Currently enjoying Space’s self-titled album

Having recently posted this and that about the KLF, I thought it might be time to finally look into the Space album. Not to be confused with the English band of the same name, Space was a side project featuring the KLF’s Jimmy Cauty, which came about follow his departure from the Orb.

Space was originally intended to be the Orb’s debut album, and it’s very much in keeping with their aesthetic. It’s a single ambient composition, charting a fictional journey through the solar system from Mercury to Pluto. It’s punctuated by minimalist ambient music and near silence between “planets,” but there’s more than enough going on to make it well worth a listen.

Eventually, tension between Cauty and fellow Orb co-founder Alex Paterson led to Cauty’s departure from the group. He wanted to focus on the KLF, which surely didn’t alleviate Paterson’s concern that the Orb would be seen as a KLF side project.

Either way, when Cauty left the group in 1990, he took the album with him. After allegedly removing Paterson’s contributions, he released the album as Space, taking sole credit for the work. The Orb went on to release their debut album The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld in 1991, and it’s a far better record by any standard. But that’s due in part to Cauty, who worked on one of its biggest tracks.

Judged in its own right, Space is at least an interesting listen. In a way, it’s like a cross between Ultraworld and the KLF’s Chill Out album, also released in 1990. Copies are rare, but not impossible to find.

Posted in Currently Enjoying