A brief History of the Orb 25-8-92 The original idea of starting a band called the Orb occurred one spaced out evening when dr.Alex Paterson was entertaining his great friend Chris Watts. The name was found at the bottom of a pipe and caused hysteria. It was the spring of 1988 and Alex spent his spare dancing at acid raves and Djing at weddings and friends' parties. At the same time he was working in A&R for EG Records and Music, home of ambient king Brian Eno, music publisher to (amongst others) Youth and Jimi Cauty and home to Killing Joke, who Alex originall worked for as a drum roadie. That summer Youth put together an album of acid tracks under the banner of 'Eternity'. Alex went into Jimi Cauty's Trancentral studio one Sunday afternoon, where he began to lay down mad ideas with Jimi. Youth then cut the mix on his album 'Eternity Project One'. The track, "Tripping on Sunshine" was recorded and mixed in five hours flat and was the first Orb recording to get a commercial release. In October 1988 Alex went back to trancentral and recorded the first Orb single release - "Kiss EP" a four track EP of mixes based around sample from New York's Kiss FM radio station ca. 1981. The record was released in Martch 1989 on WAU! Mr Modo, a joint label venture started by Alex, Youth and Mr.Modo (Alex's manager, myself, Adam Morris) The record sold out of its 1000 pressing and then was dleetd. By this time, Alex's career as a DJ had taken off, particularly after Paul Oakenfold gave him a resident ambient room at his club 'Land of Oz' Here Alex was playing Steve Hillage's "Rainbow Dome Musik" one night, when he discovered that Hillage was in the room listening to him. The two became friends,leading to several collaborations both with the Orb and with Steve Hillage's project 'System 7`. In the Spring of 1989, Alex and Jimi were driving home from Brighton one morning after raving all night on the beach, when the idea of 'Ambient House' struck them. What would happen if they took an old soul ballad, say "Loving You" by Minnie Ripperton, mixed natural noises over it as Marshall Jefferson had fust done on "Open Our Eyes" and maybe added the backing melodies from Grace Jones' "Slave to the Rhythm". They hit the mixers and in no time they had "Loving You" recorded, an hour long DAT tape containing an ambient house masterpiece. The track was originally prom-ed that Summer by WAU! Mr Modo and after a slow start the track began to biuld. Upfront DJ's champined the track as the first post rave house track, something that you could play to chill out after dancing all night. John Peel began to play the track - now edited down to one long twenty minute A-0Side with two shorter B-Side mixes and Retitled "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld" and Alex and Jimi recorded the first Orb Peel Session. An initial release appeared on WAU! Mr Modo in Ocober 1989, with 'Ambient House for the E-Generation' emblazoned across the back. This was left as a very low key release as no clearance had been obtained for the use of "Loving You". Cponsequently after an initial pressing of 3000 copies, the record was deleted. That Winter Alex went into The Coach House, Youth's writing and programming studio at that time, and wrote a new Orb track with Youth - "Little Fluffy Clouds". By now, demand for "A Huge Ever Growing" had got so large that Big Life, Youth's management company were asked to become involved. "A Huge Ever Growing" was re-issued via Big Life with all clearances in place in the Spring of 1990, selling over 10,000 copies and proving that the band really were huge and ever growing in popularity!! At the same time, Alex was asked to do his first major remix - "Lilly Was Here" for Dave Stewart, which became a top 20 hit. From this, The Orb became a name remix team, whose current list of remix credits includes Erasure, Depeche Mode, BAD II and Lisa Stansfield. Youth and Alex went into the recording studio to lay down and mix "Little Fluffy Clouds" as the third Orb single in July 1990. They worked with an 18 year old mix engineer they had befriended called Thrash who had previously worked on various projects for WAU! Mr Modo. That summer Alex, (who was still holding down a fulltime job at this time), bgan work on his first album "Adventure Beyond The Ultraworld". The album was a struggle for him as Jimi Cauty had decided to leave the Orb to concentrate on The KLF and Alex had yet to find a permanent replacement for him. Howver by that Autumn "Fluffy Clouds" was released to great critical acclaim, a second John Peel Session had been recorded and Alex felt confident enough to entertain thoughts of giving up his dayjob to concentrate full time on The Orb, somehting he finally did in March 1991. By April 1991, Alexhad formulated the first ideas for turning The Orb into a live experience. he had played a secret Orb gig the previous Christmas in battersea Art's Centre - himself on turntables, Steve Hillage on guitar and his friend Ross supplying psychedelic lighting - by April he had decided to make Thrash the permanent replacement for Jimi Cauty and a whole live show was in place. The first official Orb live performance took place at Town & Country 2 on 30th April at a benefit for CND. "The Orbs Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" was released in April 1991 to massive critical acclaim (having been launched by placing journalists in float tanks and blasting the album at them) and achieved a national top 30 chart place. the cover for the album featured a pastiche on Pink Floyd's "Animals" cover, in the Orbs cas ethis involved a photograph of Battersea power station submerged in a cloud shaped like a DJ's turntable. This was done not so much as a tribute to Pink Floyd, but more of a statement to Alex's roots- having been born and bred in Battersea. Originally intended as a triple set, the manufacturing costs proved so prohibiytive that "Adventures" was released as a double set, with the third album issued as a special xmas edition under the title "Aubrey Mixes, The Ultraworld Excursions". "Aubrey" was both released and deleted on the same day, yet still sold enough to re-chart the album in the top 30. A the same time as putting together a live Orb Experience and touring it across the UK, Europe and the USA, Alex and Thrash also maintained a long record of productions and remixes, most notably producing "higher Than The Sun" for Primal Scream. In December 1991, The Orb demo-ed their second album "U.F.Orb" before taking a two month break in India. The album was released in Hune 1992 and spawned the Orb's first top ten single "Blue Room, (a 39 minute one track hailed as 'The longest Single ever sold') an appearance on Top of The Pops where the band sat on stage flooded in laser light playing chess and a number one chart for the album. Following this, the band recorded their third John peel Session, which included the first amnifestation of Alex's Punk roots - the band emerged as a four piece (guitar, drums, bass and voicals) to record a cover version of Iggy & The Stooges "No Fun". Adam Morris - August 25th 1992