Orbital- The Blue Album - Your comments?

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Now that it's been out for a little while and we've managed to make some sort of an opinion about it- What did you think?

I was a little disappointed by the short nature of it, and the sounds they were using sounded like a band that had run out of fresh ideas. However, on the whole- I actually like it.

The opening track Transient is fairly experimental, with some ambient glitchy moments and then an orchestra playing in the background- rather odd sounding too.
Tunnel Vision is a cracking track, and recalls the heavy spiky nature of The Altogether, but it has a good atmosphere and rhythm too.
Acid Pants and You Lot are also very listenable, though wandering off into different directions at time. You Lot has a superb sampble from The Second Coming, pivoting with Christopher Ecclestone lambasting the "cheeky basatards" for playing with DNA.

Pants and Lost are reasonable but seem like fillers more than anything, and I was almost annoyed with Bath Time and Easy Serv which are irritating and shit. Bath Time is extremely well done, but seems like a better concept than execution.

One Perfect Sunrise is a fitting end. It seems to contain every variety of sound Orbital became known for, and would fit well on any album- even Snivilisation.

So in conclusion- well worth the price, and although it is reasonably short, with a couple of annoying tracks, it's pretty much what you'd expect from Orbital- at times going a little 808 State-ish.

What did you think?

[Brainwrong]

Shite!

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Thanks. Brief but incisive.

I'm guessing by the low turnout, not many people have bought it, or even like Orbital...I may as well just PM imitationleather.

Heh.

I didn't think it was shite though- It was clear that they were running out of fresh ideas however. I really liked 5 out of the nine tunes, 2 were ok and the other 2 I would say were shite.

But then I loved The Altogether, and many Orbital fans hate that album.

[hencole]

I like Orbital a lot. Haven't heard the new album, but apparantly the two best tracks aren't on the commercial CD release.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Oh really?

Well I bought One Perfect Sunrise on single which has a great B-Side on called What Happens Next- perhaps that's one of them.

[DJ One Record]

I just got it this morning and have to say I found it an infuriating listen. Essentially, Orbital could've made this album at any point in their career. "Transient", the first track, is actually the best and freshest thing on the album, if only for the fact that it's a beatless and genuinely cinematic feeling affair. The rest of the album seems to be by-the-numbers Orbital that's been done by them before, only better. "Bath Time" and "Easy Serv" seem to be Orbital's attempt to grab a slice of the shopping centre muzak market, which, as we all know, is a big earner, and "Acid Pants" is possibly the biggest disappointment considering the mighty Sparks are on board for little more than one line.

To be honest, this album adds nothing to their back catalogue and almost seems like a retrospective album to end their tenure, which would've been fitting had their best of, "Work", not been released a few years ago. Hopefully the Hartnoll's solo projects will come up with some gems in the future (rather than fade into insignificance a la Leftfield).