The Orbital Appreciation Thread

[Emmet]

The Peel Sessions has to be one of the most concise/compact pieces of work I've ever heard. I used to tell people I could almost 'taste' it if that makes any sense.

It all went a bit 'generic' Orbital after that however 'You Lot' brings a lump to my throat.

[gambit]

Originally Posted by jOHN rODRIGUEZ

Per Quote from gambit:

"I didn't know music could do that."

will forever be burned into my memory. Thanks for the laugh. Probably right up there with Steve Martin's, "It's like a ride!".

Is that a good laugh as in "Ha, that's great" or a snide laugh as in "Ha, that's pathetic"? Either one's perfectly applicable, btw.

[ndrwrld]

i dont want to download an absent minded collection of EVRYTHING orbitals done.
i want the good stuff.
the songs that still to this day give you chills.
cough it up, orbitalboys.

ps...remember...i lost EVERYTHING.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ndrwrld

i dont want to download an absent minded collection of EVRYTHING orbitals done.
i want the good stuff.
the songs that still to this day give you chills.
cough it up, orbitalboys.

ps...remember...i lost EVERYTHING.

For me that is:

from the Green album: Desert Storm, Chime, Belfast (!!!)

from the Brown album: Lush, Impact, Halycon + On + On

from Snivilisation: Forever, I Wish I Had Duck Feet, Sad But True, Philosophy By Numbers, Are We Here?, Attached

from In Sides: EVERYTHING!

from The Middle Of Nowhere: Way Out, Know Where To Run, I Don't Know You People, Style

from The Altogether: Tension, Funny Break, Doctor?, Meltdown

[stimpee]

Its easier for me to list the tracks that I dont like from each album because I like 90% of Orbital's output. However, this thread has caused me to listen to the whole of Snivilisation today. A vastly underrated album which has a far more subtle layered approach and makes use of samples far more than their other albums. The only tracks that don't really do it for me are Quality Seconds and Philosophy By Numbers. The rest are just amazing.

The building layers of Kein Trink Wasser are just brain orgasm. The way Crash n Carry gets more hurried until the last 45 secs are just mayhem and push you to crank the volume up. Forever and I Wish I had Duck Feet are marvellous works of out there electronic mastery. While I prefer some of the remixes of Are We Here? to the one on the album (album version is a little long though i prefer the second half when the song breaks down and the new melody+goldfrapp vocal comes in), its still a great song and the sound really whips around the speakers, even better on headphones. Attached is just hypnotic. Before you know it, its over and youre left wanting more.

[Professor]

ok, for the list:

attached/semi-detached --peel release
belfast--green
Impact USA--Diversions
Out There Somewhere Live--Satan Single
Halcyon+on+on--Brown
Are We Here--Are we here single--i forget what the mix is called...poss pt 2
Kinetic--Golden Girls (Golden Girls is orbital)
Style--Middle of Nowhere
The Box--both parts--In Sides

that would fill a disk plus some

[holden]

Oooh..forgot about "Belfast"! That's been known to bring a tear to my eye, as does "Detached" for some reason...

"Kinetic"/"frenetic" is another classic piece.

As someone pointed out above, there's just too many good/great songs to fit into a compilation, because you'd have to include most of Brown, Snivilization, and InSides...especially the stuff that's mixed together, it has to be enjoyed holistically. For me, Green, Altogether, and Blue are more "singles" albums that could be cut up for select tracks...

Maybe a few years' on, Orbital will treat us to a rarities collection? That would be nice!

[the mongoose]

Got into them via Mortal Kombat.....(the end with Halcyon) and bought brown, yellow, diversions, and sniv....so much great stuff on those. The video for the Box came out soon after.....mmmmm, and then of course In Sides (Girl With The Sun.... is still one of the best electronic songs ever, you can just think of the song and hear the melody in your head without it even playing....)
After that, Middle of Nowhere and the Altogether both sucked hard (for me at least)....with the Blue Album rating above those but not on par with the "classics".

What memories....

[Leon]

Listening to The Girl With The Sun In Her Head.... amazing... what a vibe.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Originally Posted by gambit

Man, I was humbly enjoying Kraftwerk's Minimum Maximum when I entered this thread, and then I had to switch over to Orbital (In Sides, for now). Huff!

Bad desicion! Man, I have such an affinity for Kraftwerk, and that live disc is just amazing. I remember hearing the Green album and thinking that Belfast sounded just like Franz Schubert.


Anyways, the thing I've always said about Orbital is that they had this superhuman gift for techno hooks. It's incredible. Like, the Green album was good on the hooks alone, and the Brown album was incredible because of it (Impact alone had like, more great techno hooks than most techno albums do). But when they decided to mix their gift with interesting songwriting and atmosphere, they really turned into something special. Snivilisation is my second favorite techno album ever (dubnobass is first) because of just how interesting and unmatched it is. In Sides, their foray into symphonic electronic music sure is interesting, I love the fact that the majority of it could be replicated into a small MIDI file yet it manages to be so resonant. Middle of Nowhere...still a fan of it for the first three tracks alone, but it sort of loses something over time. As for Altogether and Blue Album...well, the former has at least five or so great tracks, and the Blue Album at least has a very nice string of music (tracks 1-5), and a strong finish, but I wish some of the promo and UK only tracks didn't get cut out.