name	The Orb
background	group_or_band
origin	England, United Kingdom
genre	Ambient houseAmbientAmbient technoDubChill outIDM
years active	1988–present
label	Big LifeIslandBadorb.comKompaktMalicious DamageMercuryMCAColumbia
associated acts	The KLFSpaceSun ElectricSystem 7FFWDYouthTransit KingsDavid Gilmour
website	theorb.com
current members	Alex PatersonThomas Fehlmann
past members	Jimmy CautyKris WestonAndy FalconerAndy HughesSimon Phillips
notable instruments	}}

:''This article is about the band. For the comic book character, see Orb (comics).'' The Orb are an English electronic music group known for spawning the genre of ambient house. Founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and KLF member Jimmy Cauty, The Orb began as ambient and dub DJs in London. Its early performances were inspired by ambient and electronic artists of the 1970s and 1980s, most notably Brian Eno and Kraftwerk. Because of its trippy sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. The Orb has maintained its drug-related and science fiction themes despite personnel changes including the departure of Cauty and other Orb members Kris Weston, Andy Falconer, Simon Phillips, and Andy Hughes. Paterson has been the only permanent member, continuing to work as the Orb with the Swiss-German producer Thomas Fehlmann and, later, with Killing Joke's Martin "Youth" Glover and Tim Bran of Dreadzone.

Alex Paterson prides the Orb on manipulating obscure samples beyond recognition on its albums and during its concerts; his unauthorised use of other artists' works has led to disputes with musicians, most notably with Rickie Lee Jones and Steve Reich. During its live shows of the 1990s, the Orb performed using digital audio tape machines optimised for live mixing and sampling before switching to laptops and digital media. Despite changes in performance method, the Orb maintained its colourful light shows and psychedelic imagery in concert. These visually intensive performances prompted critics to compare the group to Pink Floyd.

The Orb's critical and commercial success in the United Kingdom peaked in the early 1990s with the albums ''The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld'' and ''U.F.Orb'', the latter of which reached #1 on the British album charts in 1992. This success led to its infamous appearance on ''Top of the Pops'', where the group showcased its quirky style by playing chess (an interest of Paterson's since his early youth) while the group's single "Blue Room" ran in the background. The Orb's mid-1990s albums were met with mixed reactions from British critics; however, its work received praise from American publications such as ''Rolling Stone''. The group experimented with vocalists on its next two albums, which critics generally described as bland and uninspired. The Orb then shifted gears to a minimal techno style spearheaded by member Thomas Fehlmann, releasing its new material on the record label Kompakt.

History

1988–1990: Paterson & Cauty

Alex Paterson began his music career in the early 1980s as a roadie for the post-punk rock band Killing Joke, for whom his childhood friend Martin "Youth" Glover played bass. After leaving Killing Joke in 1986, Paterson met future KLF member Jimmy Cauty and the duo began DJ-ing and producing music together under the name ''The Orb''. Paterson and Cauty's first release was a 1988 acid house anthem track, "Tripping on Sunshine", released on the German record compilation ''Eternity Project One''. The following year, The Orb released the ''Kiss EP'', a four-track EP based on samples from New York City's KISS FM. It was released on Paterson and Glover's new record label WAU! Mr. Modo Records, which Paterson and Glover created out of a desire to maintain financial independence from larger record labels. After spending a weekend of making what Paterson described as "really shit drum sounds", the duo decided to abandon beat-heavy music and instead work on music for after-hours listening by removing the percussion tracks. Paterson and Cauty began DJ-ing in London and landed a deal for The Orb to play the chill out room at London nightclub Heaven. Resident DJ Paul Oakenfold brought in the duo specifically as ambient DJs for his "The Land of Oz" event at Heaven. Though The Orb's Monday night performances had only several hardcore followers initially, its chill-out room act grew popular over the course of its six-month stay to the point that the small room was often packed with around 100 people. The Orb's performances became most popular among weary DJs and clubbers seeking solace from the loud, rhythmic music of the dancefloor. The Orb would build up melodies using multitrack recordings linked to multiple record decks and a mixer. The group incorporated many CDs, cassettes, and BBC sound effects into the act, often accompanied with pieces of popular dance tracks such as "Sueño Latino." Though the group used a variety of samples, it avoided heavy rhythm and drums so that the intended ambient atmosphere wasn't disrupted. Most often, the group played dub reggae and other chill out music, which it described as ambient house for the E generation.

Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1. The track, then known as "Loving You," was largely improvisational and featured a wealth of sound effects and samples from science fiction radio plays, nature sounds, and Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You." For its release as a single on the record label Big Life, the Orb changed the title to "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld." Upon the single's release, Riperton's management forced Big Life to remove the unlicensed Riperton sample, ensuring that only the initial first-week release of the single contained the original vocals of Minnie Riperton; subsequent pressings used vocals from a sound-alike. Despite its running time of 22 minutes, the sample-laden single reached #78 on the British singles charts. Soon thereafter, the Orb was commissioned by Dave Stewart to remix his top-20 single "Lily Was Here." The group obliged and was soon offered several more remix jobs from artists including Erasure and System 7.

In 1990, Paterson and Cauty held several recording sessions at Cauty's studio, Trancentral. When offered an album deal by Big Life, the Orb found itself at a crossroads: Cauty preferred that the Orb release its music through his KLF Communications label, whereas Paterson wanted to ensure that the group did not become a side-project of The KLF. Because of these issues, Cauty and Paterson split in April 1990, with Paterson keeping the name the Orb. As a result of the break-up, Cauty removed Paterson's contributions from the in-progress recordings and released the album as ''Space'' on KLF Communications. Also out of these sessions came The KLF album ''Chill Out'', on which Paterson appeared in an uncredited role.

Following the split, Paterson began working with Youth on the track "Little Fluffy Clouds". The group incorporated samples from Steve Reich's ''Electric Counterpoint'' and vocal clips from an interview with Rickie Lee Jones in which she recalls picturesque images from her childhood. While Reich was flattered by the Orb's use of his work, Jones pursued the issue in the legal system. Big Life chose to settle out of court for an undisclosed sum of money for use of her voice on the Orb's recording. "Little Fluffy Clouds" reached #87 on the British singles chart; however, due to Glover's other production obligations (and subsequently rejoining Killing Joke), he did not become a permanent member of The Orb. According to an interview on ''The South Bank Show'', Reich demanded twenty-five percent of royalties from the use of his "Electric Counterpoint" (performed by guitarist Pat Metheny) on all sales of "Clouds."

