Orbital: Profile
One of techno's most celebrated and accomplished partnerships, the brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll
trace their beginnings as Orbital back to the late 1980's, when their first single, "Chime" was released
on Oh-Zone/FFRR and broke into the British Top 20 in the spring of 1990. The single was made in their
garage using their father's four-track recorder and mastered directly onto cassette, but became a smash
hit, giving them the momentum for a handful of other singles and their untitled first CD (the "green album")
in 1991.
Their career took off in 1993-1994, with the release of the EPs "Lush" and "Radiccio" and their second
untitled album (the "brown album"), which took the public by storm and made the UK Top 30. They also
continued to hone their famous live act, which featured live projections, live musical arranging and
sequencing on the fly, making their shows entertaining, improvised and truly "live". Their appearance at
the 1994 Glastonbury Festival in the UK became the stuff of legend and cemented their reputation as
one of the best techno groups of the 1990's. Their subsequent albums saw them taking a more varied,
introspective angle to their music, while at the same time captivating audiences worldwide with their
relentlessly energetic live shows. In addition to their own productions, they have done remixes for EMF,
Queen Latifah, Meat Beat Manifesto, Madonna, Kraftwerk and more. More recently, they compiled a
volume for the Back To Mine series, released a retrospective compilation called Work, and put out
The Blue Album, their last album.
In mid-2004, Orbital released one final single, "One Perfect Sunrise", and then seemingly split up for good.
However, after several years of solo production, Paul & Phil reunited in 2009, and a long series of live gigs
has followed, as well as a new double A single, "Don't Stop Me" / "The Gun is Good".
Album Reviews (c/o amazon)
A truly special album that defined a generation of club music and bedroom
techno. Any album containing the masterpieces Chime, Midnight and Belfast is likely to be a
classic, even if the other tracks are bulgarian monastic chanting. But they're not. Steel Cube
Idolatry and Oolaa are special in their own right and the whole album just works seamlessly.
All in an essential LP if you were a club goer in the early 90s or you want a flavour of what it
was like when dance music got epic.
This LP for me epitomises what Orbital are (or were) all about. A lot of people say
that the Brown album is the one. Both albums are old in terms of techno music and I wouldnt even
say that they were groundbreaking. After all, the first Orbital LP came out what seemed an eternity
after the singles contained on it (2 years later which is a vey long time after to release an LP). Its the
simplicity that does it for me. The build ups on these tracks are so simple. You get one sound doing
its thing for 32 beats then another sound is introduced for the same period of time and so on and
so on. The whole LP is built his way. It is this style which sets itself apart from the brown album which
is good, BUT, It fixes itself in a period of time that will always sound likes its from 94. When you listen
to Kraftwerk, you are listening to innovation in techno music that has a real robotic feel to it. You listen
to Kraftwerk because you are into where it all comes from historically. I cant listen to the Brown album
in this way whereas its predecessor has that real early techno vibe and is the basis of Orbital's sound.
Everything following that would never sound like that but would follow or fit in with what was going on
musically at the time. It would still sound like Orbital but you have to go to the roots to get the real deal.
The Green album sounded dated when it first came out! If you dont remember, there was stuff like
Mescalinium United which still sounds like the sound of the future today. It just didnt sound up-to-date
like that and most of the people I played it to, had not really been on the scene as long as me and were
listening to the Begium and German stuff. The sound of the Green LP has more appeal now and will
continue to have more appeal as time goes on whereas the tracks that were from Germany and may
have sounded new and fresh then, you wouldn't dream of playing now. Its a funny thing. If I were asked
to reccomend an Orbital album, It would be this. It is what made them. Its their sound. It has Chime,
Midnight and Belfast all on one side. Just for that - this is it. The rest is fantastic too. Just dont expect
new synth sounds. It about the composition, the build-up and the breakdowns. Its so simple but so
effective. Nobody did it like Orbital did.
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Orbital - Green Album
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Artist...................................: Orbital
Album................................: Green Album
Genre.................................: Electronic
Source........................................: CD
Year........................................: 1991
Ripper: Exact Audio Copy V1.0 b1 & HP DVD RW AD-7701H
Codec...........: Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
Version.........: reference libFLAC 1.2.1 20070917
Quality.......: Lossless, (avg. compression: 60 %)
Channels..............: Stereo / 44100 HZ / 16 Bit
Tags...............................: VorbisComment
Information..: Original 1991 European Pressing
Ripped by..............: BSW on 7/3/2011
Posted by..............: BSW on 7/3/2011
News Server..........: news.astraweb.com
News Group(s).: alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.metal.full.albums
Included....: NFO, SFV, M3U, LOG, CUE
Covers................: Front Back CD
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Tracklisting
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1. The Moebius [07:01]
2. Speed Freak [07:16]
3. Oolaa [06:21]
4. Desert Storm [12:05]
5. Fahrenheit 303 [08:24]
6. Steel Cube Idolatry [06:34]
7. High Rise [08:22]
8. Chime (Live) [05:56]
9. Midnight (Live) [06:53]
10. Belfast [08:06]
11. (I Think It's Disgusting) [00:51]
Playing Time..............: 01:17:53
Total Size...............: 479.87 MB
NFO generated on.....: 7/3/2011 4:38:44 PM
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Orbital's first album, commonly referred to as the "Green Album".
Contains hidden 11th track entitled "I Think It's Disgusting",
which was not available elsewhere until the '99 re-release on FFRR.
Barcode (Text): 0 42282 82482 0
Barcode (String): 042282824820
Matrix Number: 828 248-2 02
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:: Generated by Music NFO Builder v1.21a - www.nfobuilder.com ::