Orbital - In Sides Poll

last time we did this it was "Out There Somewhere?" but i can't remember if it was split or not. anyway it's still "Out There Somewhere?" but i'll specifically vote for part 2 since it's got the greatest synth string riff of all time

Which OTS is the one with the amazing section (that doesn't last long enough) but which features two female synth-vox line that start twisting around each other and for just a few bars it's all payback?

I think I'm gonna vote for Dwr Budr anyway.

The Girl With The Sun In Her Head, very narrowly over Out There Somewhere Pt. 2. Very very tough as these are basically two of my favourite pieces of music ever, but the main melody in Girl... is just so amazing.

An absolute high water mark of an album. Everything before led up to it, everything after receded.

One of the noises in OTS pt 2 really rubs me up the wrong way unfortunately. It's the plasticky synth horn thing that comes in at 9:35; the first two long notes, low then high, have a kind of forced quality, of pushing against resistance. PETROL is the weakest here (they do a brilliant live version though) and Adnan's, while great, is a shade too poppy. Any of the others is a possible pick.

I also listened to this recently, and was also struck about how amazing it still sounds. Out There Somewhere? (Part 2) FTW, it's one of those pieces of music that sounds like it could go on for ever and never sound stale.

the opening section of "Girl with the Sun" is probably my second favourite bit of the album. opening and closing on such highs is why i can overlook stuff like "The Box" which in this incarnation wd be a standout on anybody else's record.

They were in the zone on their first 4 albums, weren't they. All pretty unimpeachable. Kein Trink Wasser still sounds like the best Cluster track they never recorded, but still sounds totally like Orbital.

I had (have?) the Sally Harding tribute box, can't find a description of it online..

I love this album so much.

I usually vote "Adnan's" because of the descending melody that comes in halfway through the track but you can make a strong case for every track, including "P.E.T.R.O.L."

Adnan's doesn't feel particularly poppy to me, it's really achingly sad in a way that not much else in Orbital's catalogue is (Forever arguably beats it).

The fact I first heard Adnan on the War Child Help! comp kind of made a lot of sense at the time.

So many incredible melodic flourishes happening all the way through this record...

not poppy as in upbeat, as in ... pop, idk i just think it's a bit more straightforward than the other tracks. But I wouldn't consider it the saddest track in their catalogue or on the album, even. xp.

I voted Dwr Budr because I love the "ooosh eeesh ooosh eesh oooOOOOh" bits.

y'all heard the vocal version of the box, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjSlHPmCnNY

yeah, this album has aged really well. I recently made the link between "The Box" and Out Hud's debut, which was one of my favorites of the last decade. strange in retrospect that it was played all the time on rock radio.

If I could vote for a single moment it would be the transition between boxes 1 & 2.

ledge: the original US 2-disc release of In Sides had the entire "The Box" single on its second disc as one continuous track, which included the vocal mix and both of the fantastic untitled remixes (forever <3 "Version 1")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51gS3qG926M&feature=related

I bought the single separately, and yeah version 1 is terrific. That incredibly atmospheric creaking intro, like suddenly waking up on board the Marie Celeste. And then the massive cheesy harpsichord section always brings a huge grin to my face.

I am sure my pick must be out there somewhere.

Best thing ever sithin this particular genre.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcROasdOkFbsr8n-cZdfhSVKw7k-yRYYCZ1c7YX2EEFwqRxyuF-nKIZaYh3U

Girl With Sun, I think.

OTS 2, runner up Dwr Budr

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

Correct.

Hmmm... GWTSIHH never struck me as a highlight. Maybe I should reassess.

I really love the sweep of GWTSIHH, the best Orbital tracks are almost all very landscape-y and this one encapsulates that perfectly. Amazing slow build as well. Correct winner IMO.

Also I suspect it has live drumming (the album credits 'drumming by Clune' but doesn't say which track(s)).

Adnan's is a good track, shame it got nowt.

Pretty sure I read way back when that GWTSIHH had live drumming. It's probably my favourite track by Orbital.

The highlights for me were always Dwr Budr, Adnans and OTSW II

this went pretty much how I expected it to. Dwr Budr and Andans are both quite amazing but the first and last tracks here are so stunning that it's hard to vote anywhere else.

surprised P.E.T.R.O.L. got no votes! would have been my #2.

lol I think I got so swept up in an Orbital listening frenzy that I forgot to vote, which explains the goose egg for "Adnan's"

I've not had a proper Orbital listening frenzy in a while. I think next month might bring one on.

yeah I think I'm going to have to get there too, especially as I'm continuing to hear good stuff about the new album

The new album's sent me back through the catalogue. Rejected The Altogether as a straight-up dud but it has its moments.

Funny Break, Last Thing, Doctor and Meltdown are all pretty great. The rest I have no desire to ever hear again. Still maintain that Middle of Nowhere is massively underrated.

Yeah, MoN is great.

Thirded.

The first two tracks on the Altogether are great! If you dump stuff like "Oi!", "Pay-Per-View", and "Tootled" for the B-sides on Disc 2 - "Monorail", "Beezlebeat", "Doctor Look Out", and "Mock Tudor" - it's a much stronger album. Also, I kinda like "Illuminate". I know it's dumb as hell.

I am semi-angry that I can't play The Altogether on Spotify

Was the David Grey song "Illuminate"? I always liked that one more than practically everyone else on the board. (xp: okay everyone but frogbs)

and yes MoN is absolutely underrated

Fourthed. Suffers only by comparison with In Sides. Way Out, Spare Parts Express and Nothing Left 2 are all classic.