1991–1994: Paterson & Weston

In 1991, Paterson invited free lance studio engineer Andy Falconer to join the Orb and was closely followed by energetic studio engineer Kris "Thrash" Weston. Steve Hillage, whom Patterson had met while DJ-ing in London, also joined as a contributing guitarist. Along with producer Thomas Fehlmann, The Orb completed several additional tracks for its first album, ''The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld''. At least six studios and twenty outside musicians were used during the three weeks of recording. Falconer's and Weston's technical abilities and Hillages's guitar work allowed the group to craft panoramic sounds portraying aspects of space travel, most notably the launch of ''Apollo 11''. ''Adventures'' sold well in the United Kingdom and received praise for its balance of ambient music, house music, and sampling. Retrospectively, ''Adventures'' is considered ground-breaking for changing the way musicians view sampling and as a seminal work for the genres of ambient and dance music. The completion of ''Adventures'' saw the departure of Andy Falconer, whose last contribution was to one of the Orb's Peel Sessions. To promote the release of an edited single-disc version for an American release on Mercury Records, the Orb embarked on their first tour of the United States beginning in Phoenix, Arizona, in October 1991.

In late 1991 and early 1992, Paterson and Weston wrote their next single, "Blue Room". Assisting with the recording was bassist Jah Wobble, keyboardist Miquette Giraudy, and guitarist Hillage. Despite its playing time of almost 40 minutes, "Blue Room" entered the British charts at #12 and peaked at #8, making it the longest track to reach the charts. The Orb promoted this single with a "legendary avant-garde" performance on ''Top of the Pops'' where Patterson and Weston played a game of chess in space suits while footage of dolphins and an edited version of "Blue Room" ran in the background. In July 1992, ''U.F.Orb'' was released featuring "Blue Room" and, in the US release, The Orb's next single, "Assassin". Weston integrated his technical and creative expertise with Paterson's Eno-influenced ambience on ''U.F.Orb'', combining "drum and bass rhythms" with "velvet keyboards" and "rippling synth lines". ''U.F.Orb'' reached #1 on the British album charts to the shock of critics, who were surprised that fans had embraced what journalists considered to be progressive rock. Despite The Orb's success, Paterson and Weston preferred to avoid personal publicity and instead allow their music to be the focus of attention. Because of this partial anonymity and The Orb's rotating membership, they are often recognised as more of a musical collective than a "band".

Over the next year and a half, Paterson and Weston continued to produce new material, but releases stalled when Paterson began to feel that Big Life was trying to dictate the direction of The Orb's music. This led to intense disagreements with Big Life and The Orb soon left the label to sign a deal with Island Records. Their first release on Island Records was the live album ''Live 93'', which gathered highlights from The Orb's recent performances in Europe and Asia. It featured The Orb's live crew of Paterson, Weston, producers Nick Burton and Simon Phillips, as well as audio engineer Andy Hughes, who had stepped in previously when Weston had decided to stop touring. The Orb's first studio production on Island Records was ''Pomme Fritz'', a chaotic EP noted for its heavy use of strange samples and its lack of conventional harmonies. Though ''Pomme Fritz'' reached as high as #6 on the British charts, critics panned it as "doodling". Even Island Records "hated it" and "didn't understand it at all", according to Paterson. Soon after production finished on ''Pomme Fritz'', Paterson, Weston, and Orb contributor Thomas Fehlmann joined with Robert Fripp to form the group FFWD as a side project. FFWD released a single self-titled album on Paterson's Inter-Modo label, which Fehlmann later described as "an Orb track which became so long that it became a whole album!". Due to this aimlessness, FFWD lacked an artistic goal and disbanded after a single release. Soon after the release of ''FFWD'' in August 1994, Weston suddenly quit The Orb. Paterson claimed that Weston's departure was due to Weston's desire to have more control in The Orb. However, in an interview with ''i-D'', Weston attributed the split to Paterson, saying that Paterson "didn't do his 50 per cent of the work." Paterson reaffirmed the status of The Orb saying, "The Orb is The Orb, and nothing can change that" and continued work with Hughes and Fehlmann.

1995–2001: Paterson, Fehlmann & Hughes

Following Weston's departure from The Orb, Thomas Fehlmann joined as a full-time studio member, though he would not always participate in live performances. Paterson, Hughes, and Fehlmann then finished producing the album ''Orbus Terrarum'', on which Paterson and Weston had been working. ''Orbus Terrarum'', released in 1995, featured more "earthbound" and "organic" sounds than their previous trippy science fiction themed music. ''Orbus Terrarum'' suffered, as Paterson described it, "a good kicking" at the hands of the British press, who described it as "generic" and a low point for Paterson's creativity. ''Orbus Terrarum'' alienated many of the group's fans, causing the album to only reach #20 on the British charts. American critics, however, gave it great acclaim including ''Rolling Stone'' who made it their album of the month, citing the album's symphonic flow coupled with The Orb's "uniquely British wit". After a long world tour, The Orb, with Andy Hughes and Steve Hillage, settled down to produce their next album, ''Orblivion''—the process of which saw a return to their spacy sounds. Though ''Orblivion'' was recorded in May 1996, it was not released until almost a year later, due to Island Records' desire to promote it as a follow up to U2's techno-rock album ''Pop''. ''Orblivion'' sold well in Europe as well as the United States, where it reached the Billboard Top 200. The first ''Orblivion'' single, "Toxygene", was the highest charting single by The Orb, reaching #4 in the United Kingdom on 8 February 1997. Despite high sales, ''Orblivion'' received a lukewarm reception from the British press. As with ''Orbus Terrarum'', ''Orblivion'' was better received by American critics, including ''Rolling Stone'', who praised its "contrast of chaos and euphony". Meanwhile, the stresses of touring sat heavily on Paterson; he considered retiring The Orb, but ultimately continued touring and producing.

Paterson and Fehlmann, along with usual collaborators Hughes, Burton, and Phillips, wrote and produced ''Cydonia'' for a planned 1999 release. Featured on the album were appearances from Robert Fripp, John Roome (Witchman), and Fil Le Gonidec, one of The Orb's live performers. Singers Nina Walsh and Aki Omori appeared on two tracks each, providing vocals and co-writing lyrics with Paterson. Paterson felt that this new direction of songwriting for The Orb was more similar to the experimental work of ''Orbus Terrarum'' than to the techno-pop of ''Orblivion''. As Island Records was in a period of restructuring due to its recent purchase by Universal Music Group, ''Cydonia'' was not released until 2001. Upon release, critics noted that ''Cydonia'' merged together pop, trance, and ambient-dub music, which they felt to be a conglomeration of bland vocals and uninventive ambience that lacked the appeal of The Orb's earlier work. ''NME'' harshly described it as "a stillborn relic, flawed throughout by chronically stunted ambitions" and describing its only appropriate audience to be "old ravers" seeking nostalgia. Not only did the album receive poor reviews, but The Orb was generally regarded by the British press as past their prime and an "ambient dinosaur" out of place in the current dance music environment. After the release of ''Cydonia'', Hughes left the group for undisclosed reasons, becoming "another acrimonious departure from The Orb" according to ''The Guardian''.

