Best track out of these seminal (chart) debuts

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have included the orb because it feels wrong not to somehow. didn't include 'loaded' because it would attract the wrong element. the others are UK chart debuts hence no 'let yourself go' etc.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
LFO – LFO 9
Pacific – 808 State 8
Regulate - Nate Dogg8
Chime - Orbital 7
Voodoo Ray – A Guy Called Gerald 6
Come Together – Primal Scream/Andy Weatherall <=== bit of a cheat 5
What Time Is Love? - KLF 5
Aftermath – Nightmares on Wax 1
A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld – The Orb 0


banriquit, Friday, 21 March 2008 17:40 (eighteen years ago)

What does Nate Dogg have to do with the others? As much as I love all these tunes (except for "Come Together", never heard that), I gotta go for "Aftermath", because of the BASS.

Tuomas, Friday, 21 March 2008 18:12 (eighteen years ago)

Besides, "Regulate" is by Warren G featuring Nate Dogg.

Tuomas, Friday, 21 March 2008 18:13 (eighteen years ago)

I can't even remember what Pacific sounds like, despite it being a top ten hit. According to Wikipedia, Gary Davies was responsible for it being a hit by playing it so much on Radio 1. I mean that really makes me feel old, Gary Davies.
A hard choice between LFO and KLF, I voted for KLF.

snoball, Friday, 21 March 2008 21:57 (eighteen years ago)

voodoo raymond is tooooo good for anything. it wins easy.

or something, Friday, 21 March 2008 22:08 (eighteen years ago)

I've got it down to 4.

Noodle Vague, Friday, 21 March 2008 22:13 (eighteen years ago)

couple more i maybe shd have included like 'stakker humanoid'. the orb and fsol have not aged toooo well.

banriquit, Sunday, 30 March 2008 13:54 (eighteen years ago)

I don't get that, UFOrb still sounds totally fresh to me. Some of the first album is patchy, including the single in the poll I guess, but "Ickle Fwuffy Cwouds" still kills it.

Noodle Vague, Sunday, 30 March 2008 13:56 (eighteen years ago)

Anyway I voted for LFO, because they are LFO.

Noodle Vague, Sunday, 30 March 2008 13:56 (eighteen years ago)

heh i was listening to UFORB this morning. not really feeling. yeah 'little fluffy clouds' is yoga flame and i like the single mix of 'perpetual dawn' and the track in this poll. but then there are lots of 18-min dubby tracks i can't be fucked with tbh.

banriquit, Sunday, 30 March 2008 13:58 (eighteen years ago)

Dubby is good, I'm less fussed with the aimless noodlers.

Noodle Vague, Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

think we're talking about the same tracks there.

banriquit, Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:03 (eighteen years ago)

ie the boring tracks are boring, the good ones not!

banriquit, Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:04 (eighteen years ago)

so why did you include 'Regulate'?

blueski, Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:14 (eighteen years ago)

part of short-lived 'nate dogg' meme gambit

banriquit, Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:20 (eighteen years ago)

Altern-8 Dogg

blueski, Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:23 (eighteen years ago)

Missing option:

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/images/homepage/2303_jewel_header.jpg

Dom Passantino, Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:29 (eighteen years ago)

The Ray Keith Mutation of "Chime" is one of my favorite dance tunes ever.

myndbloom, Sunday, 30 March 2008 18:04 (eighteen years ago)

regulate

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 30 March 2008 18:07 (eighteen years ago)

play nice

banriquit, Sunday, 30 March 2008 18:08 (eighteen years ago)

I'm a bit flummoxed by the inclusion of the magnificent Regulate, so I'm going to pretend it's not there and vote forthe equally magnificent Voodoo Ray.

chap, Sunday, 30 March 2008 21:01 (eighteen years ago)

Wright cemented his reputation of knowing nothing about music when he famously declared that LFO, the self-titled techno classic, was the worst song of 1990, showing that he knew nothing about the direction music was taking at the period.

Bodrick III, Sunday, 30 March 2008 21:22 (eighteen years ago)

You been reading Martian's blog?

Noodle Vague, Sunday, 30 March 2008 21:23 (eighteen years ago)

Just googling for shit I sort of remember being sort of funny. Wright getting all grouchy dad over "bang bang bang rubbish".

Bodrick III, Sunday, 30 March 2008 21:25 (eighteen years ago)

But whoever wrote that is an idiot.

Noodle Vague, Sunday, 30 March 2008 21:25 (eighteen years ago)

he knew nothing about the direction music was taking at the period

Dude just liked vocals, right?

