Orbital C/D

Plus with Orbital 2 you get this amazing run from "Lush" through to the end of "Remind" but the "cohesion" of the rest is only notable in comparison to the schizophrenia of Snivilization. Most of the allegedly unique qualityies of Orbital 2 are present in Middle Of Nowhere as well (the excellent flow of the first three tracks; "Nothing Left" as a sequel to "Halcyon" only even vaster).

Orbital 2 is still an amazing album obv, but I'm not sure if its qualities are automatically superior to Snivilization - whose perversity and restlessness frequently captivate me.

Of course if Orbital 2 had the full version of "Impact (The Earth Is Burning)" it might *well* be unbeatable.

in sides is still an unreal experience start-to-finish. 2 benefits quite a bit from tracks running together, but i hardly notice the transitions on much of in sides, even when they incorporate a change in beat and key. they're cleverly done.

The best version of Impact was the one played on the MoN tour, where they reversed the parts so you got the hard bit first and then uplifting first section kicked in later. Destroyed the concept, but sounded incredible (especially when it was sandwiched in between Spare Parts Express and Know Where To Run as part of a continuous mix).

"Funny Break" is nice obv but its stand-out status is relative to the rest of the album; it falls short of most of their previous vocal numbers.

“I think we feel that Orbital has run it’s course,” says Paul Hartnoll. “We’re both pursuing different avenues with our music. And we’ve been sat, as brothers, in the same room for 15 years now–and studios are always confined spaces–I think it’s time for a change.”

Since their first single, ‘Chime’ entered the top 20 in April 1990 Orbital have released six albums and developed a live show that evolved, by common consent into one of the landmark performance shows of the last decade. They have helped to shape and develop both the character and credibility of electronic music far beyond the disposable anonymity of the first white labels and the acid house scene that they came from. In 1989–when Chime was recorded onto their dad’s cassette player–no–one expected things to come this far, least of all the band themselves.

The brothers extra–mural interests have all informed the character of The Blue Album, the bands seventh, which evolved gradually over the course of 2003 with the band free from record company expectations and schedules for the first time since their career began. “If anything,” says Paul “It’s closer in character to our first album than our later ones, if only because we made it in our own time and for ourselves.”

Fans will recognise the trademark Orbital sound when they hear it. Familiar themes from previous albums, such as religion, are also present.
“There’s a couple of references to that,” says Paul. One of my favourite tracks, “You Lot” has got this speech from Christopher Eccleston from this fantastic drama called The Second Coming. I just really loved that programme and that speech is quite typically orbital, like our other track Forever, that’s got a speech halfway through and I really love the sentiment behind that. That whole programme was about the second coming, obviously, and God.”

“We’ve got another track [One Perfect Sunrise] we did with Lisa Gerrard who was in Dead Can Dance, singing on it. That’s a spin off from something we wrote for a Sunrise scene, in another film …that’s turned out well.”

Noted for their collaborations, Orbital’s last album is no exception
featuring work from fellow sibling legends, Sparks.
“We were wanting some vocals on the track Pants, something fairly odd, and thought Sparks would be perfect,” says Paul. “It turned out they’re quite up for a bit of collaboration and said yes when we approached them. After we’d asked them I set about listening to some of their recent work and was pleasantly surprised to find it was even more bonkers than their original stuff. It was all done across the Atlantic, via file sharing and CD’s, and when we heard it we realised it was really a track in it’s own right so we remixed it and it’s ended up here as Acid Pants, it’s own thing.”

Another audible influence on the album is that of legendary transsexual composer Walter/Wendy Carlos. “Absolutely,” says Paul, “I tried to do something with a sort of Clockwork Orange feel, and that became ‘Bath Time’ . It started off by being hummed in the bath on tour before I was about to go and meet everyone for a pint in San Francisco. Got out of the bath and scribbled it down on my laptop and finished it over last summer, adding little bits in buses and vans while I was travelling. And it went on from there. It became like Clockwork Orange and Kraftwerk combined. Electronic music for electronic musics sake, dodging all real instrument sounds. Wheras ‘Easy Serve’ is weird supermarket muzak, almost like hospital muzak. Maybe it’s a supermarket where they only sell hospital items. Here’s the lip section…Either way, it’s not going to be a coffee table album. But then we’ve never done one of them. Maybe a coffee table album at three in the morning, when everyone is blind drunk and no one can remember anything anyway.”

With the album complete the band are turning their attention to their final show at Glastonbury. An appropriate venue for a farewell as it was here, exactly ten years before that Orbital delivered a live show that Q magazine listed as one of the fifty greatest live show of all time. “It’s nice to know that we’re finishing, it’s not many bands that do that. They tend to just fade away. And it’s nice to have our last gig at Glastonbury. It’s gonna be a party set, a best of Orbital. We’re not gonna sit there and try and promote the new album. I think if we’re gonna do a last gig we should do distilled set of all the best stuff we’ve done. And that’s what we’re gonna do, play all the stuff that’s stuck around for all this time because they are the favourite ones. This will definitely be our last ever live shows,” confirms Paul, “Although I’m sure Status Quo keep telling themselves the same thing.”

Read on for details of how to get tickets for the last UK indoor gig @ Brixton."

http://www.loopz.co.uk/begin.html

Let me repeat this:

“If anything,” says Paul “It’s closer in character to our first album than our later ones, if only because we made it in our own time and for ourselves.”

Ugh, that's definitely not what I wanted to hear.

Ned had said the best version of "Chime" was on the Satan Live CD thing...I beg to differ, I think there was a Joey Beltram mix I have on vinyl somewhere that really exploited the bell sound nicely...it was the first time I ever heard Orbital and my jaw dropped. Both that and the "Chime Crime" version on the Mutations EP made the album version of "Chime" seem slow as molasses when I finally heard it.

Jeez!

Nick, I would totally put you up but will be at Glasto, sadly.

I like disposable anonymity.

Yes (and point taken, it's just that much as I like this vision and that I agree they handle long songs really beautifully, I fear the results of an off day! but this is all wishful thinking, alas...)

...Oh, you weren't talking to me.

Quick Chime question: there's a mix (not the Beltram or Ray Keith ones) or version with a faster, housier beat than the original and a 'chime' sound that follows the bassline that I've been trying to ID for years. It would have been a pre-1995 release...anyone have any suggestions?

You Lot is pretty good - the rant over the top of it works and it's got some backbone and urgency to it, and Acid Pants certainly lives up to its name, but overall it sounds like a bad 90s act trying to imitate Orbital at their peak. I'll try and do a track-by-track later, once I've listened to it again.

There's a really nice plinky piano-led one in the middle called Bath Time, though.

You Lot makes me want to touch myself in my special place. I think the middle section will really appeal to fans of Selected Ambient Works II.

xpost MATT STOP TORTURING ME PLZ