Orbital 30

[Extralife]

30 minutes ago, Pirtek said:

I do like the 12" Orbital remix of it though. I've replaced the album version with this.

That, The Brown album and Snivilisation

Yes, those are the three untouchable classics, imo.  

If you've never heard them before, I also think their live sets are a great place to start.  The official Eventim Hammersmith ones from Monster's Exist era offer a really nice slice of their sound.  There are also several high-quality unofficial classic sets that are floating around out there.  Glasto '94, Leeds Soundcity '96, and Space Opening Fiesta, Ibiza from '08 are three of my favs.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Extralife

[exitonly]

1 hour ago, X4creek said:

...guess its finally time for me to check out these guys

 

Where should I start? I was thinking In Sides since a lot of people I trust absolutely adore that one but im curious to hear your picks (if you just say "start from the beginning" id also understand lol)

insides is their best imo. though these days The Box gets on my nerves a bit (loved it as a kid). check out their track belfast and halcyon. those are complete classics

[purlieu]

In Sides and Snivilisation are the peak and excellent starting points. Sniv is a lot tougher sounding overall, whereas In Sides is more expansive, and intentionally soundtracky, lots of live drums too which make it feel a touch less overtly 'electronic'. 

If you like those two, they're worth a start-to-finish listen as they have a great development. Generally the '90s era is fascinating to follow, as their earlier stuff is heavily rooted in acid house and Detroit techno, then they gradually expand their sound and move further away from that right through to In Sides. The Middle of Nowhere is strong but also explains why they changed afterwards, as they're clearly working to a formula. The EPs and singles are often worth a punt as they have lots of non-album material.

Chime - Omen - III EP - Midnight/Choice: great early singles, 11 original tracks plus some great self-remixing tracks on the Omen 12". 
Orbital: first self-titled album (also called Green, Yellow or LP CD MC), only contains one tracks from those singles, plus a couple of live-in-studio re-recordings. Warm analogue techno, quite straight-forward but masterfully done.
Mutations: contains a couple of great reworkings by the band (Chime Crime and Farenheit 3D3) that expand the originals somewhat, as well as remixed by other artists.
Radiccio EP: three non-album tracks that are much 'bigger' sounding, denser sounding with more sampled breaks.
Orbital: second self-titled album (also called Brown), contains a re-recording of 'Halcyon' from Radiccio. Chunky breaks-led techno, a number of the tracks blend together making it feel like a 'journey' and a much more consistent album than the debut.
Diversions: compiles material from the Lush single, Peel Sessions EP and a new recording of 'Impact'. A nice roundup of the era.
Snivilisation: finds them experimenting with slower tempos, more samples, side-long tracks, jungle and punk sounds and more overt political ideas. Far less accessible than their other records, it took me years to get into but is probably my favourite now.
Times Fly EP: stopgap EP, expanding on the jungle and trip-hop elements of Sniv.
The Box: four untitled tracks that link together with creaking, ticking clocks, whistling and other atmospheric sounds, with lots of acoustic sounds (synth modelling or samples), creating a pretty sinister soundtrack feel. Probably their most unusual release. First CD I ever bought!
In Sides: epic soundtrack-inspired record with a lot of lengthy tracks - the 3LP version is presented as six tracks - and heavy atmospherics. Pretty varied, but consistently brilliant. Mostly live drums giving it a more organic feel.
The Middle of Nowhere: '90s Orbital-by-numbers, no great surprises but a lot of strong tracks nevertheless. A bright and colourful album that feels like the close of their first era.
The Altogether CD2: if you can track down the 2CD version, the second disc has all the b-sides from this album and the previous, which is worth listening to first. All the TMON b-sides are more techno-esque than the album itself, largely using drum machines rather than live drums. 
The Altogether CD1: the marmite album. Much poppier, with only one lengthy track, a lot of novelty/retro sounding samples, a strong electro influence replacing the techno and breaks side of them. A partially successful experiment, but not likely to scratch your Orbital itch.
Rest & Play EP: weird odds and ends from the Work best-of era, including a fairly bad Eurodance lead track. Basically all reworkings of old tracks and such. Honestly, this is probably their worst release, but it's fascinating as it feels very barrel-scraping in a way that's so unlike them.
Blue Album: an intentional 'final album', it opens with bold and beautiful 'Transient', followed by some decent tracks and a largely poor second half. The production is very different to their other albums which makes it just sound really odd.
Don't Stop Me / The Gun is Good: a non-album double A-side recorded after they reformed. Longer and more dance-oriented, the tracks feel like an intentional step away from the previous two records. Production is very 'modern'.
Wonky: comeback album that surprised everyone by being surprisingly decent. Again it feels like they're intentionally drawing on their classic sounds, to the extent that it feels a little too obvious, and the production is still modern four-to-the-floor dance throughout, making it sound a bit unexciting, but there are plenty of bangers. As well as a shit brostep track and weird grime-house crossover thing.
Monsters Exist: second comeback album. A very weird mixed bag that has a couple of very retro Orbital sounding tracks, some very contemporary EDM-inspired production, and a few slower tracks that feel like a new direction. Probably the most daring and admirable album since the '90s, but it loses points for feeling a bit oddly incomplete: a couple of tracks are about half as long as they need to be ('Buried Deep Within' should be a proper epic but ends just as it really gets going), and two discs of b-sides on the super deluxe edition offer a few tracks that are stronger than the main album. It's nice to know that they're really trying again, though.

