Orbital - Classic or Dud?

I liked The Ideal Condition - very filmic and evocative, kind of discombobulated, but better than I thought a Paul Hartnoll solo album would be

yup.

a definite precursor to his involvement with the soundtrack to the ultimate electronica vs goth groove of the bbc drama, peaky blinders ..

was not surprised at all when i saw his involvement.

bloody hell, 'for silence' off 'ideal condition' = bloody brilliant ..

the mix of orchestra and electronics is very impressive on this album ..

All the more infuriating that Murray Gold didn't get fired off nu-? in 2009 and replaced with Paul.

if i remember correctly the PH mix of please (remember 1992??) feat. robert smith was immense.

You do rc.

yeah.
found that mix and made the walls of hq shake ..
tis indeed special.

Paul Hartnoll is now recording solo under the name 8:58 and has an album out:

https://soundcloud.com/eightfiftyeight

I still think The Ideal Condition was unfairly ignored - definitely preferred it to the last couple of Orbital albums (until Wonky came around)

First two and last two tracks on this are really good. Stuff in the middle...not so convinced. But if you're going through Orbital withdrawl, give it a shot?

I'm having a late night, deep listen to The Middle of Nowhere, and I've always considered it to be an incredibly underrated album, I'm actually beginning to feel that it may actually be their masterpiece. It retains the thoughtful approach of Snivilisation and In Sides, but it comes across as far less ponderous and much more fun than those records, and the production is absolutely impeccable.

absolutely - relistening to it a few months ago I realized it sounded like they thought it would be the last record (or, last great record) they'd ever make. I wrote about it here.

I have been SO into Orbital lately. In Sides and MoN were my introductions to them, but I'd never properly gotten into Oribtal 2 (despite several attempts) until quite recently. Is Middle of Nowhere not highly regarded?? It seems like quite a high point for them.

Hope you plan on adding Snivilization and Diversions to your playlists!

from what i remember at the time NoW was not v well received... tho - that could have been mostly with my friends. i fell in love right away with the sounds they had used but no one i knew was sharing my enthusiasm.

xp Diversions I love but Sniv I'm still lukewarm on :-/

I like it a lot but the first half (the best bit imo) is very Kraftwerky. Sometimes I just think I might as well listen to Computer World.

never got into Diversions much, but Sniv is one of my favorite albums ever :)

Diversions is solid but not a masterpiece, with the exception of "Impact USA" which is prob in their top 5

Diversions was not a proper album though was it? Just some of the Peel Sessions and Lush remixes

Yeah, it was a US only release I think that we could get on import?

yeah, it was some but not all of the Peel Session, some remixes from the UK Lush single, and then "Impact USA" which was at the time an exclusive I believe and the only truly essential track on the thing

also, in case anyone hasn't heard this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h44AGRkobIU

oh my god i hadn't

The drop-off from The Middle of Nowhere to The Altogether is so noticeable and so vast that I can't help but wonder what the fuck happened. It sounds like they had no idea where they wanted to go or what they wanted to do, and were fumbling around trying to find a way of sustaining the Orbital "brand" ... I still think their last one, Wonky, was a fine record... just as underrated as The Middle of Nowhere, if perhaps not as good. I find The Altogether and Blue Album depressing listens, though, if only because they sound like the work of a great outfit not knowing what the fuck to do with themselves, in the worst way.

I think The Altogether and The Blue Album are good albums from an act that we got very used to giving us stellar, outstanding albums, and as such are discounted in a way that's somewhat unfair.

Not sure I've ever even heard either of them all the way through. "Funny Break" went in a direction I just wasn't interested in and the Doctor Who track was so cheap I wrote off the whole thing. No idea what's even on the Blue Album.

The Hartnolls were very vocal about dealing with writer's block around '98 or so, particularly with regards to "Style", which was just one of 'em finding a stylophone and crafting a melody out of it, and then a song around that. Of course the melody reflects that, first time I heard it I thought it sounded like something a kid might've come up with. So The Altogether was just an attempt to do something that didn't take so much damn work, making tunes that were more fun, more based on samples, more Fatboy Slimmish. Obviously they were chock out of ideas, hence why the 5-year old "Doctor Who" cover made it. Blue Album was originally intended to be just an EP and I think was solely just a way to say goodbye to the fans who had stuck with them. It didn't seem like the group thought they were particularly great records at the time.

Funny Break and Dr Who are two of the three best tracks on The Altogether, most of the rest is so self-evidently tossed off that you probably made the right call.

No idea what's even on the Blue Album.

The only one I would recognize is the one with the Christopher Eccleston sample but no idea what it's called. I think it actually got half decent reviews when it came out though.

You Lot is the one with the Eccles sample. I also like Acid Pants and One Perfect Sunrise.

It's not a bad disc, I think it was just abundantly clear they were cooked. "You Lot" definitely the best track, "One Perfect Sunrise" is also quite good but I think the Orbital of the mid-90's could've turned it into a total stormer.

cooked?

Done, out of steam, finished, tired, inspirationless, going through the motions, worn out, etc

They'd turned into the sugar free version: Sorbital.

ah gotcha.

It's where their music started sounding tiresome and routine.
Chorebital

snorebital

their brief death metal phase: gorebital

gonna go ahead and write the Orbituary

These were all proposed Orbital album titles until that other band had to go and use up all the Orb related puns

The last great Orbital release imho was their single Don't Stop Me/The Gun Is Good. The latter is actually in my top 10 of their best tracks, which is saying a lot considering how much I loved their stuff from 92-99.

have we ever polled orbital?

As in a ballot-based tracks poll? I don't think so?

https://vimeo.com/166207798

so Paul made an album with Vince Clarke and nobody's talking about it? does anyone have it?

I wouldn't say *nobody*...

http://thequietus.com/articles/20721-vince-clarke-paul-hartnoll-2square-album-review

I didn't even know about this! I find the idea of this one a bit more exciting than the Gore collaboration.

It isn't very good, not terrible either but just sort of watery and unmemorable.

Yeah, I'm not expecting it to be amazing, but I'll still give it a listen out of curiosity.

It's total comfort food; I liked it a lot.

New single out on Friday!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BikAp_qHV5t/?taken-by=orbital

the track itself is on both their recently-released live albums. sort of an Orbital-meets-Plaid sort of deal. hopefully there's a B-side!!