The group was formed in 1988 by Dr. Alex Paterson (full name Duncan Robert Alex Paterson) and Jimmy Cauty (one half of The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and later The KLF). The Orb's first release was the acid house anthem "Tripping on Sunshine".
In May 1989, The Orb released the "Kiss EP", which was heavily influenced by New York's KISS FM. Paterson began DJing around London, England at this time when he met Paul Oakenfold. At Oakenfold's behest, Paterson began DJing at Land of Oz, the chill-out room at Heaven.
Paterson mixed samples of BBC nature recordings, NASA space broadcasts and everything in between into the music of ambient pioneers such as Brian Eno. Around this time, Paterson met Steve Hillage and Hillage later contributed guitar to the Orb's "Blue Room" single. In return Paterson worked on Hillage's System 7 project.
In October 1989 The Orb released the 22-minute single "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From the Centre of the Ultraworld", which contains large chunks of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You". The single managed to reach the lower end of the UK chart. Although Paterson and Cauty had been working on a debut album, the two split in April 1990. Cauty removed Paterson's contributions to the album and released the remainder as "Space".
Killing Joke's Youth, who'd recently found dancefloor success with Blue Pearl assisted with the single "Little Fluffy Clouds", but existing commitments made it impossible for him to be anything more than a part-time member. In his place, Paterson recruited Kris Weston (aka Thrash), a young studio engineer who had worked on "Little Fluffy Clouds" and recently left Fortran 5.
In April, 1991, The Orb's debut album, "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" was released in the United Kingdom to critical acclaim. The double-album obtained a top 30 placing in the UK.
"U.F.Orb" was released in July, 1992. It featured the 39 minute 59 second "Blue Room" which was their third single to reach the UK charts, although the album version was only 17 minutes long. Early pressings of the album were available in three differently coloured sealed plastic packs (black (10,000) and blue (5,000) in the UK and green (1,000) in the US) containing an additional disc with the soundtrack from Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (Patterns & Textures edition), a mail order only long form video released by the Orb.
During 1993 and 1994 The Orb were dismayed by Big Life's intention to re-issue some of the Orb's earlier material. As a result, Paterson and Thrash opted out of their contract and Paterson signed an international deal with Chris Blackwell's Island Records. The double-album "Live '93" soon followed. It was a mix of recordings made in Glastonbury, Copenhagen and Tokyo. The album's credits included, Simon Phillips, Nick Burton, Kris Weston, Fluff and of course Paterson.
In June, 1994, they released their first studio album for Island, "Pomme Fritz (The Orb's Little Album)". The album reached number six on the UK, but critics hated it, even comparing Paterson to Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett.
August, 1994 saw the release of a collaboration between Robert Fripp, Paterson, Weston, and Thomas Fehlmann, hence the name FFWD or Fripp, Fehlmann, Weston and Duncan. Weston's input was already diminishing by this time and following the release of FFWD, he finally parted company with Paterson. He was replaced by Thomas Fehlmann.
"Orbus Terrarum" was released in March, 1995. In February, 1997, following an ambitious world tour, they released "Orblivion".
The retrospective "U.F.Off" came in October, 1998 and was initially available in a Limited Edition double CD.
"Cydonia", although recorded in 1999, was delayed by Island until its release in February, 2001. Several different versions of the album were leaked on the Net some time before the official release.
The 2004 released album "Bicycles & Tricycles" strongly departed from their earlier ambient sound, and incorporated strong hip-hop influenced rhythms, including rap on one of the tracks.
In 2005 The Orb released a new studio album, "Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt", which focused heavily on the microhouse and pop ambient sounds that the Kompakt label is well known for.
2005 also saw the release of "Orbsessions Volume 1", which was an album of rarities from throughout The Orbs' career.
Sadly, Andy Hughes, long-time mixer and producer of many of The Orb's works, passed away on June 12 2009, following a 'short illness'.
Earth
The Orb Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
An obscure body in the S-K System, your majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.
How peaceful it looks.
So make gardens, and eat the fruit of them, then...
And they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And they shall build the waste cities and live in them.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them.
And live in them.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And the treader of grapes shall overtake him who soweth seed.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them.
The lyrics of The Orb's song "Earth" refer to a conversation between two aliens, Klytus and his Majesty. The latter asks for a plaything to alleviate his boredom, and Klytus offers the planet Earth, located in the S-K System. The conversation proceeds with Majesty observing the planet and commenting on how peaceful it looks. The following lines are a biblical reference from the book of Isaiah, where God speaks of planting gardens for people to eat from and mountains yielding sweet wine, signifying prosperity and abundance. The lyrics repeat the phrase "And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt" in a hypnotic manner, depicting the beauty and bounty of the Earth.
Line by Line Meaning
Klytus, I'm bored. What play thing can you offer me today?
Your highness, I am uninterested in my current situation. Can you provide me with something to entertain myself?
An obscure body in the S-K System, your majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.
A little known planet exists in a specific area of the galaxy known as the S-K System, your majesty. The beings present there have named it Earth.
How peaceful it looks.
It appears to have a tranquil appearance.
So make gardens, and eat the fruit of them, then...
Create a lush green space and indulge in the fruits it produces.
And they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
The inhabitants of this planet will also cultivate natural beauty and consume the resulting produce.
And I will plant them upon their land, which I have given them, your God.
I will make sure the various resources available on this planet are distributed to its inhabitants, as it is a divine right bestowed upon them.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
The planet's geographical features will yield sweet products and will seem to be melting in response.
And they shall build the waste cities and live in them.
New cities will be erected to replace the ones destroyed, and they will be inhabited by its inhabitants.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them.
They will cultivate the grapevines and partake in the resultant wine produced.
And live in them.
The new cities and the entirety of the planet will be their homes.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
This line is repeated to emphasize the plenty the planet will provide.
And the treader of grapes shall overtake him who soweth seed.
The one who treads on the grapes will outpace those who sow seeds, as there will be plentiful wine in abundance.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
A repetition of the above line to reinforce the idea of abundance.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them.
A repetition from earlier in the song, with a similar meaning of cultivation and consumption of wine.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: ALEX PATERSON, KRISTIAN WESTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@lugiakane470
Klytus, I'm bored. What play thing can you offer me today?
An obscure body in the S-K System, your majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.
How peaceful it looks.
So make gardens, and eat the fruit of them, then...
And they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And I will plant them upon their land, which I have given them, your God.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And they shall build the waste cities and live in them.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them.
And live in them.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And the treader of grapes shall overtake him who soweth seed.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt.
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them. (SIDENOTE: Taking from bible Amos chapter 9 verse 14
@alexroselle
me: these edibles are weak
me an hour later: and the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall melt
@adamt5
lol
@pispotikal3949
😆👍
@jayhache5609
Severely underrated comment.
@100mnts
lol
@Alig-hf4zl
Hahaha 🤣. Peace brother ✌️
@reggie18b
This album perfectly encapsulates that eerie feeling that you have when you're tripping that you're on the verge of making some terrible, profound discovery about the universe.
@thebigman170
One of the best Electronic Albums ever made! 😍🥰🤌
@SeanBauzay
This album is a masterpiece of sound.
@djpete2009
Absolutely, Sean.