Disco de Orbital: “Orbital 2”

Back in 1993, when today's legendary second Orbital album named the "Brown Album" came out, it was an album with something unheard of at the time, it was a masterpiece that started a revolution. Although it's in the same vein as their first "Yellow/Green" CD, it has a very different, more complex structure.

It starts with "TIME BECOMES" a sample borrowed from Star Trek, a vocal sample spoken by Worf which goes: "there is the theory of the Moebius, a twist in the fabric of space, where time becomes a loop...where time becomes a loop" and on and on and on, almost 2 minutes of non - stop hilarious mixture of sounds ( Orbitals's humorous side, which is much more noticeable on "Snivilisation", as there are more vocal samples).

..."even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day"...

..."even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day"...

"WALK NOW..." is more different than the last four tracks. It's much calmer, and it's probably the most danceable track on the whole album. It's constantly followed with a buzz - like sound that flows in the background of the song making it really hypnotic.

"In - Sides" had the best for last, and the "Brown album does the same. "HALCYON + ON + ON" is a classic, one of Orbital's all - time best songs, and one of the most favorite of all Orbital fans. Don't get confused if you hear just too much about it, or seeing it on various soundtracks and compilations. It has that recognizable enchanting sound. You hear a piano playing over a keyboard layer with one of those beautiful smooth spaced out female vocals over a mid - tempo bass line. Another true electronic ballad from the true masters and innovators of progressive electronic music.

The album ends ("INPUT OUT") the same way it started, Orbital (brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll) having a laugh. It's another vocal sample going round and round.

With this (and "In - Sides"), Orbital elevated electronic music to a higher level, and introduced many people to electronic music, and more importantly they pawed the way for many other electronic acts.

More commonly known as the "Brown Album", "Orbital 2" is inventive, incredible, and inspiring. The only thing; It's too short. Thankfully, the sister album "Diversions" is out there for those who want more of an extended "Brown Album", though it's not the same by any means. It starts out with rather ingenius "Time Becomes", which, over the space of one minute and forty-three seconds, takes the line "...where time becomes a loop", splits in in two and makes it meet up at the end to form a perfect audio loop. From there, the second track "Planet of the Shapes" makes use of the vinyl record sample "Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day". The music in this track has slightly dark undertones and a spacy feel in parts and a good, heavy beat. Track three is the rather well known "Lush" track, "Lush 3-1"*, which merges seemlessly into the fourth track, "Lush 3-2"*. "Lush 3-2" is very dancy and uses very detached, non-descript female vocals which make it sound more euphoric. "Lush 3-2" merges seemlessly into the fifth track, "Impact (The Earth is Burning)"*. Very distant, spacy vocals of some kind are used in this track as are strange synthesized horns. In my opinion, the best part is a little past seven minutes into the song, where the clear sample "It's like a crying for survival!" is used. The sixth track, "Remind", is more uniform in chord progression than the others and relies on a large range of beats and builds quite a lot by the end. Track seven, "Walk Now..."* starts with a sampled didjiradoo, and carries with a dancy rythm and great synth beats. The eighth track, "Monday", is light, dancy and one of Orbital's more simple tracks...if you can call it simple. Track nine is probably the best known track off of this album, "Halcyon+On+On" is very spacy, detached and vocal. Infact, it is the female vocals that hold up the song. Also, this is by far the most "relaxing" of any track on any Orbital album to date. Finally, the end track, "Input Out" is much like the first track except that is does not really form a loop. It is simply two samples ("Input translation" and "Output rotation") doubled and then split in the same fashion. Interesting stuff.

* (Mixes of "Lush 3-1", "Lush 3-2", "Impact [The Earth is Burning]", and "Walk Now..." are on the "Diversions" album.)

This has to be one of the most incredible CD's out there. The Brown Album was my first exposure to Orbital, and, honestly, none of their other CDs live up to this one. A masterpiece. When I was managing a coffeehouse in N.C., I would turn this up until conversation was at a halt, and an entire room full of people would quit talking and let the music take them out. We built a reputation on this CD, people would come in just to hear it. I listen to Rewind at least once every couple of days just to get my mind right and feel good. DO NOT LIVE LIFE WITHOUT THIS CD

I've bought 3+ copies of this album in the years since it was first released, because I keep lending it to people and it doesn't come home :-). This is by far the peak of the Hartnoll brothers' catalog of releases; only "Chime" comes anywhere close, and then only for one track. Don't *even* bother with the newer stuff. Part of what makes this album so amazing is its continuity- you put it on, and it flows mesmerizingly from one track to the next, one perfect moment after another. This is 90's rave in its pure state; made before electronic music fractured into a billion genres, the brothers put in a bit of everything, not too much of any one, and the result is far more than the sum of its parts! Rhythms vary from straight up tec-trance-style 4/4 to what might be considered breakbeat, but really is more like a slowed-down D&B beat structure. Ambient washes of lush (pun intended) sound complement and smooth selectively sparse uses of harder-edged noises. The use of sitar sounds on "Planet of the Shapes" and digeridoo on "Walk Now" (they should have called it "dance like a madman now") lends the mix a delightful trippy world-beat flavor that subtly adds to the overall sense of a musical "journey through the mind." Production is excellent; these tracks sounds good through headphones AND big hulking stacks. And you may not find the same thing, but I hear a theme throughout the album, echoing from the first bizarre intro track (a looped-over sample of Worf from ST:TNG): "There is the theory of the moebius- a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop." Put this on repeat on your CD player and you'll soon be voyaging through mindspace, as well. In a word, superb.

Orbital 2 is so great, it makes me want to make music. Especially the tracks Lush 3-2 and Remind. Those, along with Halcyon + On + On make this CD worth owning for anybody, I don't care what your musical tastes.