Hmm, that turned out longer than I expected. They've also done a few soundtracks and solo albums, but none of them are strong enough to recommend on a first pass, nor do they really add anything to the 'story'. Arguably you could include Paul Hartnoll's 8:58 album between Wonky and Monsters Exist as Paul started writing it as the ninth Orbital album (he gets a lot of solo writing credits on recent albums), but it's a fairly middling set of Orbital-esque pop songs with guest vocalists for the most part. With the exception of a couple of b-sides featuring Grant Fulton, I think vocals in Orbital only really work when they're abstract/wordless stuff like Alison Goldfrapp's many contributions.

[hayhook]

24 minutes ago, purlieu said:

In Sides and Snivilisation are the peak and excellent starting points. Sniv is a lot tougher sounding overall, whereas In Sides is more expansive, and intentionally soundtracky, lots of live drums too which make it feel a touch less overtly 'electronic'. 

If you like those two, they're worth a start-to-finish listen as they have a great development. Generally the '90s era is fascinating to follow, as their earlier stuff is heavily rooted in acid house and Detroit techno, then they gradually expand their sound and move further away from that right through to In Sides. The Middle of Nowhere is strong but also explains why they changed afterwards, as they're clearly working to a formula. The EPs and singles are often worth a punt as they have lots of non-album material.

