A Few More Things About The Orb

When it comes to The Orb, the first bit of advice is this: skip their first offering, Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. All the songs worth listening to are to be found on the double album Live 93, and in far better shape to boot. Live 93 is a flawless document of what the live electronic album can be and should be. Hell, it’s what any record should be – that’s how good it is.

Live 93 is loose and self-absorbed in the best sense possible. It’s good enough to make even “Little Fluffy Clouds” an enjoyable extended riff on the original, without any of the constraints of the album version. Even the stuff from U.F.Orb finds spacious life here; “Tower of Dub,” a tight wall of bass in the original version, becomes a flexi-jam that tears straight off from the goofy opening* and just plain tosses space and bass at the audience. (*A prank caller asks a reception clerk if Haile Selassie is there, and leaves a message for Mr. Selassie to meet Marcus Garvey at Babylon & Ting)

Papa M – Live From a Shark Cage

It feels like there’s a lot of lost nights compressed together on Live From a Shark Cage. It’s hard to believe this came out almost a decade ago; ten years holding – on average – 3,650 evenings.

Some might dare call this post-rock, but it’s mostly lonely and soft. Maybe that’s what people meant back then; I can’t remember anymore how all that rattling about who went where used to go to. Probably all fell into the same black hole that sucked up those 3,650 evenings.

(Bitch and moan, bitch and moan.)