2001–2004: Paterson, Fehlmann & Phillips

In 2001, Alex Paterson formed the record label Badorb.com as an outlet for Orb members' side projects. To promote both Badorb.com and ''Cydonia'', The Orb toured internationally, including their first visit to the United States in four years. ''NME'' described The Orb's tour as "charming" and that The Orb was "freed from the Floydian pretensions that dogged the band throughout the mid-'90s.

The Orb, now composed of Paterson, Phillips and Fehlmann, with guest John Roome, accepted an invitation to join the Area:One concert tour with Moby, Paul Oakenfold, New Order and other alternative and electronic artists. Though The Orb was paired with more mainstream artists during the tour such as Incubus, Paterson and Fehlmann chose to make their next releases a series of several low-key EPs for German label Kompakt in 2002. The Orb found critical success on Kompakt; however, Badorb.com collapsed soon after releasing the compilation ''Bless You''. Badorb.com had released fourteen records over the course of fourteen months from artists including Guy Pratt (Conduit), Ayumi Hamasaki, and Takayuki Shiraishi, as well as The Orb's three-track ''Daleth of Elphame EP''. Though Badorb.com was an internet-based record label, they only sold vinyl releases (with one exception, the aforementioned Orb EP), which Paterson later remarked was a poor idea because "not many people... have record players".

Though their musical style had changed somewhat since the 1990s, The Orb continued to use their odd synthetic sounds on 2004's ''Bicycles & Tricycles'', to mixed reviews. ''The Daily Telegraph'' praised ''Bicycles & Tricycles'' as being "inclusive, exploratory, and an enjoyable journey"; however, other publications dismissed it as "stoner dub" and irrelevant to current electronic music. Like ''Cydonia'', ''Bicycles & Tricycles'' featured vocals, including female rapper MC Soom-T who added a hip hop twist to the album. The Orb left Island Records and released the album on Cooking Vinyl and Sanctuary Records. To promote the album, the band began a UK tour with dub reggae artist Mad Professor. Though The Orb still pulled in large crowds, ''The Guardian'' noted that they lacked the intensity found in their earlier performances.

2004–2007: Paterson & Fehlmann, The Transit Kings

After two more EPs on Kompakt, The Orb (now composed of only Paterson and Fehlmann) released ''Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt'', which featured new material in addition to tweaked versions of their previous Kompakt output. By this stage, the ''Allmusic'' observed, Thomas Fehlmann had become the primary creative figure in The Orb, "inhibiting Alex Paterson's whimsical impulses". Because of this, ''Okie Dokie'' was considerably more focused and less "goofy" than ''Cydonia'' and ''Bicycles & Tricycles''. Fehlmann's trademark hypnotic loops and delays made him the center of ''Okie Dokie'' production and, according to ''Pitchfork Media'', made it "difficult to say where [Paterson] is in the picture". The Orb's releases with Kompakt gained The Orb back much of their musical credibility with the press and showed that The Orb could "age gracefully".

In August 2006, the founders of The Orb - Paterson and Cauty - released ''Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God'', their debut album as the Transit Kings with Guy Pratt and Pratt's associate, Dom Beken. The album featured appearances from The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and comedian Simon Day. Beken described ''Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God'' as "self-consciously musically written and less sample-based" compared to the members' previous work. ''Living'' had been in production since 2001, but due to members' other obligations, it was delayed for several years. The album received mixed critical reactions, with reviewers such as ''The Sun'' comparing the album favorably to the music of DJ Shadow and Röyksopp while other publications, such as ''The Times'', called it "Orb-lite" and proclaimed it to be "Deep Forest-style sludge". Soon after the album's release, Cauty left the Transit Kings on "extended leave", leaving the project in indefinite limbo. Paterson and Beken would reunite in 2008 as High Frequency Bandwidth, an ambient hip hop group on the Malicious Damage label.

2007–present

The Orb's next studio album, ''The Dream'' was released in Japan in 2007 and the following year in the United States and United Kingdom. Fehlmann is absent on ''The Dream'' and Paterson was instead reunited with Martin Glover and joined by Tim Bran of Dreadzone. The album features more of a return to The Orb's sounds of the early 1990s, with peculiar vocals and playful samples. The Orb also brought in jazz and house music singer Juliet Roberts and guitarist Steve Hillage. The Orb's live band currently consists of Paterson, The Corpral (vocals), Keith York (drums/percussion), Fil Le Gonidec, and Glover.

After July 2006 re-release of ''The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld'' 3-CD Deluxe Edition, 2007 and 2008 saw releases of expanded 2-CD editions of the band's subsequent regular studio records: ''U.F.Orb'', ''Pomme Fritz'' EP, ''Orbus Terrarum'', ''Orblivion'' and ''Cydonia''. In Autumn of 2008 a double-cd compilation of BBC Radio 1 sessions called ''The Orb: Complete BBC Sessions 1989-2001'' was released.

In May 2009, the British Malicious Damage Records (run by the members of Killing Joke) announced the release of The Orb's ninth regular studio album ''Baghdad Batteries (Orbsessions Volume III)'' on September 11, 2009. A reunification of Paterson and his long-term collaborator Thomas Fehlmann who last worked together on ''Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt'', the album was promoted with a launch party with Paterson and Fehlmann performing the whole album live at The-Situation Modern in Clapham, England on 10 September. A track "Chocolate Fingers" was uploaded onto the label's MySpace profile. The 11-track album is said to be the third in the ''Orbsessions'' series, although unlike the first two outtakes parts composed of brand new material, recorded at Fehlmann's Berlin studio.

March 2010 saw Internet station Dandelion Radio broadcast a seventeen and a half minute long Orb session track by Patterson and Fehlmann on the Andrew Morrison show. This new track was titled 'Battersea Bunches' and was a remixed version of the soundtrack to a short movie, also entitled 'Battersea Bunches' by Mike Coles and Alex Patterson - a film installation to be seen at London’s Battersea Power Station on 1 June 2010 as part of an evening of art and music.

In the summer of 2010 Alex Paterson teamed up with Youth aka Martin Glover to compile a retrospective compilation album of tracks from the WAU! Mr Modo label. The album titled ''Impossible Oddities'' is set to be released on CD and double Vinyl on 25 October 2010 via Year Zero records.

The Orb released ''Metallic Spheres'' in October 2010. It featured David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd fame, and was released by Columbia Records.

