A guest posting by Acid Ted
What the hell is happening? Orbital ICA
What the hell, indeed? My first ICA was on PWEI in January 2020. That took me two years to write. This second one has taken nearly six years. I’m not sure I can really explain why. But here we are with an ICA that moves more firmly into dance territory with the fantastic Orbital. All tracks are in the Spotify playlist below and there are a few videos to enjoy as well.
Orbital are brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll from Kent. Legendarily, the band’s name is taken from Greater London’s orbital motorway, the M25. The M25 was central to the early rave scene of the 80s, as ravers ended up playing a cat and mouse game with the police waiting at service stations for news on where the next rave was located.
Live is where they’ve really shone, with their semi-improvised sets that twist and stretch originals into new thrilling shapes. They’ve played one of the iconic Glastonbury sets in 1994 and also appeared at the Royal Albert Hall (twice).
They’ve had a few compilations over the years, including Work 1989-2002 (2002), 2Twenty (2009) and A Beginners Guide (2024). All of these are decent resumes of their best moments, so this ICA takes a slightly less travelled path.
Side A
This side is a non-chronological trawl through a few of their more danceable moments.
Chime Extended (1989)
This is featured on all their compilations, but there really wasn’t any other place to start. Chime from 1989 is their breakthrough track. This was recorded under the stairs on their father’s 4 track tape deck, which they released on DJ Jazzy M‘s Oh Zone Records in December 1989. It was re-released on FFRR Records in 1990. The track reached number 17 in the UK charts, and they appeared on Top of the Pops wearing anti-Poll Tax T-shirts and with their equipment visibly not plugged in.
The heart of the track is the stabby piano chord allied to a chunky bass and of the time percussion. I’ve included the full 12 minute version to give you the full ‘lost at the rave’ experience. It’s a classic close to my heart but unsurprisingly for something that’s 35 years old it does sound a bit dated.
Impact USA (The Earth Is Burning) (1993)
Taken from their second album, known as the Brown album, this is an in your face climate change anthem. Orbital have always been awkwardly principled and this track pushes the environmental concerns to the fore.
The track offers their usual tumble of break beats along with almost symphonic brass synths. The samples that pepper the track talk about “A cry for survival”. Live this builds and builds and is immense.
Octane (2003)
Jumping forward to 2003, here’s Orbital showing their ability to do a soundtrack for an indie film Octane. This was done just before they split up in 2004. It’s a largely beatless track but employs a spooky keyboard and a dark bass line to offer that horror vibe.
As for the film, Octane (released as Pulse in the United States) is a 2003 horror film directed by Marcus Adams and starring Madeleine Stowe, Mischa Barton, and Norman Reedus. The film follows a divorced mother and her teenage daughter on a late-night road trip, and the mother’s battle to find her daughter after she gets caught up with a bizarre cult of young criminals at a truck stop.
Where Is It Going? (feat. Stephen Hawking) (2012)
Orbital reformed at the end of 2008 and ended up creating this absolute classic using a track from the album Wonky. One of my all-time favourite tracks this manage to be magisterial in its opening, awe-inspiring in its use of Stephen Hawking’s vocal and utterly danceable.
Orbital appeared at the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, performing “Where Is It Going?” live with Stephen Hawking delivering a speech about the Large Hadron Collider. “Transform our Perception of the Universe.”
Tiny Foldable Cities (2017)
Orbital split up again in 2014 and returned in 2017. Tiny Foldable Cities was their first release in this new period, ahead of their Monsters Exist album (2018).
The track has a woozy fairground organ as its centrepiece. This is all very English and is happy to remain strange even when the beats and synths arrive.
Funny Break (One Is Enough) Full Version (2001)
Taken from the album The Altogether this shows how adept Orbital are at marrying their music to ethereal vocals. The vocals are from Naomi Bedford of Jonah Hex whilst the lyrics are by Naomi together with fellow band member Andrew Bramley.
Unusually for Orbital this track includes trumpet and sax from Michael Smith and Dominic Glover. They offer additional support to the vocal, allowing it to really soar within the track.
The Naked And The Dead (1992)
Taken from their Radicchio EP this features a line from Scott Walker’s Next. It’s a doomy bass heavy track that offers only pleasures in the next world, not this. It’s a largely instrumental track that pounds along from start to finish.
Side B
This side is another non-chronological trawl but with a more chilled come down feel.
Halcyon + On + On (1993)
Originally released on the Radicchio EP, this version is another that’s taken from the Brown album. But also another stone classic. The repeating refrain, the thrummed synth and the use of the Opus III sample from Kirsty Hawkshaw all combine into a total anthem.
