Album Review: The Orb (Feat Lee Scratch Perry) - The Orbserver In The Star House

The press release for this record speaks of months in the studio together, but when you listen to the album you'd have to wonder if the two parties ever actually met. It's a fascinating car crash of a record. The Orb are more chilled electro than ambient house on this release and Lee Perry just rambles nonsensically over the top. If you've heard him interviewed in recent years, you'd know what to expect because that's exactly what you get – complete babbling randomness.

What's so fascinating is that these two artists appear to be making zero concessions to each other. It's like they're sticking to their approach come hell or high water, fully expecting the other party to alter for them. Or perhaps it's a mistaken attempt to create a new sound, precise clinical downtempo electronics combined with loose existential spoken word. Regardless, something is amiss.

On paper it doesn't work. On CD it doesn't work. 

It's astounding how reverential The Orb are to Perry's improvised senility (though perhaps it's understandable, after all Perry is nothing short of a legend). But the problem is no matter how legendary you are, nonsense is still nonsense. It's all vaguely amusing for a couple of tracks, but the joke soon wears thin; there's no meaningful interaction here and in the end it just comes off as bad, slightly mystifying karaoke. It's not even as terrible as the Lou Reed-Metallica debacle, in the so bad it's good stakes. Ultimately it's all just a little sad.