Noodle Vague, Sunday, 30 March 2008 21:26 (eighteen years ago)

I would say LFO because they never got better later on, and that one remains their classic.

Of course, you could say the same thing about "Voodoo Ray" too.

Geir Hongro, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:13 (eighteen years ago)

Timelords kneejerk disqualification for KLF, I'm afraid.

Right now - "Chime" because I'm still reeling from the shock of Dale playing it on POTP yesterday.

His verdict? "Good single, that."

Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:16 (eighteen years ago)

Surprisingly un-Geir-like answer there Geir. Are you sure you don't really want to vote for "Chime"? Is "Regulate" one of the g-funk singles you check for?

Tim F, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:19 (eighteen years ago)

I love Orbital, but not really "Chime", which is atypical of the more analogue-oriented sound they developed later and also doesn't have the same melodic qualities that a lot of their later work do.

"Regulate" I kind of like, but generally electronica >>>>> rap.

Geir Hongro, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:22 (eighteen years ago)

Had "Little Fluffy Clouds" been Orb's debut I would have voted for that though. Not sure if I have even heard the original version of "...Pulsating Brain....."

Geir Hongro, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:25 (eighteen years ago)

they didn't actually chart till 1992, but they'd done a load of singles by then.

banriquit, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:31 (eighteen years ago)

I do wish that the smoother original version of "Pacific State" from the Quadrastate EP had charted, in preference to the version with the over-busy squiggly-wiggly bassline.

I also went with "Chime". I remember going back to the club I used to DJ in, just after it re-opened circa November/December 1989, and having a miserable night because they were playing all this "soulless" abstract techno that I couldn't get into... except for this one tune, which I'd never heard before, that stood out a mile from everything else. But it still confused and disorientated (and fascinated) me, as I kept expecting it to resolve and climax and go all four-to-the-floor whumpa-whumpa, whereas instead it just kept shimmering and tickling and staying unresolved and out of focus...

mike t-diva, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:32 (eighteen years ago)

Yesterday on POTP Dale did 1984 and 1990. I wonder what all the cardiganed sixtysomething Bachelors fans made of the likes of Orbital and Queen Latifah?

Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:34 (eighteen years ago)

Voodoo Ray, Pacific, Chime, LFO, all great, I voted for "Pacific", but could have picked any of thses four.

"Evergrowing Pulsating Brain..." I think is pretty tedious. Generally, I think the Orb are fuck awful boring, "Come Together" is OK-ish I suppose, if I'm honest, I'd probably like it more if it didn't have "Primal Scream" written on the sleeve. "What Time is Love" I used to play to death, kind of not interested in it, reading that godawful Bill Drummond book was kind of a disconnect for KLF stuff for me. "Aftermath" I don't remember at all.

Has any act from the "electronic dance music makes all other music redundant, get with it FFS oldster" days dated more poorly than FSOL, I wonder. That shit is so fucking rank, bleh.

Pashmina, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:36 (eighteen years ago)

"Stakker Humanoid" still rocks, though.

Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:38 (eighteen years ago)

It does!

You missed the full extent of fsol's horrible pretentious we are music year zero steez if you didn't follow them in "Electronics & Music Maker" and "The Mix"

Pashmina, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:40 (eighteen years ago)

Papua New Guinea is forever awesome, and i like a lot of their brooding ambient stuff after that (becuz i don't really care about 'overproduction' or 'pretentiousness')

blueski, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:42 (eighteen years ago)

likewise 'Pacific' is unimpeachable in whatever form (even like the '98 remix...tho not so much the Grooverider one what a missed opportunity) - i declared it best thing ever at the time and it took around 10 years to shift from that view.

blueski, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:46 (eighteen years ago)

I've never liked Pacific State, don't see what all the fuss is about.

Matt DC, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:48 (eighteen years ago)

You were probably digging Jive Bunny at the time.

Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:49 (eighteen years ago)

(xpost)Generally, "pretentious" is a positive attribute to me, but god, after reading a puff-piece by/about them in "The Mix" I was usually ready to bang my head against the table. Luckily I hated their music too! (shd put "music" in inverted commas for full veins-bulging-on-temples effect)

"Pacific" was the point where I "got" this music. It's a bit cheezy-sounding to me now, heard it, or knockoffs of it used as incidental music too much, but still good to listen to b/c the programmed beats have a bit of swing to them. v v few acts got this.