Themes and influences

Inspiration

The Orb's members have drawn from an assortment of influences in their music. The Orb's central figure, Alex Paterson, had early musical tastes and influences which included King Tubby, Alice Cooper, Prince, Kraftwerk, and T.Rex. Among these, Paterson cites Kraftwerk as one of the most important, claiming they created the foundation from which all modern dance music has been built. While in Brixton with Martin Glover as a teenager, Paterson was also exposed to a large amount of reggae music, such as The Mighty Diamonds, The Abyssinians, and Bob Marley. The reggae influence on Paterson and The Orb can readily be heard in tracks such as the single "Perpetual Dawn" and ''U.F.Orb'''s "Towers of Dub". The earliest ambient influences of The Orb came in 1979 during Paterson's roadie days with Killing Joke. While with the band in Neuss, Paterson listened to Brian Eno's ''Music for Films'' while on LSD and watched "the Ruhr steel works explode in the distance", noting that "[t]he scene seemed to be taking place in the music as well". That same night, Paterson was also inspired while listening to Cluster's ''Grosses Wasser'' and found that the steel works' "huge metal arms were crushing molten rocks in time to the music", which was something he'd "never seen, or heard, anything like it before". Along with Cluster and Kraftwerk, Paterson was also influenced by other German experimental music from Can and composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. ''Modulations'' calls Paterson's music a "maximal" version of Brian Eno's "minimal" ambience, though according to Paterson, Eno resents Paterson's use of his music as an influence.

The Orb has often been described as "The Pink Floyd of the Nineties", however, Paterson has stated that The Orb's music is more influenced by experimental electronic music more so than progressive rock of the 1970s. He has noted though that the Pink Floyd album ''Meddle'' was influential to him as a child in the 1970s. The psychedelic prog-rock similarities have led critics to describe The Orb as hippie revivalists; however, Paterson has strongly rejected the tag, claiming that even as a youth, he was "one of those punks who hated hippies".

During production of ''Cydonia'' and ''Bicycles & Tricycles'', Paterson's biggest influences were drum and bass and trip hop music, as seen on the tracks "Ghostdancing", "Thursday's Keeper", and "Aftermath". The Orb's more recent influences consist largely of German techno producers, such as Triola, who themselves were inspired by The Orb's earlier work. Paterson cites the music of Kompakt as one of his primary modern influences and claims it to be among the best modern ambient music.

Drug use

As chill out DJs in the late 1980s, the Orb often played to the needs of the chemical generation (ravers of the 1980s and 1990s), making music to come down from drugs to. Paterson described the Orb's original intent as "basically about taking lots of drugs and going clubbing." Similarly, one of the Orb's early taglines was "Ambient house for the E generation." Often during interviews, Alex Paterson smoked joints, including a 2003 interview with ''The Guardian'', during which interviewer Will Hodgkinson noted the assorted "hash-smoking paraphernalia" around Paterson's Battersea apartment. Drug references often turn up in tracks, such as "72," from ''Orblivion'', which features a clip from Hair proclaiming, "The youth of America on LSD!" Another notable case is on "Little Fluffy Clouds," which features the odd nasal tonality of Rickie Lee Jones' influenced voice, though Jones said it was the result of a heavy cold.

Imagery

Imagery has always been an important part of The Orb's persona. This is most prominent during live performances, where The Orb often projects surreal images against onstage screens. Common images include morphing faces, futuristic cityscapes, and ubiquitous alien references. They have long associated their act with absurd symbology with images such as floating pigs. This has carried over to their music videos, most of which are spacy, brightly coloured montages of surreal images including astronauts, clouds, and neon dolphins. Because of their use of psychedelic images at shows, The Orb's shows are frequently compared to those of Pink Floyd, who also used in-show imagery and films. Paterson cites Godfrey Reggio's and Philip Glass's film Koyaanisqatsi as a primary influence to their concert imagery.

The Orb is also been noted for their original album art, which features much of the same imagery as their live act. Noted graphic design group The Designers Republic created the cover art for The Orb's earlier work, including ''Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld'', ''U.F.Orb'', and the singles from those two albums. For their next album, The Orb poked fun at their Pink Floyd comparisons with the cover of ''Live 93'' featuring a floating stuffed sheep over the Battersea Power Station, which had appeared on the cover of Pink Floyd's ''Animals''. The artwork found in Badorb.com releases was similar to The Orb's odd artwork of the mid-1990s, as it was stylistically similar and contained little writing. Paterson has also dabbled in the creation of cover art himself, designing the cover of ''Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt''.

Science fiction and space

Some of the more prominent motifs in The Orb's work are outer space and science fiction, including alien visitations, space flight, and mind control. These have included The Orb's use of samples from serious sources such as NASA transmissions to comedic clips from films like Woody Allen's ''Sleeper''. ''U.F.Orb'' especially expressed a fascination with alien life with its bizarre sound samples and in the album's title itself. The title of its most popular single, "Blue Room", is itself a reference to the supposed Blue Room of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which was heavily investigated as a possible UFO evidence holding room. Their 2001 album, too, is named for a space-related subject, specifically the Cydonia Mensae region of Mars. Due to Paterson's focus on science fiction and astronomical phenomena, ''The Guardian'' described Paterson as "pop [music]'s primary spokesperson on aliens".

Techniques, technology, live performances

''The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld'' was mainly recorded on a Mitsubishi 48 Track digital machine running in sync with an Otari 24 Track analogue machine. The majority of the parts regardless of bass, drum loops etc. were recorded to tape for the entire time available (15 minutes as limited by the Otari analogue machine) without a break. As well as parts committed to tape there would invariably be other elements running "live" from Akai Samplers, triggered from an Atari 1040 computer synced to tape. Once all parts were assembled a mix would be built up by Falconer. Having completed this multiple mixes would be run off to DAT. It was also normal at this stage for Paterson to free form extra material and effects from either CD, Vinyl or DAT as a live source being combined with the final mixes. After Falconer had completed an initial "safe" mix, Weston would then take over the mixing desk and produce multiple mixes and would in turn be followed by Paterson. Once multiple mixes produced, a final mix would be edited together by Falconer from the source DATs. This was done by transferring the required elements to a 1/4" analogue tape machine and editing them together with a razor blade to produce the final version.

