Metallic Spheres

Metallic Spheres
Studio album by The Orb featuring David Gilmour
Released 12 October 2010
Recorded 2009
Genre Electronica, dub, progressive rock
Length 48:53
Label Columbia
Producer Martin "Youth" Glover[1][2]
The Orb albums chronology

Baghdad Batteries (Orbsessions Volume III) (2009) Metallic Spheres
(2010)		 The Orbserver in the Star House
(2012)
David Gilmour albums chronology
Live in Gdańsk
(2008)		 Metallic Spheres
(2010)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 72/100[3]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [4]
The A.V. Club C+[5]
Pitchfork Media 7.0/10[6]
URB [7]
Uncut [8]
Q [9]
Spin 5/10[10]
PopMatters 6/10[11]
Mojo [12]
Slant Magazine [13]
NOW Magazine [14]

Metallic Spheres is the tenth studio album released by ambient techno group The Orb in October 2010 and features Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and Killing Joke bassist Youth. [15] The album spent 3 weeks on the UK charts, peaking at number 12.[16]

Track listing

  1. "Metallic Side" (28:42)
    1. "Metallic Spheres"
    2. "Hymns to the Sun"
    3. "Black Graham"
    4. "Hiding in Plain View"
    5. "Classified"
  2. "Spheres Side" (20:12)
    1. "Es Vedra"
    2. "Hymns to the Sun (Reprise)"
    3. "Olympic"
    4. "Chicago Dub"
    5. "Bold Knife Trophy"
  3. "Cult of Youth Ambient Mix (Parts 1 & 2)" (Edit) (5:35) (iTunes-only bonus track)

All tracks written by David Gilmour, Alex Paterson & Youth.
"Hymns to the Sun" written by David Gilmour, Alex Paterson, Youth & Graham Nash.
"Black Graham" written by David Gilmour, Alex Paterson, Youth & Marcia Mello.
"Hiding in Plain View" written by David Gilmour, Alex Paterson, Youth & Tim Bran.

Personnel

Production

The album was produced by Youth and recorded in June, 2009 at "The Dreaming Cave", in Wandsworth. Engineering was done by Tim Bran (of Dreadzone) and David Nock. Mixing was done by Youth, with mix engineering from Bran, Nock and Michael Rendall at "The Study" in 2010. Mastering was done by Andy Baldwin at Metropolis Studios in London. A headphone version was released as CD2 of the deluxe 2CD edition, with sound design by Mike Brady, recording by Mike Brady, David Nock and Michael Rendall, and mixing by Youth.

References

  1. ↑ "Metallic Spheres - David Gilmour, The Orb : Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  2. ↑ The Orb featuring David Gilmour – Metallic Spheres (Columbia – 88697 79645 2) at Discogs
  3. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/music/metallic-spheres/the-orb
  4. ↑ Allmusic review
  5. ↑ The A.V. Club review
  6. ↑ Pitchfork Media review
  7. ↑ Metallic Spheres, a collaboration with electronica legends the Orb, represents his boldest and most satisfying footnote to date.
  8. ↑ What most surprising is the diversity here--the sense of direction is not pressing, but ultimately there's plenty to revisit. [Nov 2010, p.94]
  9. ↑ The 50-minute opus is an ambient masterclass. [Nov 2010, p.112]
  10. ↑ http://www.spin.com/reviews/orb-vs-david-gilmour-metallic-spheres-columbiasony/
  11. ↑ http://www.popmatters.com/review/131182-the-orb-feat-david-gilmour-metallic-spheres/
  12. ↑ Mojo (Publisher) (p. 100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] finely textured affair -- Gilmour's tasteful guitar flurries and odd vocal snatches animating Paterson's dreamscapes."
  13. ↑ http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/the-orb-featuring-david-gilmour-metallic-spheres
  14. ↑ http://nowtoronto.com/music/album-reviews/the-orb-featuring-david-gilmour/
  15. ↑ Columbia Records (September 28, 2010). "The Orb Featuring David Gilmour's Metallic Spheres to be Celebrated Through Original Laser Show and Appearances by The Orb". PR Newswire. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  16. ↑ "David Gilmour | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 12 July 2012.