The Orb – U.F.OFF - The Best Of The Orb

The Orb will always be my band of the 90s and this collection is an essential look at how they got to the top of my list. Not only are all the tracks representative of their discography to that point, but the way the songs are sequenced and mixed into a whole raises the game from a typical greatest hits package to a listening experience all its own. I have both cd and vinyl but if I could only have one I'd take the double cd simply because of how the second disc reinforces the ingenuity of the first. The vinyl version doesn't have tracks from the second cd. This one is an ever-ascending comet in my collection, soaring through the galaxy of the mind, sprinkling a trail of timeless sugared star dust on the tongue.

I fail to be enticed by OOBE (Pool Mix), is that like Out Of Ball Experience? Somebody shooting pool next to OOBE playing hardly rates as a remix

Not a hugely critical album for the casual listener, but an eventual must for all Orb fans. There are some real gems on here along with some filler radio edits.

On the first disc: The Solar Youth Perpetual Dawn mix is classic and always puts a smile on my face. DJ Asylum 7" Edit has a sweet sliding synth tone singing the melody. The unreleased track Mickey Mars is almost worth the whole purchase of the disc.

On the second disc: The Ultrabass II Perpetual Dawn is spot on. Especially the way you flow into it from Little Fluffy Clouds. The Ganja Kru drop a bomb remix on Toxygene. Another smooth DJ Asylum mix. The ambient, beatless Blue Room works perfectly.

I'm not sure what the reason was that the Orb ended up leaving Island records after a string of huge albums. I guess the huge middle finger and title have something to do with that.

The title says it all to punters ...

This first disc seems to be a way of collating all the versions you were likely to hear on the dodgier compilation albums that needed the short version, and at least they let me hear a piece of many of the songs in question before I located the 12"s or the CD5s. All the radio versions are here along with the obligatory secret bogus track at the end. Obviously, it's the farewell to Island Records, who were screwing them over at the time.

I like the second disc better than the first but Mickey Mars is one of their most wonderful tracks ever ... a through composed track that resembles the progressive rock that Alex was a part of during the 80's, with a truly technically astonishing through-composed sampled vocal. How I wish this were a 12" somewhere. But it's good to put on and float away to.

There are about 3-4 great tracks on each cd, the rest is garbage. I don't see the point of including two mixes of the same track at the expense of a different (and better) track. The previously unreleased track (Mickey Mars) is worthless so if you have the other tracks save your money for something else.