Disco de Orbital: “Box”

I have 500 records, and this is the best single I have ever bought - I actually got two in case one gets a scratch. My friend Jim came over in the very late afternoon and put this in my CD player. It was a grey day in Scotland and by the time the disc was over it was dark out. Neither of us had moved the entire 28 minutes; it blew my mind. Absolutely stunning. I think back to that year every time I hear it - but unlike many discs from the time which I listen to out of nostalgia, I genuinely love this record as much today as I did then. It will be the best 5 bucks you spend this month, believe me.

Before I begin, as of 6/21/05, Amazon claims this is from the album "Orblivion". That's an Orb album from 1997; this is a single from Orbital's 1996 album "In Sides". It features 4 tracks. The first track is a radio edit. The fourth track is a vocal version of the album version (taking the intro from part 1, but using the bulk of part 2). The lyrics are little over-the-top, and the singer's got a mildly nasal British accent, but it's not anything that'll make you want to skip the track. Tracks 2 and 3 show why Orbital are great. They don't sound anything like the originals, but use most of the original elements. They've essentially used most of the same parts to make new tracks. Track 2 starts off fairly dark and creepy with a squeaky-floorboards-being-walked-on sound which builds and builds up to a harpsichord climax (it works better than it sounds). Track 3 starts off with bells and ends up in a mild bizarre groove. Worth getting if you can find it. Oh, if you should be able to find the 2-disc version on In Sides that has this single and the Times Fly single, I should let you know that they put this single all on one track, and so you can't skip forward (no one told me).