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ORBLIVION and ACTUAL SOUNDS + VOICES are the best albums by each respective group

vamos scorcho

By vamos scorcho
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vamos scorcho Grand Master

vamos scorcho

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Not sure this will get any replies.

 

Orblivion is the Orb's best album.

 

Actual Sounds + Voices is Meat Beat Manifesto's best album.

 

Both discard the amateur productions and rave stylings and represent the pinnacle of each group, perfecting their sound into a song form and basically making two of the greatest records of all time.

 

Experimental, listenable, extremely imaginative, and with Meat Beat Manifesto... fucking loud.

 

I really do think it's sad that there are so many bad people today who don't listen to these two albums. Seriously, just throw out everything else, listen to these two albums then maybe you can talk about electronic music again.

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Goiter Sanchez Grand Master

Goiter Sanchez

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I've never heard Orblivion (only UFOrb and Orbus Terrarum; both favorites) but I do enjoy 'Actual Sounds + Voices' a lot. I usually enjoy 'Subliminal Sandwich' more because it is less full-on (Actual Sounds is an intense album that one has to be in the mood for).

I recently found out that Jack Dangers lives in the same city as me!

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vamos scorcho Grand Master

vamos scorcho

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YEAH. It's a very noisy album. I agree it takes a certain "amped up" mindset to listen to it.

 

 

Orblivion is easily the best Orb album. It's a brilliant masterpiece. I don't know why it's so often neglected in place of the prior three.

 

It's most likely because the style changes to short form tracks, where people had envisioned The Orb as a long, "trip jam" sort of group.

 

Orblivion is closer in style to Mouse on Mars. That's the closest representation I can think of, with it's short form "songs" and melodies. It's a very psychedelic album, with their best production out of all their releases.

 

Honestly it's kind of shocking how much of a step up it is. The difference is almost astronomical, as if a totally new member joined the group and took over songwriting and production for an album. I love all the previous releases, overall though they aren't quite the "masterpieces" that Orblivion can be.

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Boxus Veteran

Boxus

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i'm with you on orblivion, fuckin love that album. it nails the paranoid futurism style so hard. reminds me a little of fsol's dead cities in that regard.

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ghOsty Grand Master

ghOsty

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Actual Sounds and Voices will always be a classic for me, although in recent years RUOK is really starting to creep up to it in ranking... I'd go so far as to say RUOK is pretty underrated as far as MBM's catalog goes

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mcbpete Grand Master

mcbpete

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i'm with you on orblivion, fuckin love that album. it nails the paranoid futurism style so hard. reminds me a little of fsol's dead cities in that regard.

Yes, and Yes. It's weird, both albums seem to mark quite a change in style from the respective artists' works but both go for that dystopian dark atmosphere. My favourite track by The Orb is probably Towers of Dub but Oblivion is by far my favourite album of theirs.

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BobDobalina Grand Master

BobDobalina

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Orblivion was my gateway drug to the orb (and t. fehlmann), so many layers to peel back, always seem to find something new each time I put it on. Classic.

 

I'd better pick up that 2-disc reissue of Orblivion then!

 

TBH the 2nd disc is okay but not great, the Ambient Mix of Passing of Time sounds better in concept than in execution, and the dub of S.A.L.T is basically a straight instrumental with the rants removed (I hated the album version at first but eventually grew to love it)

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murve33 Grand Master

murve33

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I think I agree with you, in regards to the Orb, though I really do like Bicycles and Tricycles.

 

I just fucking hate the sample choice in S.A.L.T. All of that number of the beast shit is lame, ruins the mind-blowing production on that track for me.

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SR4 Grand Master

SR4

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I like Orblivion but like Orbus Terrarum and Live 93 a lot better.

 

This, fucking THIS. Orbus Terrarum is probably in my top 10 albums of all time...absolutely mindblowingly awesomely perfect

 

 

but hey, who am i kidding? Orblivion, one of the best by one of the best, no question. I could get down to DJ Asylum for the rest of eternity.

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dr lopez Grand Master

dr lopez

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I don't think you've truly listened to Plateau on Terrarum enough. That journey has an atmosphere that no other work of music captures for me. It's up there with various other triumphs of musical composition, in any genre.

 

And I'm not even considering Slug Dub, or Occidental, or Valley, Plateau completely blows away all other Orb for me. (apart from *maybe* O.O.B.E. on Live93)

 

That said, Orblivion is a mind blowing journey, full of laughs, grooves and unique "how'd they do that" moments all combining perfectly to make the final product not kitschy, not simply a lounge album, nor an exercise in production chops. Incredibly difficult to pull off. I do think Orblivion does contain that all-important element of humor (in this instance, outdated 20th century paranoia) that perhaps Orbus Terrarum was lacking, at least in this overt a sense.

 

Orblivion seems much more in the sonic space that MBM had been carving out for years. It follows the first half of Subliminal Sandwich and Actual Sounds + Voices formula of a constantly morphing ball of groove that continually collapses on itself, reforming anew, but... nothing has seemed to have changed. Of course it's much "weirder" than MBM, but I can imagine 12 other takes or versions of the first four tracks of Orblivion following suit. Not sure I'm making any sense here.

 

Orblivion is up for MUCH more debate than Actual Sounds + Voices is. Subliminal Sandwich for me all the way. Nothing even approaching Stereophrenic or Electric People on Actual Sounds, that alone is enough.

 

Ahhh who cares. It's all fucking incredible music that everyone should know! Changed my life, all of it!

 

but Orbus Terrarum is the best.

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sweepstakes Grand Master

sweepstakes

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Don't know Orb at all.

 

Subliminal Sandwich is (still) fucking incredible and is one of the best albums of all time. Actual Sounds and Voices is good and contains some great moments but it just isn't the same caliber. I have great memories associated with both but Subliminal Sandwich is just deeper, darker, weirder and better in every way, really.

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sidewinder Grand Master

sidewinder

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Each of the 5 MBM albums prior to Actual Sounds + Voices is better, IMO, especially Satyricon. The samples from that album will never escape my mind.

 

I like Orblivion and 90s Orb in general but never got into them enough to argue about what's better.

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lo-fi Community Regular

lo-fi

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MBM is my fav, so I like pretty much everything Jack has put out......I love 99%, Satyricon, and Subliminal Sandwich equally......Actual Sounds + Voices is good, but doesn't stand out as much as the other 3 I mentioned.

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Guest Xenblake

Guest Xenblake

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this thread is making me want to listen to Orblivion again. First 3 tracks from Ultraworld would have worked as a great e.p, it's agood album but it's vastness makes it a hard one to get through imo. Orbus Terrarum has a great organic, jungly feel to it which I really like.

Bicycles & Tricycles was alot of fun, and you could put it on at an "ordinary party" without getting (too many) weird looks.

 

love this one (from orbus terrarum). especially 03:40 onwards, fuckin awakening the heaving heart of the jungle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRukNuUnROQ&feature=related

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