Pashmina, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:51 (eighteen years ago)

Mercifully I never read those "trade" magazines, doubtless full of sombre-looking shaven-headed faces reluctantly looking up from control desks.

Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 31 March 2008 11:56 (eighteen years ago)

would like to see visual comparison of Pacific, Chime, LFO and Voodoo Ray 'scores' as they would appear in a modern sequencer with each melodic and rhythmic component assigned their own track. it might demonstrate well what Pacific has that the other three don't - it's less mantra-like, more staged and progressive and stands out on this basis. basically it's jazzier.

blueski, Monday, 31 March 2008 12:04 (eighteen years ago)

"Electronics & Music Maker" was pretty good, very focussed on electronic musicians at the bottom of the heap, till '85-87, when the editor fell hard for DJ/turntable shit/acid house and instead of incorporating it into the magazine, threw out everything they covered, and only covered all that, as well as adopting this really tedious pre/proscriptive editorial mindset - this is what you should be listening to, you shouldn't be listening to yesterdays music they were fond of this phrase "yesterday's music", the low point being when they slagged off a manuel gottsching gig as "yesterday's music" while raving about "sueno latino" in the same issue. Some dude wrote them a letter pointing out the obv, they printed a snarky response form the editor "blah blah blah recontextualising, get with it old fart, yesterday's music blah blah blah" FSOL were like the magazine's house band for about three years. The magazine died a long slow death after "Sound on Sound" started publishing. That was fascinating, wasn't it.

Pashmina, Monday, 31 March 2008 12:06 (eighteen years ago)

FSOL albums are generally indigestible, I find. Especially the ones where they call themselves Anonymous Humungous or whatever it is. Very boring, I'm afraid.

Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 31 March 2008 12:12 (eighteen years ago)

fsol thing was weird - love/hate for me really. they did seem like dicks and no doubt some of their sound and imagery was annoying. still remember being blown away the first time i heard their R1 Essential Mix tho (also first time i ever heard Tomorrow Never Knows heh)

blueski, Monday, 31 March 2008 12:13 (eighteen years ago)

i've always really really liked 'pacific', without shame, in any version i've heard. that and 'voodoo ray' are properly sublime n shit.

'papua new guinea' is classic too, but you know, 'even a stopped clock'.

out of this lot it's the warp tracks i like least. the 'loving you' mix of the orb track is what i have in mind, but it still takes a backseat to the others.

have heard 'come together' too many times so that's out.

banriquit, Monday, 31 March 2008 12:31 (eighteen years ago)

People who like "Papua New Guinea" might want check out "Cascade", which probably has been overlooked by history because it came out on a double-disc album that always looked too impossibly overblown for me (and I assume many others) to buy.

"Cascade" is certainly rather more grandiose than "Papua New Guinea", but that hardly seems like a killer criticism when y'all still listen to mid-90s Orbital albums. Sasha & Digweed's first Northern Exposure comp nicely recontextualises it as, um, ambient rave I guess? Wish there was more of this sort of tearjerker breakbeat house around (see also, and obviously, 69's "Desire").

My answer is probably "Voodoo Ray" but it seems wrong to choose with this poll.

Tim F, Monday, 31 March 2008 12:55 (eighteen years ago)

FSOL singles did surprisingly well in the charts (even in the wake of Orb buzz). 5 top 30 singles after Papua New Guinea is impressive.

blueski, Monday, 31 March 2008 13:02 (eighteen years ago)

22 Future Sound Of London Papua New Guinea May 1992
27 Future Sound Of London Cascade Nov 1993
14 Future Sound Of London with vocals by Elizabeth Fraser Lifeforms Aug 1994 Notes
22 Future Sound Of London Far-Out Son Of Lung And The Ramblings Of A Madman May 1995
13 Future Sound Of London My Kingdom Oct 1996 Notes
12 Future Sound Of London We Have Explosive Apr 1997
28 Future Sound Of London Papua New Guinea 2001 (remix) Sep 2001

Not a bad run, even if they probably all dropped to 68 in the second week.

Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 31 March 2008 13:07 (eighteen years ago)

this question doesn't make much sense, but voodoo ray wins anyway.

kenan, Monday, 31 March 2008 13:41 (eighteen years ago)

What the fuck was "Far-Out Son of a Lung..." doing at 22?

Tim F, Monday, 31 March 2008 13:46 (eighteen years ago)

FSOL are great! and Amorphous Androgynous!

Herman G. Neuname, Monday, 31 March 2008 13:55 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX System, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

Sheffield has it.

Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 3 April 2008 10:31 (eighteen years ago)


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