In The Orb's early DJ events in the 1980s, Paterson and Cauty performed with three record decks, a cassette player, and a CD player all of which were mixed through an Akai 12-track mixer. They used their equipment to harmonise recorded music and sound effect samples into an "endless sound continuum" for audiences of worn out dancers. Even after The Orb began producing original material, they kept the same sample-heavy model for live acts by spontaneously integrating obscure samples into their pre-recorded tracks. During promotional tours for ''Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld'' and ''U.F.Orb'', The Orb performed using a digital audio tape machine and experimented with other media sources such as dubplates. The tape machines held individual chords, rhythms, and basslines for each composition, allowing The Orb to reprocess them and mimic the act of DJ-ing. Members could then easily improvise with these samples and manipulate them using sound effect racks. Often, The Orb had a live musician accompanying them, such as Steve Hillage on guitar. Their shows in the early 1990s would often be three hours of semi-improvised, continuous music featuring a wealth of triggered samples, voices, and pre-recorded tracks which were barely identifiable as the original piece.

The Orb began performing regularly at the Brixton Academy in the early 1990s, where they used the high ceilings and large space for their "well-suited amorphous sound", frequently performing their newest and more experimental pieces there. Andy Hughes took Weston's place at live performances after the 1993 tour, though Weston did reappear for The Orb's concert at the rainy Woodstock '94. The Orb played for late night raves on the first two nights of Woodstock '94 in addition to artists including Aphex Twin, Orbital, and Deee-Lite. The next year, The Orb's touring group consisted of Paterson, Hughes, Nick Burton on percussion, and Simon Phillips on bass. This ensemble of live performers and electronic music created a "cacophony" of "gigantic, swarming sounds". Though The Orb's performances use much onstage equipment and many props, Paterson prefers to present The Orb as "a non-centralised figure of amusement on stage".

The Orb used ADAT recorders for performances from 1993 to 2001 and utilised large 48-track decks, which Paterson described as basically being a "studio onstage". They hooked synthesisers, such as the ARP 2600, to MIDI interfaces to recreate specific sounds that appeared on their albums. The Orb's methods of studio music creation changed as well. For more recent albums such as ''Cydonia'', The Orb used inexpensive equipment such as Korg's Electribe products, which Paterson described as employing more of a "bedroom techno" approach. Despite their use of laptops during performances and in-studio computers, Paterson says that he still cherishes vinyl and does not find purchasing CDs or downloading music to be nearly as satisfying.

Sampling and remixing

One of The Orb's most notable contributions to electronic music is their idea of blurring the distinction between sampling and remixing. Albums such as ''Pomme Fritz'', though released as a piece of original work, consist largely of manipulated samples. Conversely, The Orb's remixes typically use only small sections of the original track, most notably in the case of their single "Toxygene". "Toxygene" was originally commissioned as a remix of Jean Michel Jarre's "Oxygene 8" from ''Oxygene 7-13''. However, The Orb "obliterated it" and reassembled only a few fragments for their remix, much to the chagrin of Jarre, who reportedly refused to release it; The Orb released the track themselves under the name "Toxygene", which further irritated Jarre, to whom Paterson retorted "The French are always five years behind us, anyway." In statements made after the release of "Toxygene", however, Jarre denied that he rejected the original remix because of disliking it.

Other artists have become agitated due to The Orb sampling their work, though Paterson jokingly suggests that "[t]hey don't know the half of it." Paterson says that he finds a "beauty" and a "cleverness" with slipping unlicensed samples into compositions without anyone recognizing it. Even though fans often try to guess the origins of many of The Orb's samples, Paterson states that they are rarely correct and that they would "die" if they discovered, for example, where the drums on "Little Fluffy Clouds" originated from. He has said that record labels have cautioned him, "Don't tell anyone where you got your samples until we get them cleared!".

The Orb has used a wide variety of audio clips from sources ranging from McCarthy era speeches to prank phone calls by Victor Lewis-Smith to David Thewlis' apocalypse-driven rant from the film ''Naked''. Paterson obtains many samples from recording TV and radio for hours at a time and picking out his favorite clips. He and other members of The Orb record nature sounds for use on albums, most notably on ''FFWD'' and ''Orbus Terrarum''. The Orb's combination of ambient music and sampling from lower fidelity audio sources often creates a "fuzzy texture" in the sound quality, depersonalising The Orb's music. The Orb is lauded for their "Monty Python-esque levity" in their use of audio samples, though ''NME'' asserts that Paterson "sabotage[s] his majestic soundscapes" with "irritatingly zany" sounds.

The Orb has been a prolific remixing team, having completed over 80 commissioned remixes since 1989. Even during periods of label conflict and contractual limbo, The Orb found steady work remixing for artists including Depeche Mode, Lisa Stansfield, and Front 242. Though The Orb's remixes from the early and mid-1990s feature a large number of comical samples, ''Progressive-Sounds'' describe them as "ahead of their time" and ''NME'' notes them as "not entirely incompatible with contemporary chilling." However, some pieces, such as their Bee Gees cover collaboration with Robbie Williams, received criticism for being "beyond a joke" for their use of strange noises. The Orb's remix of Nine Inch Nails' "The Perfect Drug", too, was described as "silly", as they made it sound like Trent Reznor was "drowning in his bathtub". Though Paterson maintains that much of The Orb's remix work is done to support other artists, he admits some of their remixes for major artists were performed so that The Orb could "pay the bills".

Discography

1991: ''The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld'' (Big Life UK, Mercury US (first pressing), Island Red Label US (second pressing, two discs)) (UK #29)

1992: ''U.F.Orb'' (Big Life UK, Mercury US (first pressing), Island Red Label US (second pressing)) (UK #1)

1993: ''Live 93'' (Island Records)

1994: ''Pomme Fritz (Island Records) (UK #6)

1995: ''Orbus Terrarum'' (Island Records) (UK #20)

1997: ''Orblivion'' (Island Records) (UK #19, Billboard 200 #174)

1998: ''U.F.Off: The Best of The Orb'' (Island Records/Universal Music Ltd.) (UK #38)

2001: ''Cydonia'' (Island Records UK, MCA Records US) (UK #83)

2004: ''Bicycles & Tricycles'' (Cooking Vinyl, Sanctuary Records) (UK #107, Billboard Top Electronic Albums #22)

2005: ''Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt'' (Kompakt)

2007: ''The Dream'' (Traffic Inc., Liquid Sound Design, Six Degrees) (UK #175)

2009: ''Baghdad Batteries (Orbsessions Volume III)'' (Malicious Damage)

2010: ''Metallic Spheres'' (featuring David Gilmour)(UK #12)

