Shades Of Orion – Shades Of Orion 2

Masterful space ambient from Inoue and Namlook. Naturally, there are many truly excellent space ambient albums out there - but in my personal view, there are only 5 albums (so far, anyway), which truly and basically, honor the the space ambient form: this one, Planetary Unfolding by Michael Stearns, Oxygene by Jean-Michel Jarre, Celestial Geometries by Oophoi and Tau Ceti and Structures From Silence by Steve Roach. Shades Of Orion 2 is perfect for dreaming into other galaxies, in fact the whole series is very good! If you are a fan of the genre, you surely shouldn´t miss Shades Of Orion 2!

This is such a classic and one of my very favourite ambient albums ever, and I mean this seriously. Have to agree with others in that Inoue being aparently at the wheel here is definitely a great thing, as Namlook can get annoyingly 'noisy' far too often. I don´t really know how they actually created this one but it definitely works; The single notes commanding from the background for minutes are incredibly trance-inducing in such an essential, elegant way. This is pretty deep and emotional stuff in such a minimalistic way, and a gem to wonder at.

TOP 'ambient' by any standard.

I bought this in 1995 and sold it or gave it away for free...what a dumb FUCK I was :(

space is definitely the place.Vast,calming,freefloating and very very peaceful ambient from two of the finest purveyors of the form.

Absolutely cracking piece of prime ambience from the dynamic duo. No beats and all the better for it, as Namlook, when he runs out of steam, tends to add a kick drum to spice things up; alas all he does is turn mediocre ambience into mediocre techno. There is also a minimum of those bleeping ostinatos that litter his soundworks; and this is a good thing as i have always found them mildly annoying. But back to this work- an absolute must for ambient heads everywhere- captivating, surrounding in it's amniotic fluid-like warmth, enveloping, compulsive listening.
Many fax releases, including the Tetsu collaborations, are going for silly money now. But this series is worth every penny, along with the 2350 Broadway releases too. Invest now! Essential.

This is deep stuff. If you're solely into the lively, upbeat end of the Fax spectrum, you're on the wrong page! Quick, run! Head for the hills! :-) If, however, you enjoy a nice slice of extremely chilled, even spacy ambience, this is for you.

Another single-track affair, this one proceeds slowly, very slowly, on its journey from somewhere out in space to, well, somewhere else out in space, but like, it's the journey that's important, man! :-)

The piece works nicely as peaceful background, to be calmed by while you work or cook or whatever, but it also rewards the attentive listener by using track divisions to observe clearly defined sections (or parts of the journey, if you will), some of which are more eventful than others, all of which transport you to a (slightly) different place.

At the end of the day, though, it's pointless trying to describe what's going on here musically.....either you get it or you don't, and that's the way it should be. For the record, my favourite parts are 5 and 6....well, today anyway :-)

Verdict - Very nice, very nice indeed, just don't play it in front of someone who'll ask "So when's something gonna happen then?"

8/10.

Deep, soft, and most of all a classic piece of ambient music available. A good couple of things that Namlook has released is highly overrated, however this one, the whole series, and basically all the Namlook/Inoue collaborations are the very first to fall in love with, whether you consider the whole genre, fax/aw, or these guys only. This is basically one uniform, smoothly flowing stream of beautiful sound, flashing out straight from the deepest corner of space. If you're an ambient lover, it will make your spirit drift. If not - try it, maybe you'll become one.