published by Ben Hogwood, with text appropriated from the press release

Flanked by a large colourful cast of ‘characters’ and an even bigger, persistently prolific output, despite adversity, after 30 years Alex Paterson continues to draw from his infinite well of creativity and drive. He’s constantly in the studio or on-stage as The Orb (and an ever-growing list of side projects too), and it’s especially for this reason that a new ‘Best-Of’ is apt.

Released 25^th October via Cooking Vinyl, Orboretum: The Orb Collection is a career-spanning, 2CD & limited-edition quadruple vinyl octagonal set including new and rare mixes, compiled by Paterson himself. It goes way back, but also focusses on recent highlights from albums such as Abolition Of The Royal Familia (2020) and Prism (2023) – which were cited by the media as some of their greatest work – up there with the bonafide gold of yesteryear. “I don’t want The Orb to end up milking it like Roxy Music, who were always cranking out another best-of, although we did release the ‘History Of The Future’ best-of in 2013, and its part 2 in 2015 to be fair”, says Paterson. “We have such a gigantic catalogue though, that sometimes even I need a reminder of what I’ve done, especially these days. This is a sort of director’s cut, reframing our output, making new neuro pathways, and new juxtapositions. Some of these tracks are 30 years apart, but there are clear through lines, a continuum.”

Put simply; this is The Orb: Stop and pause to think about what that means to the culture. Alex is a living legend who’s travelled a clear path through one of the most important journeys of music in recent times; starting with punk, heavily influenced by Jamaican / Windrush generation UK dub and reggae, growing with acid house, inventing chill out, topping the charts, then becoming one of the first arena-sized live electronic acts. This national treasure deserves to be celebrated. With his boundless appetite for recording and collaboration, The Orb is happening right now, still new, still striving; not resting on past laurels or dining out on the Dad rave nostalgia circuit, instead seeing from the stage multi-generational crowds losing their minds, from fresh faced teenagers to war-torn rave fossils, and everyone in between.

Orboretum will be available on colour vinyl, in an octagonal 4LP set, with sleeve notes by Kris Needs. Each side of vinyl is pressed on a transparent colour green, lilac, orange and blue, grouped by Alex to represent the 4 seasons, hence its botanical title. The comp’s “roots and more recent shoots” traverses their work for Universal across discs A and B, whilst discs C and D explore their music for indie labels Cooking Vinyl, Kompakt, Malicious Damage, and Liquid Sound Design. In addition, Orboretum will also be available on 2CD and digitally.

You can pre-order Orboretum from The Orb’s official site

Published post no.2,311 – 25 September 2024