Orbital

by Orbital

Overview

Orbital's first album initially surfaced over a year after their home-recorded debut single, "Chime," crossed over from underground clubs to the U.K. charts, prompting the duo to appear on Top of the Pops. They wore shirts in protest of the poll tax, did little more than stare at their unplugged equipment as the crowd clapped along to the instrumental, and weren't invited back for several years. Even as the duo ascended and became one of the biggest acts in electronic music, they maintained their allegiance to the free-spirited ethos of rave culture, as well as the activist mentality of their roots in punk rock. 1991's Orbital, commonly referred to as the Green Album, is a record clearly influenced by the innovations of Detroit techno and British synth pop, with tough, post-industrial beats akin to the bleep techno scene that was emerging at the time, but with melodies that could lure in pop radio listeners. The Star Trek samples on opener "The Moebius" align the group's music with the futurism of science fiction, while "Speed Freak" channels the ecstatic rush of a rave at peak time. This contrasts with "Desert Storm," which lumbers at half speed for 12 minutes. Other tracks blend upbeat keyboards with metallic percussion sounds, shaping the influences of Kraftwerk and Chicago acid house into something fresh and distinctive. The breathtaking "Belfast" demonstrated the young duo's ability to craft emotional, cinematic epics, setting the stage for anthems like "Halcyon" as well as their subsequent work in film soundtracks. Orbital had quite a complicated release history, with differing track listings for the original CD, LP, and cassette configurations. On top of this, the American edition was vastly overhauled, switching "Belfast" from a climactic finale (apart from a brief unlisted CD outro) to the first song, and including studio versions of "Chime" and "Midnight" rather than the live recordings on the U.K. issue, as well as a Moby remix of "Speed Freak" in place of the original. Furthermore, two of the band's more punk-minded tracks, the Butthole Surfers-sampling "Satan" and "Choice," borrowing a rant from the anarchist hardcore group Crucifix, were lifted from singles. Regardless of which edition one hears, Orbital contains some of the pair's all-time greatest songs. Their music improved by leaps and bounds with subsequent masterpieces Orbital 2 and In Sides, but their debut is undoubtedly a seminal record, and holds a unique place in electronic music history. ~ Paul Simpson

Product Details

Release Date:	08/23/2024
Label:	London Records
UPC:	5061017252276

Tracks

Disc 1

1. The Moebius
2. Speed Freak
3. Macrohead
4. Oolaa
5. Desert Storm
6. Fahrenheit 303
7. Steel Cube Idolatry
8. High Rise
9. Chime [Live]
10. Midnight [Live]
11. Belfast"

Disc 2

12. Steel Cube Idolatry
13. High Rise
14. Chime [Live]
15. Midnight [Live]
16. Belfast

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Orbital   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Phil Hartnoll   Composer,Producer
Grant Fulton   Producer,Composer
Hugo Nicolson   Mixing
Christopher Page   Composer
Mark Andrew White   Composer
Meat Beat Manifesto   Remix Engineer
Ray Keith   Remix Engineer
Moby   Remix Engineer
Orbital   Composer,Producer
Sasha   Remix Engineer,Producer,Remixing
Martin Fry   Composer
Joey Beltram   Remix Engineer
Tim Hunt   Engineer
P & P Hartnoll   Composer,Producer
Dave Angel   Remix Engineer
Paul Hartnoll   Composer,Producer
Dave Dorrell   Remix Engineer
Herbert Lesch   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Ian Tregoning   Mixing
Rolo McGinty   Producer
The Irresistible Force   Editing
Hildegard von Bingen   Composer