THE ORB FEAT. DAVID GILMOUR: METALLIC SPHERES

Legendary British prog guitarist teams up with cutting-edge techno producer to make a critically-acclaimed dub techno album. Unfortunately, what I'm describing is not Gilmour with the Orb, but rather Steve Hillage and Evan Marc (aka Bluetech), for their brilliant 2008 album Dreamtime Submersible (it's on Spotify; have a listen). That album is everything one would've hoped the Gilmour/Orb pairing would've been: haunting, spacey, and incredibly evocative. Funny: When I think of Hillage, I think of someone whose guitar is never quiet, but is rather always filling up space, like on my favorite Hillage album, Green. On the other hand, Gilmour at his best uses silence as much as he uses his guitar, tastefully dropping in a line here, a line there. Yet, on the two albums "Dreamtime Submersible" and "Metallic Spheres," the roles are reversed. Hillage's guitar is sparse, often creating mood and texture in the background rather than the foreground, while Gilmour's guitar just won't... you know, shut up. Sad. The Orb are massive Floyd fans, as can be heard on their earliest releases. Just listen to "Little Fluffy Clouds," or the Floyd samples on "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain," both from The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991; the *second* best Floydian ambient house album, after The KLF's 1990 album Chill Out). I was quite excited when I heard these two legends were making an album together. I had hoped that it could both spark a return to form, while at the same time pointing the way forward, especially for Gilmour. Oh well. At least there's "Dreamtime Submersible," (as well as "Chill Out).