[holden]

Interesting that you rate Wonky #1. It's solid, and as soon as the beats and analog fuzz lead kicked in at the start of "One Big Moment", my thought was "Yes! This is Orbital...much better than Blue". But is it best? To each their own, sir!

Orbital are tough cookies to crack. They have plenty of anthemic classics, but also a lot of noodly "fillers". Maybe every band does, just a matter of how much you appreciate them. Having discovered Orbital relatively late (bought Work in 2002), their early albums might carry more import as being "classics". Once I got to The Altogether, it did seem a mess on early listening, but really, it's no less varied than anything before. I'm fine with their latter day output, but really only Monsters Exist has struck me as consistent and forward-looking.

But hey, they're back, seemingly set on more output, and I really can't consider any of their albums as being bad. All have plenty of "quality seconds"!