Joined: 09 Mar 2004 Posts: 2334 Location: London, UK
Posted: Tue, 19 Jun, 2007 17:17 Post subject: The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds
"Little Fluffy Clouds" is a single released by the ambient house group The Orb. It was originally released in 1990 on the record label Big Life and peaked at #87 on the UK Singles Chart. The Orb also included it on their 1991 double album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. "Little Fluffy Clouds" was re-released several times with different b-sides with its 1993 re-release reaching #10 in the UK.
Video
PRODUCTION Alex Paterson had previously worked with Jimmy_Cauty as The Orb. However, upon Cauty's departure from The Orb, Paterson began work on "Little Fluffy Clouds" with ex-Killing Joke member Martin "Youth" Glover. However, due to other production obligations, Glover did not become a permanent member of The Orb. Kris "Thrash" Weston joined The Orb soon after. Weston mixed and engineered several versions of "Little Fluffy Clouds", including the version on The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.
SAMPLES
"Little Fluffy Clouds" is centered around clips from an interview with Rickie Lee Jones in which she recalls to LeVar "Geordi La Forge" Burton picturesque images of her childhood. Critics and fans sometimes attribute the odd nasal tonality of Rickie Lee Jones' voice to drug use, though Jones later claimed that it was the result of a heavy cold. The sample comes from "A Conversation with Rickie Lee Jones", an interview featured on a promotional 2-CD edition of the Flying Cowboys album.
Burton: "What were the skies like when you were young?"
Jones: "They went on forever – They - When I - We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em, and they were long, clear, and there were lots of stars, at night. And when it would rain, they would all turn - They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colors everywhere. That's uh, neat cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little. You don't see that. You might still see it in the desert."
Jones was upset at the unauthorized use of her voice and 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.
The song also uses a harmonica sample from Ennio Morricone's The Man With The Harmonica (from the film Once Upon a Time in the West) and parts of Electric Counterpoint and a piece for multitracked guitars composed by Steve Reich and recorded by Pat Metheny. Reich, unlike Jones, was "genuinely flattered"[3] by The Orb's use of his work and instructed his record company not to sue.[4] Alex Paterson has also mentioned that fans would "die" if they discovered where the drums on "Little Fluffy Clouds" originated from.[5]
CHART SUCCESS
"Little Fluffy Clouds" reached #87 on the UK Singles Chart and was a dancefloor success.[1] After the popularity of following Orb albums, "Little Fluffy Clouds" was re-released several times, including a 1993 edition which peaked at #10 on the UK charts.
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