A career-spanning set including new and rare mixes, compiled by Dr. Alex Paterson. Orboretum: The Orb Collection goes way back, but also focusses on recent highlights from albums such as Abolition Of The Royal Familia (2020) and Prism (2023) – which were cited by the media as some of their greatest work – up there with the bonafide gold of yesteryear.
4LP - Uniquely packaged in a beautiful octagon-shaped set, which folds out into a huge flower. Each disc is pressed on a different colour, green, lilac, orange and blue, with sleeve notes by Kris Needs. Each side of vinyl is grouped by Alex to represent the 4 seasons, hence its botanical title. The comp’s “roots and more recent shoots” traverses their work for Universal across discs A and B, whilst discs C and D explore their music for indie labels Cooking Vinyl, Kompakt, Malicious Damage, and Liquid Sound Design.
2CD - 6 panel 2CD with 24 page booklet.
“I don’t want The Orb to end up milking it like Roxy Music, who were always cranking out another best-of, although we did release the ‘History Of The Future’ best-of in 2013, and its part 2 in 2015 to be fair. We have such a gigantic catalogue though, that sometimes even I need a reminder of what I’ve done, especially these days. This is a sort of director’s cut, reframing our output, making new neuro pathways, and new juxtapositions. Some of these tracks are 30 years apart, but there are clear through lines, a continuum.” Alex Paterson.
Release Date: 25.10.24