Orbital release 'Wonky', their first studio album in seven years, on Monday. So with excitement reaching feverish levels, I've been trawling through the band's lesser known tracks and have collected a few from the later (or what might charitably be termed the more esoteric) phase of their career. I know the critical consensus is that the quality dropped right off with the last few albums, but there's still plenty worth listening to, and some of the tracks that didn't make the cut had the edge over those that did - so here are a few gems you might have missed.
Orbital tracks
Beelzebeat
(2001, Bonus track on the Funny Break single)
A remix of the somewhat insipid Funny Break that took on a life of its own and mutated into a convoluted beast of a track. By turns boisterous and playful, demented and demure.
Initiation (remix)
(2005, Blue Album limited edition bonus track)
Cafe del Mar langour with a spooky twist – released in its original incarnation as a section of Orbital's 2003 soundtrack to the British horror flick Octane.
What Happens Next?
(2005, One Perfect Sunrise single bonus track)
Dirty industrial piledriver in the mould of classic Orbital banger Satan.
Technologicque Park
(2002, xXx Soundtrack)
It would've been criminal had Orbital never appeared as themselves in a nightclub scene from a movie - and in 2002 that's exactly what they got a chance to do, playing this careering number that's not unlike The Prodigy's Speedway.
Old Style
(1999, Style single bonus track)
The best of the Style remixes (the Big Pipe mix deploys a devastating sample from Devil Gate Drive but loses marks for its two-minute bagpipe intro), this brings a Krautrock twist to one of the coolest melodies Orbital ever wrote.
Mock Tudor
(1999, Style single bonus track)
A slice of almost hauntological whimsy, predating the style of Ghost Box's Belbury Poly.
Monorail
(2001, The Altogether DVD edition bonus track)
Electronic music and rail-based mass transport – a marriage made in heaven. The reason this glorious contribution didn't make the regular version of the album when the career-low Illuminate, featuring the dreary vocal contribution of David Gray, is there for all to suffer, surely only becomes clear when one recalls that Gray is Paul and Phil Hartnoll's brother-in-law.
The Box (Box EP version 2)
The Box (Box EP version 3)
(1996, Box EP)
Oh, this is it. Not strictly speaking later era Orbital, coming from the In Sides sessions, but these were too good to leave out. Turn off the lights, close the curtains, relax and enjoy these sumptuous re-imaginings in your own dark little space. Creaking doors, harpsichords, ticking clocks, jazz flute... don't have nightmares!
Doctor Look Out!
(2000, Beached single bonus track)
OK, so they did a crap version of the Doctor Who theme. But they made up for it with this, featuring a sample from... does anyone know which story? (Clue: that 'zap' isn't a ray gun, it's part of the incidental music)
Frenetic
(2002 single, Rest EP)
A moment of all-out pop form Orbital, released as the only new track on Work, their singles compilation. Frothy.
Beached (long version)
(2000 single)
From Danny Boyle's 2000 film adaptation of The Beach. Yeah, this extended version has Leonardo DiCaprio samples all over it, but the eight minutes are so exhilarating you don't really notice.
Orbital tracks
Beelzebeat
(2001, Bonus track on the Funny Break single)
A remix of the somewhat insipid Funny Break that took on a life of its own and mutated into a convoluted beast of a track. By turns boisterous and playful, demented and demure.
Initiation (remix)
(2005, Blue Album limited edition bonus track)
Cafe del Mar langour with a spooky twist – released in its original incarnation as a section of Orbital's 2003 soundtrack to the British horror flick Octane.
What Happens Next?
(2005, One Perfect Sunrise single bonus track)
Dirty industrial piledriver in the mould of classic Orbital banger Satan.
Technologicque Park
(2002, xXx Soundtrack)
It would've been criminal had Orbital never appeared as themselves in a nightclub scene from a movie - and in 2002 that's exactly what they got a chance to do, playing this careering number that's not unlike The Prodigy's Speedway.
Old Style
(1999, Style single bonus track)
The best of the Style remixes (the Big Pipe mix deploys a devastating sample from Devil Gate Drive but loses marks for its two-minute bagpipe intro), this brings a Krautrock twist to one of the coolest melodies Orbital ever wrote.
Mock Tudor
(1999, Style single bonus track)
A slice of almost hauntological whimsy, predating the style of Ghost Box's Belbury Poly.
Monorail
(2001, The Altogether DVD edition bonus track)
Electronic music and rail-based mass transport – a marriage made in heaven. The reason this glorious contribution didn't make the regular version of the album when the career-low Illuminate, featuring the dreary vocal contribution of David Gray, is there for all to suffer, surely only becomes clear when one recalls that Gray is Paul and Phil Hartnoll's brother-in-law.
The Box (Box EP version 2)
The Box (Box EP version 3)
(1996, Box EP)
Oh, this is it. Not strictly speaking later era Orbital, coming from the In Sides sessions, but these were too good to leave out. Turn off the lights, close the curtains, relax and enjoy these sumptuous re-imaginings in your own dark little space. Creaking doors, harpsichords, ticking clocks, jazz flute... don't have nightmares!
Doctor Look Out!
(2000, Beached single bonus track)
OK, so they did a crap version of the Doctor Who theme. But they made up for it with this, featuring a sample from... does anyone know which story? (Clue: that 'zap' isn't a ray gun, it's part of the incidental music)
Frenetic
(2002 single, Rest EP)
A moment of all-out pop form Orbital, released as the only new track on Work, their singles compilation. Frothy.
Beached (long version)
(2000 single)
From Danny Boyle's 2000 film adaptation of The Beach. Yeah, this extended version has Leonardo DiCaprio samples all over it, but the eight minutes are so exhilarating you don't really notice.
Comment