Orbital – The Altogether

It's an interesting thing to revisit an album which holds special memories for you, only to learn that many have very different feelings about it. As someone who loves a lot of deeply uncool music it's very familiar. And of course intellectually I know it's just the fundamental nature of taste. But I do wonder - is it just the memories that come with hearing this when it came out (when I was 17/18) that make it special? Or maybe the fact I wasn't placing it in a wider musical context, or comparing it against Orbital's earlier work helped me appreciate it on its own merit more?

Who knows. All I can really say is that I played this album to death, and I still love it today. It has a lovely balance between the emotional power of the more accessible side of electronic music, with the free-wheeling variety of the more experimental side - never slipping too far into either formula or abstraction. There's a playful sense of fun, but also a wide range of emotion. I can understand why it's not for everyone - and why it's maybe not considered with the same reverence that their earlier albums are. But ultimately, even 20 years since I first heard it, with all the ways my tastes have shifted in those years - it still moves me like it did then, which is all that really matters.

The sleeve credit to the sample of 'Surfin' Bird is incorrect. They actually sampled The Cramps version of the song. Confirmed here -
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sCoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=orbital+tension+cramps&source=bl&ots=LJyd8HXj8Y&sig=tURQQxMFM-CAdZphIOGRfYg1RjM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAGoVChMIv57XipCWxwIVZlrbCh32NQhP#v=onepage&q=orbital%20tension%20cramps&f=false

Not to say this album doesn't have its merits, but in general it's not to my taste. The one track that really stands out, though, is "Tension." It sounds like something Jez from "Peep Show" would have made. It strikes me as laughably bad and annoying, especially as a lead track for an album by a group of their stature and proven talent. It sounds like a parody of techno. The least they could have done is put a donk on it. I wonder how many people formed their initial opinion of the album based on this track. Subjectively, it's just awful. I like their cover of the Dr. Who theme, though, at least they have a cheeky sense of humor.

Just rediscovered this in my car CD folder. Slightly blown away by its awesomeness. Why was this never released on vinyl?

Utterly fed up by the negative reviews The Altogether received.
I'm an absolutely massive fan of Orbital and each album has been an evolution, this was a really good one.

The Altogether is an incredibly brave collection of tracks. They sit well individually from each other, but also work together to form an advanced body of work.
I can understand that some fans would not be able to relate this album to previous releases. However, there is a great amount of innovation here and the sound pallet is very creative - much more diverse than say, The Middle of Nowhere.

I loved this album from release and whenever I listen to it again through the years, I remain unchanged.
There are huge dance tunes in here like Oi!, Tootled is soooo tight!
Pay Per View is so far from what Orbital had done before, but it is genius - possibly some of the best production that Orbital has ever released.
There are too many good tracks to go through here, the only one that maybe drags a bit is Last Thing.

The only thing I utterly hate about this album is that it never came out on vinyl.
MiniDisc would have been a nice option ; )

How is it possible to not pick "Illuminate" as the lead single from this album? That song is stellar, got crossover appeal with David Gray, and could have rescued a rather lackluster album, yet the record company choose "Funny Break"? Seems like a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory...

I also wonder if the Hartnolls ran empty on inspiration at this time or the label worked against them, several of the songs seems to be expanded from snippets they recorded for the TX:Nothing documentary a couple of years earlier.

In my opinion, this sequence would have made the album a worthy follow up to "Middle of Nowhere":

Beelzebeat
Funny Break (Weekend Ravers)
Pay Per View
Last Thing
Doctor?
Monorail
Shadows
Illuminate
Beached

To sum it up in a nutshell this is the contractual obligation album. The songs (if they can be called that) "Tension", "Oi!", "Tootled", "Waving Not Drowning" and "Meltdown" are more about sticking two fingers up to the label than pleasing the fans...

