Tremix of their 2010 album Metallic Spheres, can be traced back to the activities of Scottish systems here's an undeniable synchronicity at play knowing that The Orb and David Gilmour's Metallic Spheres In Colour, the administrator Gary McKinnon, who in 2002 was accused by the US government of "committing the biggest military hack of all time". In his defence, McKinnon pleaded harmless motives by claiming he was looking for information on UFOs. With McKinnon facing extradition, decades in jail and a potential $2m fine, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour stepped up to the fundraising plate with the release of Chicago - Change The World, a cover of Graham Nash's 1971 single Chicago, which in turn was later remixed by The Orb and producer Martin 'Youth' Glover with the full participation of David Gilmour, to become Metallic Spheres. Now it's been given a whole new lease of life.
"It's a remix of a remix of a cover!" Youth says with a laugh, as he ponders the long road from the Nash cover to Metallic Spheres In Colour.
David Gilmour instigated the original 2010 album after he and Youth -best-known as the bassist with pioneering post-punk band Killing Joke - had been working on another project.
"David suggested this Gary McKinnon remix," Youth recalls, "and I just developed that into, 'Well, let's do some extra guitars,' and then you're in the same room working together.
You take it from there, really. I thought that was more interesting than just doing a straightforward remix." This wasn't the first time Youth had worked on such a project with an artist of such a huge global stature.
"The Fireman project with Paul McCartney started when he asked me to do a remix," says Youth. "I said, 'Well, rather than do a remix, let me just sample sounds off your album, construct a new track, and maybe you do a couple of overdubs.' And he was like, 'Oh, has anyone done that before?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'Oh, that's good! Let's do that, then.' McCartney and Gilmour are artists, and they want to do things that are creative and edgy as well as appealing to their own sensibilities. Part of my job as a producer is to encourage the artist to do that."
Given the cosmic nature of both The Orb's succession of albums and Pink Floyd's back catalogue, the biggest surprise with Metallic Spheres isn't that the collaboration took place at all, but that it took so long to come to fruition - especially as The Orb's Alex Paterson and Youth had been huge Pink Floyd fans since their schooldays together in the 70s ("We've wanted to work with David Gilmour since the beginning," Youth says with a grin).
Consequently, Floyd's influence had left an indelible mark on The Orb's expansive music, while the sleeve of their Live 93 album gives a sly wink to the iconic artwork of Floyd's Animals.
But why has Metallic Spheres been given an overhaul now? "The original was much leaner and cleaner," explains Youth, "but it was a bit Marmite for a lot of The Orb's fans - some really loved it and some thought it was wasn't really The Orb.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1706879462/articles/wizcRBzOf1707140419544/7811187888.jpg]
It wasn't exceptionally The Orb and it wasn't exceptionally David Gilmour.
It was more between the two. There was talk of remastering it. I said, 'Why don't we just remix it?' I could get Alex Paterson and his bandmate Michael Rendall to apply their genius into re-envisioning it with a more classic Orb aesthetic. I think it's benefited from becoming more of a definitive Orb record." The resulting album, Metallic Spheres In Colour, gains from a greater warmth and depth in sound that was absent from the gloss of its predecessor. Here, The Orb's characteristic deep throbs, pulses and ambient washes coalesce more strongly with Gilmour's beautifully cosmic guitar playing.
Over the album's two extended tracks - Seamless Solar Spheres Of Affection Mix and Seamlessly Martian Spheres Of Reflection Mix the parameters of space rock, prog, dub, psychedelia, ambient and electronic music aren't just pushed further into the outer reaches, they're actually woven to create a whole new entity. But what is it that binds these threads together?
"That's an interesting question," ponders Youth. "It's an attitude, I think, and a philosophy. I've done my own deductions of what that is. It's the legacy and lineage of all of what I do and everything I'm involved with, whether it's [sound system] Spiral Tribe, The Orb, David Gilmour and so on. It all goes back to this Dionysian, bohemian underground current that has always been there going back to the earliest shamanic rituals in caves.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1706879462/a...
"It's a remix of a remix of a cover!" Youth says with a laugh, as he ponders the long road from the Nash cover to Metallic Spheres In Colour.
David Gilmour instigated the original 2010 album after he and Youth -best-known as the bassist with pioneering post-punk band Killing Joke - had been working on another project.
"David suggested this Gary McKinnon remix," Youth recalls, "and I just developed that into, 'Well, let's do some extra guitars,' and then you're in the same room working together.
You take it from there, really. I thought that was more interesting than just doing a straightforward remix." This wasn't the first time Youth had worked on such a project with an artist of such a huge global stature.
"The Fireman project with Paul McCartney started when he asked me to do a remix," says Youth. "I said, 'Well, rather than do a remix, let me just sample sounds off your album, construct a new track, and maybe you do a couple of overdubs.' And he was like, 'Oh, has anyone done that before?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'Oh, that's good! Let's do that, then.' McCartney and Gilmour are artists, and they want to do things that are creative and edgy as well as appealing to their own sensibilities. Part of my job as a producer is to encourage the artist to do that."
Given the cosmic nature of both The Orb's succession of albums and Pink Floyd's back catalogue, the biggest surprise with Metallic Spheres isn't that the collaboration took place at all, but that it took so long to come to fruition - especially as The Orb's Alex Paterson and Youth had been huge Pink Floyd fans since their schooldays together in the 70s ("We've wanted to work with David Gilmour since the beginning," Youth says with a grin).
Consequently, Floyd's influence had left an indelible mark on The Orb's expansive music, while the sleeve of their Live 93 album gives a sly wink to the iconic artwork of Floyd's Animals.
But why has Metallic Spheres been given an overhaul now? "The original was much leaner and cleaner," explains Youth, "but it was a bit Marmite for a lot of The Orb's fans - some really loved it and some thought it was wasn't really The Orb.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1706879462/articles/wizcRBzOf1707140419544/7811187888.jpg]
It wasn't exceptionally The Orb and it wasn't exceptionally David Gilmour.
It was more between the two. There was talk of remastering it. I said, 'Why don't we just remix it?' I could get Alex Paterson and his bandmate Michael Rendall to apply their genius into re-envisioning it with a more classic Orb aesthetic. I think it's benefited from becoming more of a definitive Orb record." The resulting album, Metallic Spheres In Colour, gains from a greater warmth and depth in sound that was absent from the gloss of its predecessor. Here, The Orb's characteristic deep throbs, pulses and ambient washes coalesce more strongly with Gilmour's beautifully cosmic guitar playing.
Over the album's two extended tracks - Seamless Solar Spheres Of Affection Mix and Seamlessly Martian Spheres Of Reflection Mix the parameters of space rock, prog, dub, psychedelia, ambient and electronic music aren't just pushed further into the outer reaches, they're actually woven to create a whole new entity. But what is it that binds these threads together?
"That's an interesting question," ponders Youth. "It's an attitude, I think, and a philosophy. I've done my own deductions of what that is. It's the legacy and lineage of all of what I do and everything I'm involved with, whether it's [sound system] Spiral Tribe, The Orb, David Gilmour and so on. It all goes back to this Dionysian, bohemian underground current that has always been there going back to the earliest shamanic rituals in caves.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1706879462/a...
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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 147