The inspiration for the track is Phil and Paul Hartnoll’s mother, who was addicted to the tranquilliser Halcion (Triazolam) for many years. As Phil explained “my dad was working really hard and was rarely at home while our mum was freaking out on Halcyon (a then-popular prescription tranquiliser)… Don’t get me wrong, mum was always very loving and caring. But they prescribed her this drug and she just kept on doubling the dose.”
Live, Orbital were famous for adding Belinda Carlisle (Heaven Is A Place on Earth) and Bon Jovi (You Give Love A Bad Name) half way through. This was a cause of many mass singalongs. In recent years they’ve sadly dropped Belinda and Bon Jovi, but it’s still a wonderful track.
Kein Trink Wasser (1994)
Taken from the album Snivilisation and meaning non-drinking water, this is another of those built around a set of arpeggiated piano chords. It bursts with exuberance that eventually turns into some of Orbital’s favoured break beats at the half way mark. There’s something quite Mozart about the piano.
The Box – Part 2 (1996)
Imaginary spy theme for an imaginary compilation. The Box is taken from the In Sides album. The version released on In Sides is in two parts, a slow downbeat Part 1 and a faster upbeat Part 2 of the same song. The track has a wonderful darkness to it.
Paul Hartnoll told the NME that the song was based on a recurring dream he had about the discovery of a mysterious wooden box in the Welsh countryside, but that he would always wake up just at the point he was opening the box, so he never found out what was inside it.
One Perfect Sunrise (2004)
A classic chillout track taken from the Blue Album. This has ethereal vocals from Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance. They dominate the track and help it manage the assertive breakbeats.
The Girl With The Sun In Her Head (1996)
The final track on this ICA is another low-key one. It’s also a movingly poignant one as it was dedicated to the memory of photographer Sally Harding, who died in 1995. The track was recorded using electricity from a Greenpeace solar power generator.
It opens with a heartbeat sound focusing in on our life essence. It’s then followed by one of Orbital’s most classic and heartfelt keyboard riffs that recurs throughout the track. The beats are less prominent than many Orbital would do to allow the melodies to hold the centre stage.
Bonus 12”
Perhaps the track that deserves to be Orbital’s best known. Originally released in 1991 the track uses a sample of soprano Emily Van Evera performing “O Euchari” (a vocal composition by Hildegard von Bingen) from the Gothic Voices album A Feather on the Breath of God. It’s a spiralling sprawling mix of the classical vocal and dreamy synths and beats. This version is a David Holmes remix from 2024.
As for its genesis. Paul Hartnoll said “I decided to make an ambient song,” He explained, “It was a rainy melancholy mid-week kind of afternoon. I got the chords first and just went from there.”
Then Orbital went to Belfast to play at David Holmes’ Sugarsweet club. “So, after the gig, in David’s Mum’s house’s spare bedroom, David asked if we had any demos. Two weeks later, David rings up and tells me that him and his friends all love the second track on the tape. We called it Belfast after the brilliant time we had there. The track was named after, and dedicated to David and all his friends.”
EMF – It’s You (13½% Extra mix) (1992)
To end, a curiosity but one I love. Orbital have done relatively few remixes (they did do a not very good one for Madonna BITD).
They did this one for EMF in 1992. No idea why. It takes fuzzed guitars and marries them to a string drenched start and a one note piano line to die for. There’s a wonderful naivety that comes through.
As promised…….the entire ICA on Spotify. Click here.
And finally, the ICA title comes from this 2023 Orbital Interview.
Acid Ted
JC adds……..
Total and very happy coincidence this dropped into the Inbox just as I was finalising stuff for the blog’s 19th birthday.
For those of you who perhaps don’t know the back story, Acid Ted has been the blog’s longest-serving guest contributor – his first guest posting would have been in 2007– but so many of his pieces were lost when Google removed the old blog. AcidTed was also the first non-Glasgow blogger I ever met face-to-face, as far back as October 2009. And above all else, he was the person who stepped in back in 2010 and 2011 when a couple of deaths, firstly to my brother and then my best friend, meant I had to take a couple of extended breaks.
He, along with Rachel (Mrs Vinyl Villain) and Comrade Colin (ex-blogger from Glasgow), are the folk who I’ll always be most indebted to for getting things going and established, but there are also many dozens of others who have been incredibly supportive and whose help has been invaluable over the years.
Once again….and I’ll never get tired of saying this……..THANK YOU!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 