Orbital are an English electronic duo from Sevenoaks consisting of brothers Phil Hartnoll and Paul Hartnoll whose career lasted from 1989 until 2004 and have now reformed in 2009.
They took their name from Greater London's orbital motorway, the M25, which was central to the early rave scene and party network in the South East during the early days of acid house. One of the biggest names in British electronica during the 1990s, Orbital were both critically and commercially successful, being particularly known for an element of live improvisation during their shows, a rarity with techno acts. They were initially influenced by early electro and punk rock. In 1989, Orbital recorded a track called "Chime" on their father's cassette deck. It was released on Oh Zone Records in December 1989, and re-released on FFRR Records a few months later. The track became a rave anthem, reaching number 17 in the UK charts, and earning them an appearance on Top of the Pops, during which they wore anti-Poll Tax t-shirts. A few singles and EPs followed, and their first self-titled album, a collection of tracks recorded at various times, was released in late 1991.
In late 1992, the Radiccio EP barely reached the UK top forty, but it included probably their most well-known song, "Halcyon". The song featured a backwards sample of Kirsty Hawkshaw from "It's a Fine Day" (a chart hit for Opus III earlier that year), and B-side "The Naked and the Dead" was similarly based on a line from Scott Walker's rendition of Jacques Brel's song "Next". "Halcyon" was dedicated to the Hartnolls' mother, who was addicted to the tranquiliser Halcion (Triazolam) for many years. The duo's popularity grew rapidly with the release of their second album, titled Orbital 2, in 1993. The album featured complex arrangements and textures, and opens with the two-minute track "Time Becomes", which comprises nothing more than two slightly detuned, looped samples of a Michael Dorn line from Star Trek: The Next Generation, "...where time becomes a loop" being played simultaneously through the left and right channels, respectively (until one cycle of phase difference has happened). This same sample was used at the beginning of "the Mobius", the opening track in the previous album. This audio pun was intended to make listeners believe that they had bought a mis-pressed album (Orbital 1 packaged as Orbital 2). The album reached #28 on the UK album charts, staying in the top chart for fifteen weeks. "Halcyon" was remixed for the album, as "Halcyon + On + On". The version played live has also gained notoriety amongst fans for containing a complete mashup of diverse samples including "You Give Love a Bad Name" by the band Bon Jovi, "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle, and most recently "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the band The Darkness. The first two albums are commonly known as "the green album" and "the brown album", after the colour of their covers.
Political commentary
Orbital sometimes incorporated political and environmental commentary into their music. The track "Forever" on Snivilisation samples a speech by Graham Crowden from the 1982 Lindsay Anderson film Britannia Hospital, in which he lambasts humankind for its destructive ways; and the track "You Lot" on the Blue Album, features a confrontational, partially vocoded anti-genetic engineering sample from Christopher Eccleston, originally from the TV two-part series The Second Coming written by Russell T Davies. They recorded "The Girl With The Sun In Her Head" from In Sides using Greenpeace's mobile solar power generator CYRUS. They named an early record "Belfast" after playing live in the city of Belfast at the height of The Troubles in 1990. Other album track titles suggest environmental concern such as "Kein Trink Wasser" ("no drinking water" in German) from Snivilisation and "Dŵr Budr" ("dirty water" in Welsh) and "P.E.T.R.O.L." from In Sides.
Albums
* 1991 - Orbital (aka the Green Album)
* 1993 - Orbital (aka the Brown Album)
* 1994 - Diversions (aka John Peel Sessions)
* 1994 - Snivilisation
* 1996 - In Sides
* 1997 - Satan Live
* 1997 - Event Horizon (OST) with Michael Kamen
* 1999 - The Middle of Nowhere
* 2001 - The Altogether
* 2002 - Work 1989–2002 (Singles/Rarities Collection)
* 2003 - Octane (OST)
* 2004 - Blue Album
* 2005 - Halcyon (Best of compilation)
* 2007 - Orbital: Live at Glastonbury 1994–2004
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