orbital vs the orb

Williams Orbit deserves a mention too btw. :-)

I listened to Adventure Beyond The Ultraworld a few nights back and was tempted to skip so much of it... some of the samples dropped in now seem so utterly clumsy and out of place that they don't work AT ALL.

InSides is the sound of driving through rolling green hills at a very high speed on a sunny day... absolutely marvellous, storming, beautiful, emotional (but then again its my favourite record made by anyone, ever, so I would say that).

In Sides is the record that had the single biggest effect on how I listen to music and what I like about music. I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for that album, in all probability.

that said, i think overall Orbital are more consistent than The Orb and perhaps better on the whole - BUT its a shame that lesser Orb albums like Pomme Fritz and Orblivion get overlooked because they do have some gems on them (esp. Toxygene, Ubiquity, Molten Love and Secrets on the latter)

and 'Assassin' rayvXors

nominations for Orbital:
'The Saint'
sampling Dollar on 'Style'
starting to talk to the crowd during their live sets

nominations for The Orb:
'Orbus Terrarum'
playing chess on Top Of The Pops during performance of 'Blue Room'
making tracks called 'I Am The Red Worm'

Assuming they have, though - Orbital jumped the shark with Beached, and The Orb directly after Toxygene came out.

The "basically playing a tape" accusation is bollocks though.

Orb = k-SuX0R

a win for Orbital for me.

But Underworld are a bit of a red herring because old Karl sings and does a bit of guitar and so forth, but what Underworld do is keep every single sample running for the entire gig and then turn the faders up and down as and when they need to. Obviously this adds flexibility and spontaneity and they can do some amazing things like playing Born Slippy and Push Upstairs over the top of one another (like at Glasto 99). But the downside of the whole thing is that you lose the flow - it annoys me with Underworld that every song stops and starts like a rock band.

With Orbital, they're actually triggering the loops as and when, and then tweaking them and fucking around with them. Last summer I saw them three times in the space of a week and although they did play basically the same setlist each time, the things they did with each individual tune differed. There was this big 4/4 house ending to The Box that they did once and was absent on other nights, ditto with some mad acid noise they had squealing throughout the much of Chime on one night, or the fact that Impact at Glastonbury emphasised the bass loop far more instead of the usual melodic line giving it a kind of acid momentum. It's what they do with the loops they trigger off that keeps it interesting for me.

Oh, and the fact that the music they play is stunning, of course.

Also, Matt is COMPLETELY OTM re: the Orbital live show.

I suspect even his production is not all his own work.

also rate Emerson's remix of Fatboy's 'Bird Of prey', and i think he remixed Massive Attack's 'Risingson' on his jack too, but not sure

also, Orb live or Orbital live? tough call, the former go to either extreme in terms of unpredictable genius and unlistenable nonsense - the latter are relatively more conventional but as Matt says they do vary things in more subtle ways. i've only heard The Orb live on the radio tho, and on CD so maybe someone could clarify what they're really like

I'll stick with The Orb thank you very much.

-- yeh! that Haile phone-up was truly hilarious, and it happened to be one of the first Orb recordings I came across ...'s a pity their more recent stuff's so twee; not that i've heard *all* of it, but f'rinstance "The Land of Green Ginger" ("ginger", huh?) - 'the new Orb track that should appear on an LP called Orbisnowhere, for release in 2003' - is one of the most bothersome pieces on the Back To Mine mix-cd

i's rather stick with Orbital

PLUS with the orb you get better tangents.... ffwd (underrated!), the whole land of Oz chill nascence factor, the KLF's best work, and (come on alex in nyc to m.f.in' thread!!) of course killing joke, not to mention better album covers, and a live show (at least for the terrarvm tour) that blew everyone's mind that i went with.

that said, they did jump the shark after toxygene as mentioned. BUT all things considered, my vote goes to the orb without even actually having to think about it, the end.

winner vs orbison - now THAT'S a challenge.

The Orb were something different from the start. Adventure beyond the Ultraworld was something new (along with the KLF/Space etc.); it took about a year for people to start getting it, but soon most people I know did; it was one of these records like "The Stone Roses" and "Screamadelica" that everyone liked. When U.F.Orb came out, it was an event. It was a great record too and they played chess on Top of the Pops. Alex Paterson appeared on the front of the NME with Dave Gilmour and it all kind of fitted with the "listen to anything that's good" thing that sort of started around the time of acid house.

Orbital by contrast had Chime, which was OK and Belfast, which is a nice tune, then the second album, which again had a couple of nice tunes on it. Then the mightily overrated Snivilisation record, which got loads of good press but was in my opinion another few great tunes with a load of filler. I saw them at Glastonbury back then and granted it was great but I did feel like a bit of a crusty. I lost interest after that, so it's quite possible they got much better but I do know they didn't get any more exciting. They never caught the mood of the times in the way the Orb did. I love "Funny Break" though.

I'd also agree that Orbital were more "exciting" in 1994 than at any point afterward, the live shows in support of "Snivilisation" were heartstopping.

However, one cannot lose interest, not hear "Insides", and subsequently post to this thread. That's like saying, "I lost interest with the Beatles after 'Rubber Soul'. It's possible that they got better but probably not more exciting. 'Come Together' and 'Let it Be' were great tunes, though".

I would particularly recommend "Insides" to you, Keith, because it seems that you prefer quieter, living room music to banging dance music (and that is not meant to be a put down in any way).

I'm aware that I don't have the whole picture, having not heard the post-Snivilisation stuff; however, I'm pretty convinced that despite not having heard the records that they didn't come up with something exciting in the way I'm describing what the Orb meant to me and others I know. That's not to say they're not great records; I guess I'll have to hear Insides given the good press it's been given on this thread. I didn't talk about the post U.F.Orb records either... Orbus Terrarum is a great record for example, but they'd kind of lost the excitement by then.

Still, I wasn't trying to make a scientific/watertight argument :). I'll leave that for work; just trying to get across how I feel.

It is true, that Orbital didn't come up with anything more exciting than their 1993-4 period. Instead, they came up with "In Sides", which eased off on the adrenaline and replaced it with a depth and majesty that nobody (including themselves) has come close to duplicating.

I did actually buy "The Box", but to be honest haven't listened to it since the day it came out, since I remember it as being rather dull. I'm going to stick it on now though.

keith - i challenge you to say anything bad about out there somewhere part 2

Now I remember why I enjoy being on here in the dead of night - that's when some of the cooler people in the U.K. are actually awake and online! Hallo Sick!

xpost

"Forever" and "I Wish I Had Duck Feet" are where it's at on Snivilisation.

I respectfully submit that anyone claiming that album is overrated ought to listen to it again, preferably on headphones with eyes closed and the lights out. Fuckers.

Also, we're not supposed to get emotional about them quitting right? <*sniff sniff*>

also although Orbital are splitting up, both intend to carry on making music separately

Orbital quiz: what year/ month was chime a chart hit?