There's
always been a hokey streak to The Orb that doubles as a kind of wry self-awareness
in the right conditions, even at the most phantasmagorical extremes. Or has
there? A little mystery of the sort is desirable, even necessary, but The
Dream has a habit
of dashing the murky, dreamy Orb world in ways that aren't ideal. Angled as a
"return to form" by a group whose principal soundsmith is nearing 50, the album
traipses through a capable post-rave haze with lots of dubby hesitations and
methodical beats. But many of the samples are perplexing or just plain bad: A
quotidian phone call in "A Beautiful Day" sounds like a failed attempt at humor
a la The Office,
and then comes "DDD (Dirty Disco Dub)" with a diva-articulated take on the Hare
Krishna chant. It's not a good idea, to say the least.