Chime - Omen - III EP - Midnight/Choice: great early singles, 11 original tracks plus some great self-remixing tracks on the Omen 12". 
Orbital: first self-titled album (also called Green, Yellow or LP CD MC), only contains one tracks from those singles, plus a couple of live-in-studio re-recordings. Warm analogue techno, quite straight-forward but masterfully done.
Mutations: contains a couple of great reworkings by the band (Chime Crime and Farenheit 3D3) that expand the originals somewhat, as well as remixed by other artists.
Radiccio EP: three non-album tracks that are much 'bigger' sounding, denser sounding with more sampled breaks.
Orbital: second self-titled album (also called Brown), contains a re-recording of 'Halcyon' from Radiccio. Chunky breaks-led techno, a number of the tracks blend together making it feel like a 'journey' and a much more consistent album than the debut.
Diversions: compiles material from the Lush single, Peel Sessions EP and a new recording of 'Impact'. A nice roundup of the era.
Snivilisation: finds them experimenting with slower tempos, more samples, side-long tracks, jungle and punk sounds and more overt political ideas. Far less accessible than their other records, it took me years to get into but is probably my favourite now.
Times Fly EP: stopgap EP, expanding on the jungle and trip-hop elements of Sniv.
The Box: four untitled tracks that link together with creaking, ticking clocks, whistling and other atmospheric sounds, with lots of acoustic sounds (synth modelling or samples), creating a pretty sinister soundtrack feel. Probably their most unusual release. First CD I ever bought!
In Sides: epic soundtrack-inspired record with a lot of lengthy tracks - the 3LP version is presented as six tracks - and heavy atmospherics. Pretty varied, but consistently brilliant. Mostly live drums giving it a more organic feel.
The Middle of Nowhere: '90s Orbital-by-numbers, no great surprises but a lot of strong tracks nevertheless. A bright and colourful album that feels like the close of their first era.
The Altogether CD2: if you can track down the 2CD version, the second disc has all the b-sides from this album and the previous, which is worth listening to first. All the TMON b-sides are more techno-esque than the album itself, largely using drum machines rather than live drums. 
The Altogether CD1: the marmite album. Much poppier, with only one lengthy track, a lot of novelty/retro sounding samples, a strong electro influence replacing the techno and breaks side of them. A partially successful experiment, but not likely to scratch your Orbital itch.
Rest & Play EP: weird odds and ends from the Work best-of era, including a fairly bad Eurodance lead track. Basically all reworkings of old tracks and such. Honestly, this is probably their worst release, but it's fascinating as it feels very barrel-scraping in a way that's so unlike them.
Blue Album: an intentional 'final album', it opens with bold and beautiful 'Transient', followed by some decent tracks and a largely poor second half. The production is very different to their other albums which makes it just sound really odd.
Don't Stop Me / The Gun is Good: a non-album double A-side recorded after they reformed. Longer and more dance-oriented, the tracks feel like an intentional step away from the previous two records. Production is very 'modern'.
Wonky: comeback album that surprised everyone by being surprisingly decent. Again it feels like they're intentionally drawing on their classic sounds, to the extent that it feels a little too obvious, and the production is still modern four-to-the-floor dance throughout, making it sound a bit unexciting, but there are plenty of bangers. As well as a shit brostep track and weird grime-house crossover thing.
Monsters Exist: second comeback album. A very weird mixed bag that has a couple of very retro Orbital sounding tracks, some very contemporary EDM-inspired production, and a few slower tracks that feel like a new direction. Probably the most daring and admirable album since the '90s, but it loses points for feeling a bit oddly incomplete: a couple of tracks are about half as long as they need to be ('Buried Deep Within' should be a proper epic but ends just as it really gets going), and two discs of b-sides on the super deluxe edition offer a few tracks that are stronger than the main album. It's nice to know that they're really trying again, though.

Hmm, that turned out longer than I expected. They've also done a few soundtracks and solo albums, but none of them are strong enough to recommend on a first pass, nor do they really add anything to the 'story'. Arguably you could include Paul Hartnoll's 8:58 album between Wonky and Monsters Exist as Paul started writing it as the ninth Orbital album (he gets a lot of solo writing credits on recent albums), but it's a fairly middling set of Orbital-esque pop songs with guest vocalists for the most part. With the exception of a couple of b-sides featuring Grant Fulton, I think vocals in Orbital only really work when they're abstract/wordless stuff like Alison Goldfrapp's many contributions.

Are we due for an orbital track by track blog? : )

[Pirtek]

48 minutes ago, purlieu said:

Arguably you could include Paul Hartnoll's 8:58 album between Wonky and Monsters Exist as Paul started writing it as the ninth Orbital album

I really liked this album. The deluxe version features a instrumental version of the album with a slightly longer first track and bonus track called "Risky".

 

I actually prefer the vocal version of the album.

[Pirtek]

49 minutes ago, purlieu said:

but it's a fairly middling set of Orbital-esque pop songs with guest vocalists for the most part. With the exception of a couple of b-sides featuring Grant Fulton, I think vocals in Orbital only really work when they're abstract/wordless stuff like Alison Goldfrapp's many contributions.

Best vocal for any Orbital work is the Jack Dangers one's on the remix they did called Mind the bend the Mind for Meat best Manifesto.

Absolutely amazing track which they went on to rework and put on the Brown album calling it Remind.

[YEK]

But the green album is so good too

[Extralife]

47 minutes ago, hayhook said:

Are we due for an orbital track by track blog? : )

Would love this! Come on @purlieu

[Pirtek]

1 hour ago, Extralife said:

Would love this! Come on @purlieu

Me too!

[Silent Member]

I'll make amends and give the green / brown album a whirl at a thumping volume while properly inebriated.