I have approached this album with caution, knowing how many negative reviews it's gathered over the years. Of course I knew "Funny Break" years before, but only this morning I have finally listened to the album in its entirety. And it sounds great! It's right on par with "The Middle of Nowhere" and even "Snivilisation", and not even a bit less interesting. It cannot be compared with Green or Brown, because it's different in style. You need to make up your mind what you expect of this album, before taking it on. Electronic music was different back in the early 90's when Green and Brown were released, and it is no surprise that the highly successful techno innovators such as Orbital have altered their sound ten years after that. It's intriguing, involving, and still makes you move every now and then. The only flaw I would say is its lack of signature climax, an anthem you anticipate by the end of the album; instead, "Funny Break" strikes right at number 2, which is not the way Orbital have usually set their tracks. Anyway - don't listed to the reviews - go and listen to it!

I am surprised at how few reviews there are of this album, and how most are negative. Having just listened to this album (twice) for the first time in at least 7 years, I am astounded at how much more I like it now compared to when it was first released, and I felt spurred to write something more positive.

I'm actually inclined to say that, stylistically, this is their most consistent, listenable and creative album since In Sides. They seem to have gone for a post-retro sound, i.e. the sounds are new, but I feel like they are channeling '60/70s Britain throughout. What I mistook for a hodgepodge of styles when this was first released now comes across as being much more coherent: this is Orbital pulling Add N to X-style rock vamps while sticking vehemently to their melodic guns; this is Orbital in the re-awakening of Britain of its BBC Radiophonic Workshop past, and this is Orbital doing a '70s (not '80s) pop/lounge album in their own inimitable style.

Their synth programming is on par with anything they ever did, but they also makes significant efforts to get away from some of their usual stylistic crutches. It's Orbital trying a little less hard to be classic "Orbital" while still very much sound like them; it's a tough balance but they manage it without sounding like they are trying too hard. Their vocal hooks are as catchy as ever, if not better, and I appreciate the unabashed happy-go-lucky nature of the entire album--this makes the odd "cheesy" synth sound easily forgiven. The only truly downer moment, for me, is the last song, Meltdown, which feels very out of place. Orbital doing (overwrought) IDM-style drum and bass just doesn't work. Ever. This was true in '94 for "Are we here", and it's true in 2001. Finishing on Illuminate would have been stellar. Oh well.

In the context of the earlier Middle of Nowhere and the later Blue album, those albums seem much more hackneyed and belabored to me now compared to The Altogether (although I vastly prefer the first to the second).

Ultimately, this will never be a classic Orbital album to the casual fan of their earlier material. But I think time has served it well, and it is definitely worth another listen if you, like me, had disowned it long ago.

I'll also add that the second disc is full of some b-side classics. Most of the slightly-too-many remixes of "Style" and one completely dodgy trance remix of Funny Break ["Funny Break (Weekend Ravers Mix)"] can be ignored, but "Monorail", "Doctor look out" and "Beezlebeat" are fantastic and should have all been on the Blue album. "Mock Tudor" is possibly one of the simplest, but most melancholic songs Orbital have ever done, akin to "The Tranquilizer" in of bittersweet melodies.

Orbital. Now more pop than ever before.

I've found three really good tunes on Orbital's new album. "Funny Break (One Is Enough)" is a classic Orbital-song with beautiful cyclical vocals by Naomi Bedford. "Doctor?" is the brothers' techno version of the Doctor Who theme, a favorite from innumerable live sets, finally down on plastic. "Meltdown", the last track on the album, is an epic masterpiece with clear rave vibes. The tune's got it all: slow HEAVY bass, at least two different breakbeats, piano loops, samples of type writers, sirens, telephones, smashed glass... and a build-up so filled with energy that it's next to impossible to sit still, you just gotta dance.

The rest of the album does have a few golden moments, but they are overshadowed by an all permeating feeling of cheesiness. For some unfathomable reason Orbital have taken the tinny sounds of eighties hi-nrg pop and tried to turn it into nineties rave. The result is thin and unengaging. Dated.

Also irritating is the fact that all of "Meltdown" isn't included on the CD, only the DVD version has the complete 22 minutes.