References

External links

Official Website

BadOrb.com label

Area One video

Category:Ambient music groups Category:English electronic music groups Category:British house music groups Category:Remixers Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Island Records artists Category:MCA Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:British techno music groups Category:Musical groups established in 1988 Category:1988 establishments in England

cs:The Orb de:The Orb es:The Orb fr:The Orb ka:The Orb nl:The Orb ja:ジ・オーブ pl:The Orb pt:The Orb ru:The Orb sv:The Orb th:ดิออร์บ uk:The Orb

name	Mike Oldfield
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Gordon Oldfield
birth date	May 15, 1953
birth place	Reading, Berkshire, England
instrument	Guitar, keyboards, Percussion, vocals, Bass guitar, drums, piano, organ, glockenspiel, mandolin, banjo, tubular bells, Chapman stick
genre	Ambient, Celtic fusion, classical, Synthpop, experimental, minimalist, Honky-Tonk, Neoclassical, new age, Neofolk, pop, progressive rock, rock and roll, world
occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Producer, Game designer
years active	1967–present
label	Virgin (1972–1991)Warner Bros. (1992–2003)Mercury (2005–present)
associated acts	Maggie Reilly, Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, David Bedford, Anita Hegerland, Pekka Pohjola
website	www.mikeoldfieldofficial.com }}

Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953, Reading, Berkshire) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album ''Tubular Bells'', which launched Virgin Records, and for his 1983 hit single "Moonlight Shadow". He is also well known for his hit rendition of the Christmas piece, "In Dulci Jubilo".

Biography

Oldfield's parents are Raymond Oldfield, a general practitioner, and his wife Maureen Liston, a nurse. His sister Sally and brother Terry are successful musicians in their own right and have appeared on several of his albums. Mike Oldfield was born in the Battle Hospital, Reading, Berkshire, and he attended St Joseph's Convent School, Highlands Junior School in Tilehurst, St Edward's Preparatory School, and Presentation College in Reading. When he was 13 he moved with his parents to Harold Wood in northeast London, where he attended Hornchurch Grammar School. He only stayed there long enough to take one GCE examination, in English, as he had already begun his music career.

Early career

Oldfield's career began fairly early, playing acoustic guitar in local folk clubs. At this time, he already had two fifteen-minute instrumental pieces in which he would "go through all sorts of moods", a precursor to his landmark 1970s compositions. In his early teens, Oldfield was involved in a 'beat group' playing Shadows-style music (he has often cited Hank Marvin as a major influence, and would later cover The Shadows' song "Wonderful Land"). In 1967 he and his sister Sally formed the folk duo The Sallyangie and were signed to Transatlantic Records after exposure in the local folk scene. An album, ''Children of the Sun'', was issued in 1968. After Sallyangie disbanded, he formed another duo with his brother Terry, called Barefoot, which took him back to rock music.

In 1970 he joined The Whole World - backing group to vocalist Kevin Ayers, formerly of the Soft Machine - playing bass guitar and occasionally lead guitar. The band also included keyboardist and composer David Bedford, who quickly befriended Oldfield, and encouraged him in his composition of an early version of ''Tubular Bells''. Bedford would later arrange and conduct an orchestral version of that album. Oldfield is featured on two Ayers albums, ''Whatevershebringswesing'' and ''Shooting at the Moon''.

Having recorded a demo version of ''Tubular Bells'', Oldfield attempted to persuade record labels to take the project on. In 1972 he met the young Richard Branson who was setting up his own record label, Virgin Records, and after playing the demo to engineers Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth, he began recording the 1973 version of the album.

Virgin years (1973–1991)

''Tubular Bells'' became Oldfield's most famous work. The instrumental composition was recorded in 1972 and launched on 25 May 1973 as the inaugural album of Richard Branson's Virgin Records label. The album was groundbreaking, as Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments in the multi-layered recording made in Branson's Manor studios, and its style moved through many diverse musical genres. Its 2,630,000 UK sales put it at No.34 on the list of the best selling albums in the UK. In the US, it received attention with the opening theme appearing in the soundtrack to ''The Exorcist''. The title track subsequently became a Top 10 hit single in the US as well and is today considered to be a forerunner of the New Age movement. In 1974, Oldfield played guitar on the critically acclaimed album ''Rock Bottom'' by Robert Wyatt. In the autumn of 1974, the follow-up LP, ''Hergest Ridge'', was No.1 in the UK for three weeks before being dethroned by ''Tubular Bells''. Although ''Hergest Ridge'' was released over a year after ''Tubular Bells'', it reached No.1 first. ''Tubular Bells'' spent 11 weeks (10 of them consecutive) at No.2 before its one week at the top. In 1979, Oldfield's music was used as the musical score for ''The Space Movie'', a Virgin movie that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

Like ''Tubular Bells'', ''Hergest Ridge'' is a two-movement instrumental piece, this time evoking scenes from Oldfield's Herefordshire country retreat. It was followed in 1975 by the pioneering world music piece ''Ommadawn'', and 1978's ''Incantations'' which introduced more diverse choral performances from Sally Oldfield, Maddy Prior, and the Queen's College Girls Choir. In 1975 Oldfield recorded a version of the Christmas piece "In Dulci Jubilo" which charted at number four in the UK. Oldfield's 1976 rendition of "Portsmouth" remains his highest charting single on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number three.

In 1976 Oldfield and his sister Sally joined his friend and band member Pekka Pohjola to play on his album ''Mathematician's Air Display'', which was released in 1977. The album was recorded and edited at Oldfield's Througham Slad Manor in Gloucestershire by Oldfield and Paul Lindsay.

Around the time of ''Incantations'', Oldfield underwent a controversial self-assertiveness therapy course known as Exegesis. Possibly as a result, the formerly reclusive musician staged a major European tour to promote the album, chronicled in his live album ''Exposed'', much of which was recorded at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, the first-ever concert there.

In 1975, Oldfield received a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Composition in "Tubular Bells – Theme from ''The Exorcist''". In 1979, he recorded a version of the signature tune of the popular British Children's Television programme, ''Blue Peter'', which was used by the show for 10 years.

The early 1980s saw Oldfield make a transition to mainstream pop music, beginning with the inclusion of shorter instrumental tracks and contemporary cover versions on ''Platinum'' and ''QE2'' (the latter named after the ocean liner). Soon afterwards he turned to songwriting, with a string of collaborations featuring various lead vocalists alongside his characteristic searing guitar solos. The best known of these is "Moonlight Shadow", his 1983 hit with Maggie Reilly. The most successful Oldfield composition on the US pop charts during this period was actually a cover version — Hall & Oates's remake of Oldfield's "Family Man" for their 1982 album ''H₂O''. Released as the album's third single, it hit the Top 10 during the spring of 1983 and was a hugely popular MTV music video.

Oldfield later turned to film and video, writing the score for Roland Joffé's acclaimed film ''The Killing Fields'' and producing substantial video footage for his album ''Islands''. ''Islands'' continued what Oldfield had been doing on the past couple of albums, with an instrumental piece on one side and rock/pop singles on the other. Of these, "Islands", sung by Bonnie Tyler and "Magic Touch", with vocals by Max Bacon (in the U.S. version) and Glasgow vocalist Southside Jimmy (in other versions), were the major hits. In the U.S., the Virgin America airline promoted the song "Magic Touch" to a large extent, making it a success, reaching the top 10 on the Billboard album rock charts. During the 1980s, Oldfield's then-wife, Norwegian singer Anita Hegerland, contributed vocals to many songs including "Pictures in the Dark".

