Amazon recently started listing a new Orbital album: Orbital 20. It’s a best-of album (yes, another one), but at least it’s long and has some new mixes of familiar songs. But what was even more surprising to me is that in the reviews, people mentioned that the Hartnoll brothers have reunited.
I actually really liked Paul Hartnoll’s Ideal Condition. I thought it basically had all the flavor and mood of an Orbital album. The only thing it lacked was some longer, more epic pieces that are usually in an Orbital album.
What I also didn’t know until now is that his brother also released something: Madness and Me by Long Range. Unfortunately that’s a little pricey for me currently. Has anyone here heard that album?
Just a quick pricing note: Orbital 20 was $12 on Amazon yesterday, and I almost bought it, but I’m glad I slept on it, because it is only $6 for the MP3 album today. Looks like the physical CD (with audiorip) can only be had as an import here in the U.S. so it’s relatively very expensive. So this will be my first Orbital digital-only purchase. It’s not as if their CD covers were all that great anyway.
Yeah, I just realized that it’s only new to Amazon myself. I wonder if that means that Amazon will get Wonky, the actual new album from 2012, in a couple of years? I don’t want to install iTunes again just to buy one album, so I’m just going to wait. For the Hanna Soundtrack, I think iTunes had a one year window where they had that soundtrack exclusively, so maybe the Orbital album will also be a one year exclusive? I can only hope.
But if 20 came out in 2009, and just came out on Amazon, that doesn’t bode well. Maybe I’ll have to wait until 2015 for Wonky. :(
Oh man, what a rabbit hole you’ve put me in! So much music that I couldn’t find a way to buy without importing at outrageous prices! Unfortunately I can’t listen to music where I most listen to it: on my car’s audio CD player, or my other car’s mp3 CD player, or my mp3 player that I take to the YMCA and listen to while I’m working out, or on the Xbox while I’m playing games where I can put in my own music without ruining the atmosphere.
As for Orbital’s Wonky: So far I don’t like it! Given my history with Orbital, this is a good sign. Some of my favorite Orbital albums I didn’t like the first few dozen times I heard them, like Snivilization. (On the other hand, my favorite Orbital albums: In Sides and Middle of Nowhere, I liked right away).
This should be doable. You can select your playlists to be Available Offline with the little YES/NO switch at the top. The tracks will then download on to your mp3 player so you can listen away from your network. It’s simple and awesome. And if for some reason your mp3 player can’t handle this, it’s worth investing in a new one just to have Spotify on the go.
I just found out Paul Hartnoll came out with a new album in 2015 called 8:58. It even had a deluxe edition with a lot of the instrumental versions of the tracks on the album.
Unfortunately I can’t find the album on Google Play or Amazon Music. Apparently it’s only on iTunes? That sucks.
Well, at least it’s on Spotify, so I just started listening to it on there. The Deluxe edition is not available on Spotify though.
Like I said in the OP, I liked Ideal Condition, his first solo album, and it was much better than the Orbital reunion album Wonky. So I’m really looking forward to 8:58.
Ok, so in 2017 Orbital re-united again. And they have their first new album coming out since the horrible Wonky. This one is called Monsters Exist, and it’s coming out tomorrow, September 14, 2018.
I hope to god it’s more like classic Orbital and not like Wonky.
I did love In Sides, but I spoiled it for myself a little bit. When it came out I was reading David Feintuch’s Seafort Saga, which gets pretty depressing. So the album In Sides still triggers that same response in me when I listen to it.
By the way, which version of In Sides did you get in Australia? In the U.S., they originally released the album on Disc 1, and then they had on Disc 2 as the bonus disc:
1.
“Times Fly (Slow)”
7:58
2.
“Sad But New”
7:29
3.
“Times Fly (Fast)”
7:53
4.
“The Tranquilizer”
6:27
5.
“The Box (full version)”
28:11
That 28 minute version of the Box was so good. It ends with a vocal version of the Box in the last 5 minutes or so. I highly recommend tracking that down if you don’t have it.
The year after that, they started selling the album with Disc 2 being
No.
Title
Length
1.
“Satan (Industry Standard)”
3:42
2.
“Satan (Live at NYC Irving Plaza)”
7:09
3.
“The Saint” (Edwin Astley)
4:30
4.
“The Sinner”
10:41
5.
“Halcyon (Live at NYC Irving Plaza)”
8:43
Yeah, so that’s pretty crappy. Unfortunately, that’s the version you can find most commonly in the U.S. And that’s the version on Spotify here in the U.S. Luckily I still have my original Disc 2 bonus disc.
The Box came out at a really intensive point in my life, peak druggie/club child. I just relistened to Deeper just now (b-side to Chime) and that bleeps era stuff was a real groundbreaker.
… I had a real good time. Sorry. Didn’t murder anybody, didn’t rape anybody, didn’t rob anybody, didn’t beat anybody, didn’t lose – hmm – one fucking job, laughed my ass off, and went about my day.
I had a great 10 years. Only regret was all the smoking (ciggies and weed) i did and the health problems i had recently because of smoking until 40.
The version of the Altogether released in the U.S. had a bonus disc. While I agree that the main album was pretty dire, the bonus disc was sublime. It had remixes from my favorite Orbital album (The Middle of Nowhere), and they weren’t just blah remixes. They were REALLY good remixes done by Orbital themselves.
I didn’t have time to get to Monsters Exist much this weekend, I only got to the title track, which I liked.
Edit, from Wikipedia:
US edition
For the US release, the album was given a double-disc treatment, with many of the songs on the second disc being B-sides from various other releases. This version remains the standard US release.
