Condition: New
The Orb Featuring David Gilmour - Metallic Spheres
Label: Columbia 88697760441, Sony Music 88697760441
Format: 2 Χ Vinyl, LP, Album
180 gram vinyl edition comes in a gatefold sleeve
with a 36"x12" double-sided poster and contains a webpass to enable digital download of all tracks plus bonus ambient mix
Country: Europe
Released: 22 Oct 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient
Tracklist
LP 01. Metallic Side
A1 Metallic Spheres
A2 Hymns To The Sun
Written-By Graham Nash
B1 Black Graham
Written-By Marcia Mello
B2 Hiding In Plain View
Written-By Tim Bran
B3 Classified
LP 02. Spheres Side
C1 Es Vedra
C2 Hymns To The Sun (Reprise)
C3 Olympic
C4 Chicago Dub
Written-By Graham Nash
D Bold Knife Trophy
Credits
Design, Artwork Simon Ghahary
Engineer [Mix Engineer] Michael Rendall
Engineer, Engineer [Mix Engineer] David Nock, Tim Bran
Mastered By Andy 'Hippy' Baldwin
Producer, Mixed By Youth
Written-By Alex Paterson, David Gilmour, Youth
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode: 8 86977 60441 6
Other (Label Code): LC 00162
Anyone expecting this to be David's next solo album is going to be let down, this is an Orb album. If you read how this album came to be, you will find it was born out of a relaxed jam session with Mr. Gilmour. Later on the Orb realized they had a bunch of David's guitar work on tape, and got his permission to make an album using it. Now we have Metallic Spheres, which should be a blessing to all who cant get enough of wonderful Floydian guitar. Listening to this album however, one feels like there was a missed opportunity. This album was born out of a jam session and for the most part sounds like it. Completely missing are the strong guitar melodies from Floyd and the excellent "On an Island." Instead we have much simpler guitar noodling in the background, which sounds great but makes you yearn for more. One cannot blame David Gilmour for this, he was jamming in someones backyard and someone decided to turn it into an album.
A truly thought out and planned collaboration between these artists would have been epic.
For the Orbs part, they do an admirable job of creating a sound tapestry to hold up the guitar recordings. Using a nice mix of both electronic and acoustic sounds, most of the album cruises by on chilled beats that cover familiar territory, including trance, tribal, and dubstep. The overall sound is staunchly old school which could be good or bad depending on your tastes.
With controlled expectations I think many fans of the Orb and David Gilmour will enjoy owning this. Its a relaxing old school techno journey.. and even a little David Gilmour is better than none at all. We should be thankful for experiments like this. With any luck this partnership will grow into something truly special.
David Gilmour, Pink Floyd's master guitarist, one of the great innovators of modern rock music, has finally teamed up with Alex Paterson, perhaps the most technically skilled and powerfully unique forces in all of electronica. This "hook up" was facilitated by long-time Orb collaborator, Youth, aka Martin Glover. In many ways one wonders why this hasn't happened already, as it is probably one of the most natural musical marriages imaginable. Paterson himself recently said that it was almost inevitable as The Orb and Gilmour ( Pink Floyd ) "orbited many of the same Planets."
The guitarist was invited by Youth to jam in his studio, after they had worked on a re-mix project covering Graham Nash's "Chicago". The work was so striking that The Orb's main "ever growing pulsating brain" Alex Paterson, was then called to join in. A musical marriage made in heaven ensuded. To have been the proverbial fly on the that studio wall!
Paterson has acknowledged, both indirectly and often quite directly, the influence of Pink Floyd in his own work. In many ways The Orb is an 'alternate universe' Pink Floyd. Enormously imaginative and highly experimental music in intensely psychoactive live shows, complete with spheres being projected on, extraordinary lighting, stunning sound production and a total, mind-blowing experience echo the Pink Floyd Live experience powerfully. There are even visual references to Floyd right from the beginning - The Orb's first album "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" features the infamous Battersea Power Station, the iconic image that was the cover of Floyd's 1977 album "Animals". And that same image has appeared in Orb album artwork SEVERAL times since, the most obvious being the cover of "Live 93" where the "Animals" artwork was lampooned with great affection. And more recently it appeared again in the artwork for "The Dream".