''Earth Moving'' was released in July 1989, and was a moderate success. The album was the first to exclusively feature rock/pop songs, several of which were released: "Innocent" and "Holy" in Europe, and "Hostage" in the USA for album rock stations. This was, however, a time of much friction with his record label. Virgin Records reportedly insisted that any future instrumental album should be billed as ''Tubular Bells 2''. Oldfield's rebellious response was ''Amarok'', an hour-long work featuring rapidly changing themes (supposedly devised to make cutting a single from the album impossible), unpredictable bursts of noise, and a very cleverly hidden Morse code insult directed at Richard Branson. Although regarded by many fans as his greatest work, it was not a commercial success. His parting shot from the Virgin label was ''Heaven's Open'', which continued the veiled attacks on Branson but was notable for being the first time Oldfield had contributed all the lead vocals himself. It was the only album he released under the name 'Michael Oldfield'.

Warner years (1992–2003)

The very first thing Oldfield did when arriving at his new label, Warner Bros., was to write and release ''Tubular Bells II'', the sequel to his first record on Virgin, as his final insult to his former label. It was premiered at a live concert at Edinburgh Castle. He then continued to embrace new musical styles, with ''The Songs of Distant Earth'' (based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name) exhibiting a softer "New Age" sound. In 1994 he also had an asteroid named after him, 5656 Oldfield.

In 1995 Oldfield further continued to embrace new musical styles by producing a Celtic-themed album, ''Voyager''. In 1992 Oldfield met Luar na Lubre, a Galician Celtic-folk band (from A Coruña, Spain). The band's popularity grew after Oldfield covered their song "O son do ar" ("The sound of the air") on his ''Voyager'' album.

In 1998 he produced the third ''Tubular Bells'' album (also premiered at a concert, this time in Horse Guards Parade, London), drawing from the dance music scene at his then new home on the island of Ibiza. This album was still inspired by themes from ''Tubular Bells'', but differed in lacking a clear two-part layout.

During 1999 Oldfield released two albums. The first, ''Guitars'', used guitars as the source for all the sounds on the album, including percussion. The second, ''The Millennium Bell'', consisted of pastiches of a number of styles of music that represented various historical periods over the past millennium. The work was performed live in Berlin for the city's millennium celebrations in 1999–2000.

He added to his repertoire the MusicVR project, combining his music with a virtual reality-based computer game. His first work on this project is ''Tr3s Lunas'' launched in 2002, a virtual game where the player can interact with a world full of new music. This project appeared as a double CD, one with the music, and the other with the game.

In 2003 he released ''Tubular Bells 2003'', a re-recording of the original ''Tubular Bells'', on CD, and DVD-Audio. This was done to "fix" many "imperfections" in the original due to the recording technologies of the early 1970s and limitations in time that he could spend in the recording studio. It celebrated the 30th anniversary of ''Tubular Bells'', Oldfield's 50th birthday and his marriage to Fanny in the same year. At around the same time Virgin released an SACD version containing both the original stereo album and the 1975 quadraphonic mix by Phil Newell. In the 2003 version, the original voice of the 'Master of Ceremonies' (Viv Stanshall) was replaced by the voice of John Cleese, Stanshall having died in the interim.

Mercury years (since 2004)

On 12 April 2004 Oldfield launched his next virtual reality project, ''Maestro'', which contains music from the ''Tubular Bells 2003'' album and also some new chillout melodies. The games have since been made available free of charge on Tubular.net. A double album, ''Light + Shade'', was released on Mercury Records in 2005, with whom Mike had recently signed a three-album deal. The two discs contain music of contrasting moods, one relaxed (''Light'') and the other more edgy and moody (''Shade''). Oldfield headlined the German Night of the Proms tour, consisting of 18 concerts in December 2006.

His autobiography ''Changeling'' was published in May 2007 by Virgin Books. In March 2008 Oldfield released his first classical album, ''Music of the Spheres''; Karl Jenkins assisted with the orchestration. In the first week of release the album topped the UK Classical chart and reached number 9 on the main UK Album Chart. A single, "Spheres", featuring a demo version of pieces from the album was released digitally. The album was nominated for a Classical Brit Award, the NS&I; Best Album of 2009.

In 2008 Oldfield contributed an exclusive song ("Song for Survival") to a charity album called ''Songs for Survival'', in support of the Survival International. Oldfield's daughter, Molly, played a large part in the project.

In 2008 when Oldfield's original 35-year deal with Virgin Records ended, the rights to ''Tubular Bells'' and his other Virgin releases were returned to him, and then they were transferred to Mercury Records. Mercury issued a press release on 15 April 2009, noting that Oldfield's Virgin albums would be re-released, starting 8 June 2009. These releases include special features from the archives. On 6 June 2009, an International Bell Ringing day took place, to promote the reissue of his first album, ''Tubular Bells''. The next two albums were reissued in June 2010 along with the launch of a new official web site. ''Incantations'' was reissued in July 2011.

In March 2010 ''Music Week'' reported that publishing company Stage Three Music (now a part of BMG) had acquired a 50% stake in the songs of Oldfield's entire recorded output in a seven-figure deal. In 2010 lyricist Don Black said in an interview with ''Music Week'' that he had been working with Oldfield. In early 2011 Mike Oldfield was in a studio with German producer Torsten Stenzel, collaborating on a chill-out track for a forthcoming album by Torsten Stenzel's York project.

Personal life

Oldfield and his siblings were raised Roman Catholic, the faith of their Irish mother. In the late 1970s, Oldfield briefly married Diana D'Aubigny (the sister of the Exegesis group leader), but this lasted just a few weeks.

Mike Oldfield has seven children. In the early 1980s, he had three children with Sally Cooper (Molly, Dougal and Luke). In the late 1980s, he had two children (Greta and Noah) with Norwegian singer Anita Hegerland. In the 2000s, he married Fanny Vandekerckhove (born 1977), whom he met during his time in Ibiza; they have two sons together (Jake and Eugene).

