What is Fiat thinking?  Are they looking at this as an opportunity to gain a foothold in the U.S. market?  Are they looking for the intellectual property the company has?  Are looking to suffer like those that came before them?

I don’t care what anyone says, this will not end well.  People must adjust to the fact that this brand (except for the Jeep assets) need to fade into history.

Ok, I’m off…

I’m not sure if Alex and Youth decided to get to get together to some song in the way of their classic “Little Fluffy Cloud” or it there making a statement they’ve grown past that time point. If one listens to the samples, some comments appear to directly contradict others.

The apple tree in my back yard plays samples in the same method of LFC did. You hear yellow, creams and reds…. again someone breaks in with “things have changed very much, so no it wouldn’t happen.”

Obviously, this can be interpreted as an anti drug video. That doesn’t sound much like The Orb. Reading the subtext found in the video it may be as if the Orb was of saying we will never be that band again, but we will be growing.

Here is the video, what do you think?

Oh, and yes, I love this video.

And, this allowed the group to preform on the now defunct “Top of the pops”.  How did they celebrate the honor? By not performing, of course.  Would you expect anything less?

For the time the music would play, they group members were play chess as all these visuals would go on around them. I found it to be quite funny and classy at the same time. The second video is form Asylum.

I would love to know what the TotP viewers though when they saw this as the performance…. bu if you missed that, you can also check the Live performance they did for MTV:

Classic Dub song by the Orb, and this video appears to be of a live skit in their early days.

Just trying to relax and use any means available. I think Retail Therapy may be next.

It doesn’t get any better than this, folks - a huge set of live Orb shows.  I am unsure of sources, and the sound quality varies from set to set.  Any Orb completest would be happy to have these.

The Orb Live at Sound City, Bristol, 1995

1. Happy Happy Joy Joy
2. Oobe
3. Occidental
4. Hidden (FFWD)
5. Reporter

Download

The Orb Live in Detroit 1995

1. Happy Happy Joy Joy
2. Oobe
3. Occidental
4. Towers Of Dub
5. Valley
6. Montagne Dor
7. Blue Room
8. An Huge Ever Growing…
9. Oxbow Lakes

Download

The Orb Live Glasgo Barrowlands 1997

1. Towers of Dub
2. We’re Getting Hot
3. Beer, Beer, Beer
4. Terminus
5. Asylum
6. S.A.L.T
7. Toxygene
8. Delta MK2
9. Majestic

Download

The Orb Live at Organicfest 1996

1. Delta MKII
2. Happy Happy Joy Joy
3. Blue Room
4. Oobe
5. Chill Out
6. Passing of Time
7. Spanish Castle
8. Unknown (?)
9. Towers of Dub
10. Unknown (?)
11. Hempire (FFWD)
12. Unknown (?)
13. K-Rock Reporter

Download