Album: The Orb vs Dave Gilmour, Metallic Spheres (Columbia)

There have always been echoes of the Floyd in The Orb's work - from the upside-down Battersea Power Station on the cover of Adventures beyond the Ultraworld, to the general cosmicity of their approach - so this alliance of the two has an air of inevitability about it.

It grew out of a charity reworking of Graham Nash's "Chicago", fragments of whose lyrics can be briefly heard on the two 20-plus-minute tracks - "Metallic Side" and "Sphere Side". Both meander aimlessly along, with electronic whooshes like passing jets and Gilmour's fluid guitar, developing a lolloping space-dub groove except for the occasional down-change into acoustic strummage. It's pleasant enough, recalling the work of Krautrock psych-rock synthesists Harmonia, but somewhat lacking in momentum.

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