Oldfield is a motorcycle fan and has five bikes. These include a BMW R1200GS, a Suzuki GSX-R750, a Suzuki GSX-R1000, and a Yamaha R1. He also says that some of his inspiration for composing comes from riding them. Throughout his life Oldfield has also had a passion for aircraft and building model aircraft. Since 1980 he has also been a licensed pilot and has flown fixed wing aircraft, the first of which was a Beechcraft Sierra and helicopters including the Agusta Bell 47G which featured on the sleeve of his cover version of the ABBA song "Arrival" as a parody of their album artwork. He is also interested in cars and has owned a Ferrari and a Bentley which was a gift from Richard Branson as an incentive for him to give his first live performance of ''Tubular Bells''. He has endorsed the Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the Mercedes UK magazine. Oldfield also considers himself to be a Trekkie (fan of the popular science fiction television series ''Star Trek''). He also noted in an interview in 2008 that he had two boats.

In November 2006, musician Noel Gallagher won a Spanish court case against Oldfield. Gallagher had bought an Ibiza villa for £2.5 million from Oldfield in 1999, but quickly discovered that part of the cliff-top property was falling into the sea. According to ''The Sun'', the resulting court case awarded Gallagher a six-figure sum in compensation. Suspicion abounds in the music industry that the law-suit was initiated because of embarrassment that Gallagher brought on himself by not having a proper survey done on the property before buying it. This included making an immediate and noisy complaint about someone's yacht tied up at the villa's jetty before it was pointed out that the yacht came with the villa and was, in fact, his.

In 2007 Oldfield caused a minor stir in the British press by criticizing Britain for being too controlling and protective, specifically concentrating on the smoking ban which England and Wales had introduced that year. Oldfield then moved from his Gloucestershire home to Palma de Mallorca, Spain. He has lived outside the UK in the past, including living in Los Angeles and Ibiza in the 1990s, and Switzerland in the mid-1980s, for tax reasons. He also currently has a home in Monaco. In 2009 he decided to move to the Bahamas, and put his home in Mallorca up for sale; the asking price was around €3.5 million, but has since been lowered, and as of August 2011 is still listed as available for sale by a major international real estate agency.

Instruments

Oldfield is a multi-instrumentalist; however he considers himself to be predominantly a guitarist.

Guitars

Over the years Oldfield has used a various selection of guitars, some of the most noted being:

A 1963 (also quoted as 1961 and 1962) salmon pink (fiesta red) Fender Stratocaster serial no.L08044 – used by Oldfield from 1984 (''Discovery'' album) until 2006 (Night of the Proms, rehearsals in Antwerp) – Sold for £30,000 at Chandler Guitars.

A 1989 amber PRS Artist Custom 24 – used by Oldfield from the late 1980s to the present day.

A 1966 blonde Fender Telecaster serial no. 180728 – the only electric guitar used on ''Tubular Bells'' and also previously owned by Marc Bolan – went up for auction at Bonhams in June 2007, with the money going to the SANE charity.

Various Gibson Les Paul and SGs – used by Oldfield extensively in the 1970s and 80s.

Oldfield used a modified Roland GP8 effects processor in conjunction with his PRS Artist to get many of his heavily overdriven guitar sounds from the ''Earth Moving'' album onwards. Oldfield has also been using Guitar synthesizers since the mid-1980s, using a 1980s Roland GR-300/G-808 type system, then a 1990s Roland GK2 equipped red PRS Custom 24 (sold in 2006) with a Roland VG8, and most recently a Line 6 Variax.

Oldfield has an unusual playing style, using both fingers and fingernails and several ways of creating vibrato: a "very fast side-to-side vibrato" or "violinist's vibrato". Oldfield has also stated that his playing style originates from his musical roots playing folk music and the bass guitar.

Recording

Oldfield has self-recorded and produced many of his albums, and played the majority of the instruments that feature on them, largely at his home studios. In the 1990s and 2000s he has been mainly using DAWs such as Apple Logic, Avid Pro Tools and Steinberg Nuendo as recording suites. For composing classical music Oldfield has been quoted as using the software notation program, Sibelius, combined with Apple Macintoshes. He also used the FL Studio DAW on his 2005 double album ''Light + Shade''. Among the mixing consoles Oldfield has owned are an AMS Neve Capricorn 33238, a Harrison Series X, and a Euphonix System 5-MC.

Keyboards

Over the years Oldfield has owned and used a vast number of synthesizers and other keyboard instruments. In the 1980s he composed the score for the film ''The Killing Fields'' on a Fairlight CMI. Some examples of keyboard and synthesized instruments which Oldfield has made use of includes Sequential Circuits Prophets (notably on ''Platinum''), Roland JV-1080/JV-2080 units (in the 1990s), a Korg M1 (as seen in the "Innocent" video), a Clavia Nord Lead, and Steinway pianos among an almost endless list of others. In recent years Oldfield has also made use of software synthesis, such as Native Instruments products, notably on his ''Light + Shade'' album.

Discography

Oldfield has had more than 30 charting albums and 25 charting singles on the British charts, and many more around the world.

Main albums

{| style="width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" |- valign="top" |style="width:50%"|

''Tubular Bells'' (1973)

''Hergest Ridge'' (1974)

''The Orchestral Tubular Bells'' (1975)

''Ommadawn'' (1975)

''Incantations'' (1978)

''Exposed'' (1979)

''Platinum'' (1979)

''QE2'' (1980)

''Five Miles Out'' (1982)

''Crises'' (1983)

''Discovery'' (1984)

''The Killing Fields'' (1984)

''Islands'' (1987)

|style="width:50%"|

''Earth Moving'' (1989)

''Amarok'' (1990)

''Heaven's Open'' (1991)

''Tubular Bells II'' (1992)

''The Songs of Distant Earth'' (1994)

''Voyager'' (1996)

''Tubular Bells III'' (1998)

''Guitars'' (1999)

''The Millennium Bell'' (1999)

''Tr3s Lunas'' (2002)

''Tubular Bells 2003'' (2003)

''Light + Shade'' (2005)

''Music of the Spheres'' (2008)

|}

Quotation

''NME'' - April 1979

See also

Sally Oldfield

Terry Oldfield

Kevin Ayers

Maggie Reilly

Rick Fenn

Maddy Prior

Anita Hegerland

New Age music

Electronic music

Virgin Records

Bibliography

References

External links

; Official sites MikeOldfieldOfficial.com – The official Mike Oldfield website

* Mike Oldfield official Universal store

MikeOldfield.org – The official Mike Oldfield information service

; Fan-based sites

Tubular.net – The largest and most well-established Mike Oldfield website, for news and information.

; Other sites

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:English songwriters Category:English guitarists Category:English multi-instrumentalists Category:English buskers Category:English New Age musicians Category:English composers Category:British people of Irish descent Category:People from Reading, Berkshire Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Mercury Records artists Category:English Roman Catholics Category:Warner Bros. Records artists Category:FL Studio users Category:People educated at Presentation College, Reading Category:People educated at The Highlands School, Reading

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