Orb* – Asylum

None of the remixes manage to improve on the original. The Blood Sugar mix is disappointing, just a minimal DJ tool, and Soul Catcher's house du jour take fail to impress all these years later.

Ok. Let’s be honest; Asylum isn’t one of the Orb’s finest tunes, but it meanders along quite nicely with typical spacey ness and has rather a catchy melody.
The intro is typical Orb; layers of ambient bleeps supplemented with voice samples-instantly recognizable. Although the slightly Orbital-esque main tune is pleasant on the ear, the rather staccato, eighties sounding keyboards ruin it a bit. Overall though, not a bad listen.
Andrew Weatherall’s minimalistic Blood Sugar Mix (1) is a real letdown. In my view he has always been overrated as both a remixer and artist in his own right. Sabresonic wasn’t that great, though the critics raved about it, and Wilmot was catchy but tedious after a few listens.
I don’t see where he gets his lofty reputation from, but I digress. He proceeds to dissect Dr Paterson and co’s work here, stripping it down to a monotonous lecture given by some crusty old professor. Cue yawning. Once again I marvel at the choice of remixer. Mr. Weatherall is more suited to heavy machinery and factory grime-nothing like the Orb at all.
Andrea Parker’s mad house mix is an improvement, bringing back some of the Orb sound at least and incorporating some effective bass and percussion work. It’s still rather stark, though its rhythm keeps us mostly involved throughout. It reminds me a bit of an Air Liquide tune.
So, a bit disappointing on the remix front, but worth picking up if only for the splendid cover and sleeve artwork-a must for any true Orb fan.