Notes

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Unreleased 51 minute long demo mix know as 'Orbert' from which emerged the FFWD album.
Not a transcode from the glitchy 256kbs mp3, this was reported to come directly from ex-Orb member Thrash's harddrive as an uncompressed AIFF file.

FFWD stands for Thomas Fehlmann (Sun Electric), Robert Fripp, Kris Weston, and Dr. Alex Paterson (the latter two of the Orb), and as that lineup suggests, was probably ambient's first supergroup. Although a one-off project with no certain plans of reconvening, the album resulting from the few days in the studio spent recording it is a landmark of experimental ambient and surprisingly unlike the various projects its contributors are known for. Closest in feel perhaps to some of the Orb's more recent releases (Pomme Fritz and Orbus Terrarum), FFWD deviates strongly in its sparseness and subtlety. Fripp's guitar is heavily atmospheric and subjected to the sort of heaping effects processing Fehlmann and Weston are known for; Paterson reportedly recorded hours of the virtuoso just noodling around on his six-string and assembled the bits into usable passages only after the fact. Thanks to inspired arrangements and an emphasis on texture, FFWD is also one of only a few albums to successfully figure the guitar in a central position without sounding off-balance or obligatory.