Customer Reviews

Back to Mine

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this cd when it first came out, and at first I was a little disappointed. I can see now that my expectations as a serious Orbital fan were strongly influencing my opinion of the album. Listening to it now, a couple years later, I've reformed my opinion. Taken on its own, distinct from the rest of Orbital's work, it's a great listen! It's an eclectic mix of vintage, electronic, raggae/ska and more, that somehow doesn't sound too forced. This is what the Hartnoll's would listen to, it's not what they sound like, so don't expect it to sound like Orbital (except, of course, on Ska'd For Life). Definitely worth a listen for anyone with a diverse musical palette who's looking for something a little unconventional.

But I really love orbital, and have loved all their works, so I took a risk and bought it. And while I can agree that the songs are quite eclectic and very different, I LOVE the variety and seeing where they get their inspiration. If you buy it expecting an orbital CD, you'll be disappointed. But if you buy it expecting a mix CD of some far out stuff, I think you'll enjoy it. It makes for great background music, because you're constantly like "wait, what the heck is this? this is awesome!" and it may not be electronica, but I have quite a varied taste of music that I like, and its nice to see that orbital does too.

I'm an orbital fan, and find most of the BTM series a touch on the dull side, even when I like the artist behind them. This one isn't an exception. Maybe if if you liked some of the others, you'll dig this. I enjoy a lot of the songs, and the eclectic mix, but it doesn't really come together -- the mood's a little schizoid. Plus the sound quality isn't that great -- I really get the impression that the jethro tull & lee perry tracks are coming straight off some beat up vinyl these guys have lying around, and played on a not that great turntable. There's a kind of charm to that, I guess, but my dubbed-from-cd cassette of schulmadchen report sounds a lot better than the version on this cd. In a nutshell, there's nothing to hate about this, but now I'm wishing I had read some reviews before picking it up impulsively...

If anyone has the right to slap whatever tunes they darn well please on a mix CD, it's Orbital, seminal stadium-rave act and dance band with six albums under wing and nary a cash-in compilation in sight. So why not some messy fun, culled from forty years of vinyl and assisted by (undoubtedly) loads and loads of beer?

John Barry and his café-friendly Orchestra stop by, Lee Perry pleads in dub for "Justice To The People," The Tornadoes harmonize over a beach cowboy instrumental complete with surf guitar, jangly bells and schmaltz organ, while the Hartnolls themselves drop one of their puffiest pieces to date, the vibrant "Ska'd For Life," with throwback beats that sound like a Fatboy Slim comedown track. For good measure, PJ Harvey goes gusto rock, Falguni Pathak sends over a sublime Indian ballad, and alien abductions meet Poltergeist on Earth Leakage Trip's "No Idea."

Chillout music? Hardly. But these nineteen records are diced up at a fast clip, and while you probably won't have as much fun playing this as Orbital had making it, their outlandish efforts engage you to the end. And when was the last time an album did that?

What's with all the slagging on this album? I mean I'm not going to give it five stars, or claim it's one of the best in my collection, but I like it a helluva lot better than 2.5 stars. It was one of my most-played albums the summer it came out, and I still like it to this day.

Yeah, it's eclectic. It's eclectic to the point where it looks like the Hartnolls were participating in a musical version of Iron Chef: "Create a chillout DJ mix. DIFFICULTY LEVEL: must include one drum 'n' bass track, one PJ Harvey rocker, and no less than five reggae/ska songs. AND Jethro Tull."

And yet, they pulled it off, with flying colors.

Oh, and this album also alerted me to the existence of the Moving Shadow label, for which I owe it an eternal debt of gratitude.

I dunno. My other two most-played albums that summer were Carte Blanche 3 and Oasis's Heathen Chemistry, so when weighing my recommendation be sure to factor in the fact that I have terrible taste in music.

Those of you that are thinking this is an "Orbital" record may be disappointed although the one Orbital track, Ska'd for Life is very good. This CD does however give a good sense of what the brothers Hartnoll like to listen too and perhaps what has inspired their musical style. It is a mix of music best put as a background for a gathering of ultra-hip friends at your cool bachelor pad in the Hollywood hills while drinking multi colored martinis and skinny-dipping in the infinity pool overlooking the downtown skyline! At least that's what I do with mine! ;)

I am a big BTM fan. This release of the series is not bad. Given the quality of the last two: Talvin Singh and MJ Cole, this release feel a bit short. The one thing lacking on this CD is continuity. Most of the other CD's have different tracks buy yet a universal consistency among them. It really adds to a clean flow from track to track. This seemed like a true "Orbital" favorites with little (apparent) attempt to bring consistent feel to the CD. All in all not a bad a CD - much better than most of what is out there. A definate for true BTM fans.

This compilation looks like a money making machine more than art or even just music making. Lets try if Orbital can sell music, which no one would ever buy. While some of the tracks deserve some attention, the whole structure of the CD is rather poor, ill organized and essentially useless, because it is nearly impossible to listen to it as a whole.
If you are an Orbital fan, please don't buy this CD; you'll be disappointed and will lose some money.

I recently bought this album, eagerly anticipating yet another amazing installment in the "Back to Mine" series. Unfortunately, Orbital's offering is nowhere near any of the other offerings. The track selection is too eclectic to flow easily to begin with, and many of the choices are just plain bad.
Regarding the electronica tracks, first, a quick word about me: I used to be a raver, but am not any more. Now it takes a lot for a techno track to impress me. None of these did. Maybe if you're into that sort of thing, you'll like them (including Eon's "Spice", Orbital's "Ska'ed for Life", Plaid's "New Bass Hippo" and two Moving Shadow tracks by Earth Leakage Trip and Hyper-on Experience), but they didn't do a thing for me.
The tracks from the '60s (including tracks 1, 16, and 19), while kind of interesting, are mostly fairly dull.
The only real standouts, for me, were PJ Harvey's "Kamikaze" (in Harvey's usual inimitable style), Susan Cadogan's "Don't Burn Your Bridges"(a nice reggae tune), and Divine Comedy's "Lost Property" (a pleasant surprise, since i saw him open for Ben Folds earlier this summer and was very unimpressed).
In sum: don't bother. If you want to check out the Back to Mine series, go with Nick Warren's, Groove Armada's, Morcheeba's, Everything but the Girl's... heck, just about any other from the series. All have plenty of what this offering, in the end, is sorely lacking: a chill, soulful groove that makes you just want to close your eyes and nod your head along for hours.

I'm relatively new to the Back to Mine series. The only other Back to Mine compilation I own is the one Faithless put out last year. Not really a diehard fan of Orbital either, I thought this latest cd from the series was compelling and piqued my interest. I really enjoyed the Back to Mine album that Faithless did. The material was excellent and well mixed. As for this new album mixed by Orbital, I didn't immediately take to the album. The tracks selected were diverse which was both a good thing as well as a bad thing. The good thing about the diversity in this album is that Orbital chose not to limit themselves to strictly techno music. The bad thing...there were a few tracks that just didn't flow well together or should ever be on a mix cd like the Back to Mine series. What the heck was a Jethro Tull song doing on a mix cd? "No Idea" by Earth Leakage Trip got on my nerves with its repetitive beats and lyrics. Although I did enjoy The Divine Comedy track "Last Property", I couldn't help but wonder how that song was chosen for this mix compilation? This album is a good after hours party cd but frankly I think Orbital went way too far off the beaten track and the results was an inconsistent mess.