The commercial and artistic peak of the ambient-house movement,
U.F.Orb strides past the debut with more periods of free-form ambience and less reliance on a standard 4/4 beat. From the opening "O.O.B.E." through the bass-heavy gait of "Blue Room" and "Towers of Dub," the flow is more natural and ranges farther than most would have expected. The bevy of contributors (including
Steve Hillage,
Jah Wobble,
Youth,
Thomas Fehlmann, and
Slam) never threatens to overload the proceedings, though the minimalist sampling of
Ultraworld is replaced by a production focus much more dense and busy, especially on the "rain forest on Saturn" ethno-ambience of "Close Encounters." Elsewhere,
Paterson maintains his fascination with the earthy dub basslines of
Mad Professor and
Lee Perry, even while he's indulging in flights of fancy indebted to
Sun Ra. ~ John Bush