The Orb – The Dream

English / Polish version

The Orb - The Dream
    TRAFFIC INC.
    The Orb
    The Dream
    2007

      1. The Dream
      2. Vuja De
      3. Something Supernatural
      4. A Beautiful Day
      5. DDD (Dirty Disco Dub)
      6. The Truth Is…
      7. Phantom Of Ukraine
      8. Mother Nature
      9. Lost & Found
      10. The Forest Of Lyonesse
      11. Katskills
      12. High Noon
      13. Sleeping Tiger & The Gods Unknown
      14. Codes
      15. Orbisonia
      16. Let The Music Set You Free

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The first version of an album called THE DREAM was released by a Japanese label Traffic Inc. in 2007. As befits The Orb, this album is surprising and consisting not only of one music genre. THE DREAM is a mixture of ambient, dub, reggae, ragga, drum’n’bass, trip hop and even a few other styles that Dr. Alex Paterson was one of the few in the world who was able to combine in a fascinating whole.

A track that starts everything is THE DREAM (THE FUTURE ACADEMY OF NOISE, RHYTHM AND GARDENING MIX), which closely resembles the production of familiar LITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS. The light and pleasant voice again tells us a new story from the life of Alex Paterson, as a whole this track could be pigeonholed in terms as psychedelic dub and the vocal previously mentioned as a sign of The Orb, certainly works perfectly here. VUJA DE is no longer such a pleasant and mild, dub and pleasant house track straight from the early nineties of the last century. Thanks to the atmosphere and climate it moves our imagination towards the areas of urban life. Short, glued together with a variety of samples, mysterious – it is precisely this interlude in the form of the third track in this album, which is SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL. The consequence of this short track is A BEAUTIFUL DAY, which can be seen as the favorite of the album. A pleasant combination of quiet, deep beat, some characteristic samples of The Orb and even despite of the strongly expressive female vocal, the whole is put together in a truly masterful style. The Orb once again proves that he finds himself in a great variation of different styles. DDD (DIRTY DISCO DUB), which is another dub proposal, this time goes badly. It is difficult to find even a scrap of something to what you could focus your attention, and the words 'Honey, Honey, Honeey’ cause only a slight smirk on the face. Far better goes the next position THE TRUTH IS. The deep tune coming out from various sources, some more numerous Orb’s vocal samples and for the second time the irreplaceable female vocal, which really does not mind here too much. Certainly more than one of us will be encouraged to lightly stamp the foot. PHANTOM OF THE UKRAINE and another experiment is over, thirty seconds of samples without the track, because how else can this 'production’ be called? To mind comes the fact that the musicians liked the samples, but they do not quite see where to put them. MOTHER NATURE, to be honest, is surprising, because The Orb and ragga is a new combination to me. However, also here there is something good, namely the melody, which even in a majestic way runs through the whole, giving the track a slightly psychedelic sound. The return to the classic dub is another proposal in the album. LOST & FOUND makes that we close our eyes, our body begins to sway slightly, and imagination does the rest. Some of us probably will be taken somewhere in the direction of Jamaica, the other ones in the direction of waves through the blissful skies. THE FOREST OF LYONESSE is another insert between something more. This time, we have in addition to the bare samples, the pleasant sound of the flute, and the sounds coming to us, remind us that we are in quite a mysterious forest. The sound of the flute in the tight Eastern climate is a theme of another track – KATSKILLS. A strong and deep bass line, a broken beat straight from the drum’n’bass quieter tracks, reggae vocal, that is a blend designed in such a way that the whole has a quite distinctive and interesting character. HIGH NOON, and finally we have something more psychedelic – the track hollows out our mind from the beginning, and the noises appearing everywhere only deepen our experience. The soft melody dissolves into the whole track and allows to the free reception of all things that the mysterious voices want to communicate. The track on the big plus, because every second is evolving harder and more intensively, which does not allow for even a moment of boredom. SLEEPING TIGER & THE GODS UNKNOWN, and according to the length of the track we get the impression that it will be another distraction, but this time even though it takes about one minute, we want more. The smooth, ambient melody wanders in and surrounds everything with warm air. A few seconds can make a very nice and pleasant atmosphere. CODES begins with some ambient sound spots, which later turn into a light and relaxing tune which is devoid of unnecessary samples, full of pristine space. CODES is strongly chilling track that fits perfectly in a blissful, relaxing evening. ORBISONIA, as the name suggests, this is the best that The Orb has to offer. Lots of vocal samples, the atmosphere like from some interplanetary voyages, some wheezings, rales, noises, I mean everything that Patterson’s fans love the most, and of course it all is made so that all the unforgettable emotions arouse. LET THE MUSIC SET YOU FREE is a bonus track, which we find only in the first version of the album released in the country of the cherry blossom. The track introduces us to the climate of the nineties, enchants with the melody, delicate bass line and as it often is, the repeated from time to time vocal works here perfectly.

Here is really a lot of good music here, a little bit of average music and poor not so much. The advantage is probably that the variation of styles is so great, the downside is that you still need to search something for yourself in it. I think anyone who knows The Orb, from the very beginning knows what to expect and probably does not feel disappointed when the display strikes the last second. Anyway, I was not disappointed, but will I quickly go back to this album?… Probably not.
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6.5 / 10
Tofik