Fifthfted (??), it's their Beacoup Fish or Surrender, its not quite a knockout classic but holds up much better in retrospect

never would have occurred to me to consider Beaucoup Fish in that category, but then again I'm one of those ppl who doesn't like Second Toughest...

Their songs are so beautifully structured - busy and unpredictable without (most of the time) feeling cluttered. Very few electronic producers can do that.

I've always felt that they were the best at writing good, solid hooks in their music (look at "Impact" for Christ's sake), and when they started leveraging that into weirder/more ambitious stuff they really took off. I think a lot of electronic guys had the experimental leanings that Orbital had but didn't have the talent to pull it off!

yay, this took me back
it's all about bigpipe style

hmm

Two other tracks were included on the [style] single. They were "An Fhomair", which is a heavily reworked version of album track "Otono" (featuring Pooka on vocals), and "Mock Tudor", a blend of heavy club beats and baroque-style melody in 7/4 time

i thought i had the single but don't recall an awesome sounding baroque club workout.

Oh goddamn, Know Where to Run from 5:00 :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

An absolutely stunning album which still holds up now, IMO. Would have voted for 'Dŵr Budr'.

Belatedly OTM-ing Ledge's post from 2 years ago. Feel like MoN is secretly the album where Orbital perfected their own take on dance music qua dance music dynamics: the frenzied peaktime pinnacles of "Know Where To Run" and "Nothing Left" in particular. When the former drops into those scary arpeggios it's just @_@

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAsZQI0pvvw

I might put this on, actually, haven't listened to it for a while.. Orbital 2 tends to be the album of theirs I listen to the most, but whenever I put this on it always blows me away to the point where I think "why am I not listening to this more often?"

surprised TGWTSIHH won this. Dwr Budr is the best sleeper track.

I'm not surprised, it's a perfect thesis statement for the album.

This should have been one of those polls where every track got a vote.

Adnans is so great. You're right.

I love this record so much. The Box used to play on the local Radio Free station (along with the Chemical Bros.) when pretty much nothing else electronic was airing, and so Orbital got me super into techno and electronic music and changed my life 4ever.

Having a late night listen to this on the headphones. Man, what an exceptional record. The hammered dulcimer on 'The Box' is pure gorgeousness.

This album was 20 years old last Friday. I bought it on Monday 29 April 1996. In Teignmouth Woolworths.

Incredible to think it's that old. It still holds up extremely well, production-wise.

One thing that always bothered me about this album was this faint high-pitched noise on "The Box 1", right after the drums come in till the end of the track. I always thought it was some sort of mastering glitch. Anyway I've been listening to my Orbital albums again and I noticed that suddenly I can't hear it anymore. I remember hearing that as you get older you lose the ability to hear some high frequencies and I'm wondering if this is an example of that. Might explain why it was there in the first place! Anyone else hear it?

this album is still incredible, of course. "Out There Somewhere?" is such a singular accomplishment in the genre, I'd forgotten how cool it was when the mutated "Lush 3.1" synths show up. And the second half is just gorgeous. Feel like they'd taken on a prog fetish around this time, between this and the full-length version of "The Box" that some versions come with.

I might have to have a listen to hear what you're on about - any excuse to listen to this still marvellous piece of work!

Phil Hartnoll just outed Paul Hartnoll as being Gammon.

Man, this record still makes me so ecstatic. Adnan's is gorgeous, I'd forgotten what a pleasure it is to hear it.

Still one of the greatest albums ever recorded

there were some interesting tidbits in the twitter listening party: https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/pages/replay/feed_143.html

also on this track we were approached by green peace to record a track powered by their solo lorry , so the whole thing was recorded using only the power of the sun. A fitting tribute to Sally indeed . Cricky I’m welling up just writing this down now after all that time.

— Orbital (@orbitalband) May 15, 2020

has there been an artist poll for orbital?

talking about The Box:

I did get to meet John Barry when we were interviewed together at his house once. he was asked if he'd heard this and he said ' yesss, its hardly the persuaders is it " OUCH! love him the straight talking yorkshire man!

— Orbital (@orbitalband) May 15, 2020

yeah the green peace tidbit is in the liner notes and added to the album's "wow"-ness at the time for me

When are they gonna repress this? Could make a fortune

I was replaying this a few weeks ago. DJP otm, it's peerless.

I've been listening to it a lot in the car. It's such a great driving record. I've been extending journeys to let it wash over me.

still don't think there's another piece of electronic music like "Out There Somewhere"

this must've been the first album they used live drumming on? i don't see anything in the credits on green/brown/snivilisation. i do vaguely recall halcyon drum programming credited to somebody else but can't find it now.

Out There Somewhere? (Part 1) – 10.42 0

This is egregious

egregious
/ɪˈɡriːdʒəs/
adjective

1. outstandingly bad; shocking.
"egregious abuses of copyright"

2. ARCHAIC
remarkably good.

which one did you mean? :-)

the shocking and bad one

Part 2 is so good tho, just hoovered up the votes I guess

OTS pt.2 still holds up so well 28 years on

yeah still nothing like it, its such a trip into outer space but not in the kinda boring way a lot of electro space trips are

incredible finish to a wonderful album

stone cold CLASSIC.

It's so wonderful how timeless a lot of 90's electronic music is sounding 25-30 years later (ugh why did I type that last part)

It is nigh perfect but I really wish that climactic bit with the manipulated vocal sound went on a tiny bit longer

thanks for reminding me to listen to Out There Somewhere this morning

oh god the warpy strings, the warpy strings

soundtrack to the best E i ever had

its wild they never attempted anything like it again

I don't hold In Sides in as high estimation as I once did - maybe I've just heard it too much - but "Adnan's" still holds the same mystical beauty. I must not have voted in this poll because it certainly would have gotten my vote