|
|
 |
|
|
| This album marks a one-off pairing in 1993 between King Crimson guitarist legend Robert Fripp and the ambient house unit known as The Orb. To put some context on this one, this was around the time that Fripp was beginning to free himself from the snare of going head to head with the managers of his former label, E.G. Records, and right before he would reform Crimson in the 1990s. The Orb at this time were already superstars in Britain and rising stars in America, with The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld and U.F.Orb, the latter a #1 album in the U.K. charts. They probably represented quite a welcome avenue of fresh exploration for the Crimson leader. FFWD is the acronym for Fripp and The Orb's three members at the time (Fehlmann, Weston, & Dr. Alex Paterson). It was released on a sub-label of WAU/Mr. Modo Records, which was a label co-founded by Paterson. This ambient album might be approached as a secret volume from Fripp's Soundscapes album series. Here, astral Frippertronic sounds glide over The Orb's futuristic virtual reality space of sound effects, both natural and electronic, with occasional vocal samples. The opening track, "Hidden," provides a typical representation of this merger, adding to these basic ingredients a repeating bass line that throbs beneath it all and pulls darkly against the upper content of the song. The Fripp-Orb collab reaches an effective height on "Lucky Saddle," bringing the listener into a world of horse hoofs clopping over gently spraying water. Fripp's guitar echoes distantly on "Can of Bliss," escaping the capture of subterranean, reverberating metallic growls from The Orb. The inappropriately titled "Buckwheat & Grits" also houses some mighty fine ambient Fripp moves, streaking comet-like through the sky. To be honest, though, this is definitely a hodge-podge of an album. The pure percussion track "Collossus" with guest Hossam Ramsey seems to be a curious interlude and doesn't quite seem to fit in, while other tracks ("Drone," "What Time Is Clock," "Meteor Storm") are filler. In the end, I mostly find FFWD to be just kind of there. While it's certainly interesting and has a few beautiful moments, ultimately there is nothing I would consider essential. review by Joe McGlinchey — 7-17-07 —
|
|
|
|
|