[purlieu]

2 hours ago, hayhook said:

Are we due for an orbital track by track blog? : )

Hahah. Sadly I don't actually know very much behind-the-scenes stuff about anyone other than FSOL, otherwise I'd do one for all my favourite bands.

There must be an Orbital superfan out there who can indulge us though.

[purlieu]

2 hours ago, Pirtek said:

I really liked this album. The deluxe version features a instrumental version of the album with a slightly longer first track and bonus track called "Risky".

 

I actually prefer the vocal version of the album.

Yeah, most of the instrumentals feel empty because... well, I suppose they are. I like the first track and the three instrumentals (including 'Risky'), but the rest of it I thought was pretty middling really. I've reapproached it many times and just never seem to get into it.

[NewSchoolScience]

9 hours ago, X4creek said:

...guess its finally time for me to check out these guys

 

Where should I start? I was thinking In Sides since a lot of people I trust absolutely adore that one but im curious to hear your picks (if you just say "start from the beginning" id also understand lol)

Brown, Snivilisation and Insides. Golden era pearlers.

[YEK]

I gotta give the Snivels a chance.

[Pirtek]

5 hours ago, yekker said:

I gotta give the Snivels a chance.

Definitely. I struggled a bit at first. Now, its second only to Insides.

9 hours ago, purlieu said:

Hahah. Sadly I don't actually know very much behind-the-scenes stuff about anyone other than FSOL, otherwise I'd do one for all my favourite bands.

There must be an Orbital superfan out there who can indulge us though.

There is. Might mate is a massive, massive Orbital fan. If anyone can, it's him. He used to go by the name of Badger on the Orbital Loopz forum.

[YEK]

Ok Sniv is good. I'm listening to it now.

I just have huge love for Green probably because it was one of my first CDs and one of my first electronic CDs. It has a very repetitious techno sound to it that always reminds me of Orbital. 

[toaoaoad]

Yeah I still rate orbital 1/yellow and middle of nowhere highly, they were my first orbital cds - right away I picked the oldest (more or less, at least in terms of mainstream availability in Canada) and the newest (at the time). Classic shit. I liked Snivilisation too but it's kind of a mess and a lot of it just sounds annoying now. In Sides was definitely their masterpiece.

 

[Jafs]

On 5/13/2022 at 7:31 PM, Pirtek said:

What do you think of the 24 minutes version of Meltdown?

Thanks for putting the light on this!

[Rubin Farr]

[Pirtek]

 

[Pirtek]

I really like Smiley. Acid Horse will grow on me. Their new versions of Impact, Satan, Halcyon and Belfast are good. Not keen on their new version of Chime (their 2002 version is far superior to this one). The Box doesn't bring anything new. A couple of the other artist remixes are good, but mainly meh for me. 

Need a new album. (Due February next year ATM).

[Pirtek]

 

‘Smiley' is inspired by Orbital’s origins as part of the late 80s rave scene and also references the iconic Smiley Face pop culture symbol that is officially 50 years old this year. Trademarked by French journalist Franklin Loufrani in 1972, the image was famously adopted as a symbol of Acid House. The track samples the infamous ‘A Trip Round Acid House’ edition of ‘World In Action’, the ITV documentary which introduced millions in Middle England to what their kids were getting up to at the weekend and which includes an interview with a 20 year old Paul Hartnoll, describing how he was beaten up by police while attending a house party in Sevenoaks.

“We wanted to do something that represented where our heads are at now but wearing the clothes from back when we started,” comments Paul of 'Smiley'. “So to chronicle thirty years of Orbital you’ve got this track that chronicles the very start of dance music in Sevenoaks. It’s our origin story.”

“And to make the very important point that, in civil rights terms, basically we all got beaten up by the police for having a party,” adds Phil. “Could never happen now, everyone would film it on their phones. Instant police brutality case.”

[beerwolf]

This was on the radio today

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0019cc8

[Rubin Farr]

 

[Jafs]

On 7/29/2022 at 3:31 PM, Pirtek said:

Their new versions of Impact, Satan, Halcyon and Belfast are good.

That Belfast rework is a standout. Overall I think they did a good job on those.