"Metallic Spheres" is comprised of only two long pieces, one "metallic" and one "spherical", although in effect it's all just one long suite, 'Atom Heart Mother' style. Paterson's complex, organic and monster-beat electronica is wedded to Gilmour's fluid, resonant and evocative guitar and lap steel work. Indeed, the album's beginning gives Gilmour a chance to make sure the listener knows he's there and gives a wonderful little nod to his psychedelic past in the form of very "Saucerful of Secrets" effects to establish his 'lineage'. As things progess, they get decidedly "Orbier" and Gilmour's guitars take on a personality never heard before. At first it's quite familiar then it's off to Terra Incognita and proceedings get very "out-there".
Eventually there are parts that feature vocals from Gilmour, which is a nice plus. But even the vocals, from the "Chicago" remix, like a lot of Gilmour's guitars on this album, take on a timbre and personality that are intriguingly new. There is an exceptionally beautiful section about halfway through that starts with some really nice acoustic guitar from Gilmour. Having made his mark in music with his immediately recognizable electric guitar style, it is has been great of late to hear his return to some very find acoustic work. This section then nicely morphs into a very golden, pastoral, Indian flavoured panorama lit up with great beams of Stratocaster magic - the light filled centre of the album. Paterson enhances it all with his trademark vocal samples and ambient treatments. This timeless section finally nods to the return of the main them which then moves inevitably to the album's gigantic finish.
Paterson shines on this quite beautifully as well. His signature electronics, sound treatments and vocal samples breath a new life, subduing themselves subtly to the overal musical picture. His electronics are much less ornate than before and they take on a very solid, strikingly DEEP bottom. And yet there are times when the good Dr. steps very up front and lends his mastery to the monumental sonic vista being created. It is to the credit of both artists that neither dominates or outdoes. Both of them, with Youth and Tim Bran, have created a massive work of vast proportions and unbelievably broad sonic range. "Metallic Spheres" offer up a beautiful range of different musical atmospheres and flavours and all the while holding it down for a very satisfying total experience. This album, as one might well guess, is epic in scope, rich in texture and invention, and displays great artistic integrity in ensuring that the music comes absolutely FIRST. The music might be gigantic, but the egos are not.
Not all fans of The Orb and David Gilmour, in their respective, individual camps, will like this recording, I think. If you're really into Progressive Rock and count Floyd as a major force, appreciating Gilmour's skills as a "rock" guitarist, which he is exceptionally good at, you may not be so thrilled by "Metallic Spheres". Especially if electronically based music isn't your forte. You're not going to hear massive, earth-shaking solos like "Sorrow" or "Comfortably Numb".
Similarly, if you're a "rock is dead" electronic-ista and think that any former Prog Rock giant's presence on an Orb album is a regrettable compromise, that guitars themselves are an anathema, you may also not entirely groove on this one. But for fans of both forms of expression, this album is a beautifully natural blend of traditions and styles.
Given the past work of both artists, The Orb ( read, Alex Paterson primarily ) and David Gilmour, this new work is a wonderful precedent. Perhaps the reception of this album will stimulate the release of Pink Floyd's ambient projects, something that Nick Mason has for several years wanted to see the light of day. The incredibly technical and undeniably musical skills of both The Orb and David Gilmour have seamlessly wedded to form a seriously and joyously impressive piece of work. Hardcore fans of The Orb and David Gilmour will be a little suprised by the new ground trodden here for this is a whole lot more than comfortably numb riffs over little fluffy clouds! Both artists on "Metallic Spheres" prove, resoundingly that they both have OCEANS of creativity left to offer up!
The Orb featuring David Gilmour Metallic Spheres
Every breath he takes is melodic. Thank you David for creating music for some of my fondest and most painful emotions alike.
I love the contrast of nature and electronic-driven sound. I always associated Floyd music with elements and ambiance of nature- cool to actually see them out in it- playing.
The Orb and David Gilmour - Hymns To The Sun
the groovy progression sounds simillar to Mojave Plan by Tangerine Dream
The Orb - David Gilmour interview
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