Orbital 2 [Original recording reissued]

Orbital | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 3, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00004T6UZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,417 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Time Becomes

2. Planet of the Shapes

3. Lush 3-1

4. Lush 3-2

5. Impact (The Earth Is Burning)

6. Remind

7. Walk Now...

8. Monday

9. Halcyon and on and On

10. Input Out

Editorial Reviews

ORBITAL Orbital 2 (1993 US issue 10-track CD album including Planet Of The Shapes complete with fold-out picture sleeve and housed in a stickered case)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Have electronica, May 26, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Boston, Mas.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orbital 2 (Audio CD)

This is Orbitals' best album except possibly In Sides. It's really best not to compare them but call one the 'best of the older stuff' and the other 'best of the newer stuff'. The Brown Album/Orbital 2 is the best of the older stuff. It begins with the Hartnolls having fun with the Star Trek vocal sample "there is the theory of the Moebius..." from The Green album's Moebius and takes off from there. The brothers expand on the happy dance tunes of that album here; they keep the dance beats going while getting a bit more experimental with synths, sounds, and moods. The best tracks include the spacy Planet of the Shapes, the hard-hitting apocalyptic Impact (the earth is burning), the synth-saturated Remind, and of course Lush 3-1 and 3-2, which are aptly named. I strongly recommend this album, but don't listen to people who tell you that the newer material is unworthy in comparison, because that is simply not true. Start with this album if you are new to Orbital, then sample some of the newer stuff and see how you like it.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take a ride through the crazy world of Orbital, September 16, 2001

By 

Tracher (Skopje, Macedonia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orbital 2 (Audio CD)

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"...
starts "PLANET OF THE SHAPES". Slow, loops up and down, left and right, and suddenly explodes into a 10 minute harsh and at moments beautiful ambient melody. "PLANET OF THE SHAPES" fades out slowly, the same way it started...

..."even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day"...
and then you're off! "LUSH 3 -1" will come at you so fast you won't know what hit you. And it gets even better! It stretches on to "LUSH 3 -2". It's calmer but it's also more intense.
Unnoticeably it flows into another 10 minute delight, the chillingly dark and scary "IMPACT (The earth is burning)". It's really beautiful, one of the best tracks on the album.

"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.
This is truly one of the best, most important and original electronic albums ever.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Orbital 2 Review, July 9, 2004

By 

Underground Music Fan From Chicago (CHICAGO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orbital 2 (Audio CD)

Being born and raised in the city where House Music was born, and where a lot of good industrial music was made (WaxTrax!)namely Chicago, I consider myself an expert on House, Techno and good, underground music in general. You name it, I've heard it. Early 80s mixes with Kratfwerk songs, Africa Bambaata and the Soul Sonic Force, to house mixes throughout grade school and high school days, not to mention the WaxTrax! sound (Ministry, RevCo, Front 242. I've been a fan of underground dance music since before the general public was even aware of its existence. Not to mention Depeche Mode, New Order, and industrial/alternative mixes. For you youngsters out there, the term "alternative" actually meant something at one time. Anyway, once our "House Sound" made it to Europe, especially England, and then became Techno, I've loved the techno sound, and since then, I have been in perpetual search of the "perfect trance/techno sound". I have found it twice. In 1993, I bought Orbital 2, partly because I thought the CDs name was interesting, "2". Tracks 3 through 7 are as good as techno/trance gets, especially the trancey part where Track 6 (Remind) melds into track 7 (Walk Now). I mean, I've heard it ALL, AND ORBITAL 2 IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS, IT IS THE ULTIMATE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD!!!! I have bought this CD 6 times because copies have gotten stolen, worn or whatever, and it is as good today and the day I bought it - maybe because it was before its time, or is timeless. DIVERSIONS, with remixed versions of tracks from Orbital 2 is every bit as good. Here is my list of techno/trance perfection:
ORBITAL 2, DIVERSIONS, IN SIDES(AMERICAN RELEASE #1), FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON'S ACCELERATOR, EXPANDER AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA REMIXES, HIGHER INTELLIGENCE AGENCY'S COLOURFORM, TRANCEWERK EXPRESS' TRIBUTE TO KRAFTWERK VOL.1, BLADE SOUNDTRACK TRACKS 12 AND 13 (COVER OF NEW ORDER'S CONFUSION), MOBY'S 'COME ON BABY' SINGLE, AND EARLY GOA TRANCE FROM 95-96, ORB'S 'ULTRAWORLD)
Never mind the Oakenfolds, Sashas, and Digweeds, their early stuff is OK, but mostly they put out what I refer to as "Friendly Techno", if you want the real thing, the stuff that is dark, ominous, hard-driving, tripnotic, you must go to the source, and.......if you only buy one CD in this life, make sure it's Orbital 2....