Orbital C/D

Mm, that's for sure. As Dan noted, remove the singles, burn the rest. The best version ever of Chime is the Evil Satan one because you hear the buildup and then the synth riff kicks in...man. Pure, unalloyed, beautiful drama.

And I still think David Gray is getting an unfair kicking with all of his middlebrow, super-nasal glory. (I am amused because the David Gray haters sound like me bitching about Justin Timberlake and I have no good reason for liking one and hating the other, save possibly that David Gray phonates and Justin doesn't.)

'Illuminate' is not a bad track at all really but i think i'd prefer Orbital to not bother making pop songs with male vocalists (Funny Break is a great dance/pop song with female vocal...it might just be me and my preference that i dont enjoy male-led dance/pop half as much) - i maintain its just the David Gray factor that irritates people...perhaps the same reason why Chemical Brothers 'The Test' is not liked - well that track was definitely 'Chems by numbers' which didnt help, but Orbital's entire approach to their last two albums has been quite formulaic too (as you could argue it has been with all the big British dance acts), despite the relative variation of tracks like 'Otono', 'Nothing Left', 'Style', 'Pay Per View' and 'Illuminate' - they're all VERY Orbital basically.

I agree with Dan's comments about MoN and I even think "I Don't Know You People" is a pretty good track. The organ and revving noises are interesting touches on an otherwise standard Orbital track.

(Steve, you are a mentalist but that's why we cherish you so; those ending arpeggios are working all over a major key and are blatantly uplifting after all of the minor key noodling of the first twenty-some minutes. It's more like the song rises into hysterical frightening mania, then fritters off into cheery hopefulness at the end.)

but cheery hopefulness? you really think? can you get cheer out of a note sequence that is literally a four step descent? are there are other examples of that? OTS's ending is pure dystopia if you ask me, even beyond the melancholy of Boards Of canada (i've had many minor arguments with some people about how the tracks that uplift them (e.g. Aquarius, Happy Cycling, Hi Scores, Turquoise Hexagon Sun) depressed the hell out of me...well they used to anyway but i've come round a lot - as i probably will with In Sides very soon.

Steve: Fair enough if you hear descending lines as depressing. I can't hear that particular progression as depressing, though, because of the tonal quality of the synths and the key it's working in (I find it hard to hear a major key as depressing).

Your point about "Adnan's and "Dwr Budr" is interesting because those are both built on minor keys and, by default, sound more... "ominous" isn't the right word, especially given the absolutely frightening oppression of the first half of "Out There Somewhere" with that screaming keyboard riff that sounds like a woman crying for help, but I can't think of a better one. Neither of them flips into major at the end (although "Adnan's" is acoustically warmer than "Dwr Budr" in its synth palette), so I find less "hope" in them than I do at the end of "Out There Somewhere".

As far as those BOC songs go, I wouldn't call any of them depressing; the only one that comes close is "THS" and that's more oppressive/claustrophobic (again, due to the arrangement and the minor chord progression; actually, that song pretty much typifies "ominous" and I love that aspect of it to death).

I totally agree with this, I was there and it was one of the most glorious live moments I've witnessed. The version of "Impact" that follows with the spectral synths at the end is special, too.

No-one does "moments" better than Orbital, do they? I have to say one of the best is on "Out There Somewhere" - yes, it's a descent, but it's a magic descent that rises. I don't know the technical musical terminology so the term "magic" will do for me. If you want ascent, though, try "Know Where To Run" for the greatest Orbital moment - that riff at the end! But then there's the harpsichord bit on the single version of "The Box" - I can feel a Top Ten Orbital Moments coming on, all of which start with "That bit where...".

Mike, you can copy and paste my comments about that section if you want, although I like describing it as "magic" more.

well i'll be off to a therapist probably as i'm clearly alone on this one ;)

as for BOC, its only 'depressing' like Radiohead is 'depressing', only because its detached more from a human element it can go either way more freely in resonating positive or negative sensations...BOC tracks always primarily remind me of places rather than people, the nature of which are often dictated more by precisely that - nature, rather than the actions of people - although thats around 50/50 whereas with orbital there's more of a sense that they are communicating feelings of approval/disapproval with the actions of people, in short they're less subjective, commentators as opposed to BOC who are more strictly observers. i mentioned this before in another thread comparing the two bands - i can't remember the thread or exactly what i said (!) but i think it was the idea that Orbital present exhibits for people to see and explore - the tracks reison d'etre is to be experienced by people in certain ways, and BOC's remit and output was far more ambiguous.

Great Orbital moments:

- the sudden sidewise darkness lurches in "Are We Here?" and then the celestial synths flooding in

- the heavenly break in "Adnan's" which sounds like the sun coming out from behind the clouds

- the compressed vocal loops in "Nothing Left 2" drawing together faster and faster like water swirling down into a plug, then that little corny breakbeat and then the synth line rushes back

- pretty much every single moment of the live version of "Impact (The Earth Is Burning)" but particularly the total nuclear fall-out of the last five minutes or so.

Is that the track that sounds like something off "Autobahn" or some C-64 computer game in the beginning?
Agree that one is kinda cool.

lets talk about 'Snivilisation' some more - that is an album for me with quite a drop in the middle as i find i NEVER want to listen to 'Philosophy By Numbers' (not good with this Orbital darkness am I?)or 'Science Fiction' (find it pretty dull) particularly but i will gorge myself on the fantastic first three tracks and the last two, tho in a strange way the highlight is actually 'Kein Trink Wasser' because it always reminds me of the Glastonbury moment i described above and its just pure piano magic.

btw, has anyone heard Spooky's 'Fingerbobs'? it is one of THE brilliant Orbital tracks that was never made by Orbital. i might have to upload it...

Of course OTS only really takes off in Part II anyway, after you get that great chaotic bit where it all seems to be falling apart and then it suddenly resolves. Lovely.

'Snivilisation' has strong broody moments - namely the two tracks i mention i never listen to on it, plus a couple of other bits (first part of 'Are We Here') - i find the first three tracks quite soothing despite the sinister overtones of the samples used on 'I Wish I Had Duck Feet' and Alison Goldfrapp's wailings on 'Sad But True' (which pilfers the intro to The Selecter's 'The Selecter' tune sample-spotters) - 'In Sides' is definitely a darker album overall imo

Edition 1 (aka THE KICK-ASS EDITION): CD2 contains the "Times Fly" EP and "The Box" EP.
Edition 2 (aka THE ALMOST AS KICK-ASS EDITION): CD2 contains two versions of "Satan", "The Saint", "The Sinner" and a live version of "Halcyon".

Its environmental sleeve theme was definitely dark to say the least, but I wouldn't say the music was.

Sort of but...well, not really. For reasons unexplained (and which pissed the band off enormously, apparently), their label decided to eschew the "proper" and mostly glorious full-length album/12" versions in favour of shitty radio edits.

Thus, you're best off persuading someone nice with a fairly comprehensive Orbital collection to burn you a full-length best-of comp.

(NB I'm not sure I am that person, sadly, nice as can be - most of my Orbital's on vinyl and 12000 miles away...)

Can I take this opportunity to reaffirm the unabashed kick-arsedness of Technologique Park again please? Thankyou.

🎧. 🎶 👍🏻

thank u sic for that link. working on this presentation is going to be a lot more merciful.

The Gun Is Good is imo the last great classic Orbital track they put out.

thanks, i need to investigate their live releases. I didn't realize they had so many.

I just remembered that one of the two new albums also had a full live album as a bonus disc!