[purlieu]

Snivilisation
In Sides
Brown
Green
Monsters Exist
The Altogether
Wonky
The Middle of Nowhere
Blue


The first four are classics, and cemented my love for the band. Snivilisation took me a long time to really 'get', but once it sunk in I absolutely loved it.

I hated The Altogether for the longest time, but a few years ago it suddenly clicked. I think it's often criticised for being so different to their earlier stuff, but I think it was totally essential: I enjoy The Middle of Nowhere, but it was clear they were working to a formula there: The Altogether strikes me as a really daring album in hindsight. It makes a huge break from the acid house, techno and breaks that led their '90s work and pushes their electro influences forward. It's such a startlingly different sound palette that it immediately feels un-Orbital - especially as they really bring the poppy side of electro forward, shortening the run time and throwing in a traditional 'song' on an album for the first time. I don't think it's an entirely successful experiment - the second half is a bit underwhelming, and 'Meltdown' is totally out of place - but I admire it for its bravery.

Blue is pretty mediocre. 'Transient' is a beautiful opener, and the following four tracks are decent, although closer to b-side quality than your average Orbital album track. The last four tracks are a career low point for me.

Wonky has some wonderful stuff on it, a couple of real classics ('One Big Moment' and 'New France' are among my all-time Orbital favourites), but a few too many concessions to modern EDM to feel consistently excellent for my liking.

Monsters Exist... oh, I dunno, I feel like there's a better album in there, with a bit of a shuffle around, and a couple of longer tracks. Paul reckons people don't have the attention span to listen to long records these days, and yet the one consistent criticism of the last four albums has been that the songs are too short! Daft bastard. Buried Deep Within ends just as it gets going, which disappoints me every time I listen. The End is Nigh sounds like The Chainsmokers. And Brian Cox can fuck off. Transport a couple of tracks from the bonus disc over to replace them (I'd say Kaiju, To Dream Again and the Coxless closing track) and you've got an album that's genuinely the equal of their first four. As it is, the 3CD HMV deluxe version is still excellent value and a bloody great album, it's just a shame about those little niggles that stop it being the album it should be.


The 30th anniversary thing is exciting. Ten old tracks reworked in their current live style, ten tracks remixed... I'm wonder if we'll have a DVD to accompany it? Only they've done far more than ten to make it up to 30, hah. Still, even though a few of these are little more than patterns to watch on YouTube, this would still be a good watch:

Belfast
Speedfreak (Moby Mutation)
Halcyon
Lush
Are We Here?
Belfast/Wasted
The Box
Satan
The Saint (Version 1)
The Saint (Version 2)
Style
Much Ado About Nothing Left
Funny Break
Illuminate
One Perfect Sunrise
The Gun is Good
Never
Straight Sun
New France
Wonky
Christmas Chime
Kinetic 2017
Copenhagen
Tiny Foldable Cities
P.H.U.K.
The End is Nigh