Work 1989-2002

Orbital

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 2002)
• Original Release Date: August 20, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sire / London/Rhino
• ASIN: B00006BTAQ
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,068 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Chime

2. Choice [Crucifix Vocal US Hardcore Punk]

3. Illuminate - David Gray, Orbital

4. Satan [Spawn]

5. Nothing Left

6. Halcyon and On and On

7. Impact

8. Are We Here? [Industry StandArd? Version]

9. Style

10. Box

11. Frenetic - Lisa Billson, Orbital

12. Lush 3-1

13. Funny Break

14. Belfast

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Despite their reputation as that rare techno artist who thinks in terms of albums, not singles, Work 1989-2002 makes it obvious that a retrospective like this from Orbital is well overdue. At one time, Orbital was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, names in techno, a result of their willingness to tour like a rock band and put on performances with light shows and improvised DJ work. Hence, tracks like "Halcyon and On and On" (from Orbital 2) and early ravers like "Chime" have so imprinted themselves on our collective techno memory that it seems odd they haven't been packaged together already. Still, as a definitive collection, Work is less than perfect. First off, the tracks here are relatively bland 7-inch versions of songs that have all been mixed to hell and back; "Nothing Left" from 1999's underrated Middle Of Nowhere should be a monstrous mix of swooping melodies and fat chords, not the tepid radio version used here. Surely, another four minutes of "Halcyon" or "The Box" (from In Sides) would be preferable to songs like "Illuminate" off last year's disappointing The Altogether. Similarly, it's a mystery why the record includes not the brilliant, original 1990 version of "Satan," but instead the inferior retread recorded with Metallica's Kirk Hammett for the Spawn soundtrack. But even though Work isn't perfect, it's tough to discount a record when at least half the tracks are classics of the genre. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More misses than hits; strange track selection., May 13, 2005

By	Angry Mofo "angrymofo" - See all my reviews

It really shouldn't be all that hard to compile the best of Orbital on one CD. The band recorded a number of transcendent, brilliant songs; at their best, they wrote divine melodies, sometimes euphoric, sometimes a bit moody, but always clean and beautiful. They also wrote a lot of filler around these moments of greatness; all of their albums are wildly inconsistent, at best, so it's pretty easy to discern and single out the good tracks. Here, I'll give you a tracklisting that I came up with just now off the top of my head: "Chime," "Belfast," "Lush 3-1," the live version of "Halcyon + On + On," "Forever," "The Girl With The Sun In Her Head," "Dwr Budr," "Otono," "Transient," and "One Perfect Sunrise." There, that's about eighty minutes of prime Orbital. I'm not saying this is the only possible tracklisting or anything, but it does cover the best parts of their career.

You'll notice that this CD does cover four of my picks. However, two of them are presented only as drastically shortened single edits. This is especially bad in the case of "Halcyon + On + On," which gets reduced from ten minutes to four here; the full version of this track takes two minutes just to get started, and the single edit lacks its entrancingly carefree feel. Nor does the abridged version compare to the explosive, insane joy of the live rendition, which adds samples not found in the original. So, unfortunately, Orbital's signature tune gets short shrift on this CD.

It gets worse. The band's over-ambitious 1993 album Snivilisation is represented only by the single edit of "Are We Here?" when the dramatic, starry-eyed lilt of "Forever" (all eight minutes) is the blindingly obvious choice. Similarly, In Sides is reduced to a short version of "The Box," even though "The Girl With The Sun In Her Head" (or at least the slow introduction to that track) is probably the most beautiful piece of music ever written by the band. One can understand why these tracks didn't make the compilation: these two albums are full of very long, slow, cinematic pieces, which aren't well-suited to single edits, dancefloor fodder, or radio play, and thus wouldn't make for a very popular greatest-hits package. Yet that sort of music was precisely what Orbital was best at, and it's impossible to come up with a good compilation that doesn't showcase it.

The long songs are cut down to allow more tracks to be included on the CD, or, more accurately, to make room for some latter-day tracks from The Altogether, about which the less said the better. Consequently, the best stuff is nearly unrecognizable ("Satan" was a popular track from the band's first album, but this CD only includes the rock version taken from the Spawn soundtrack), and the CD is weighed down by weaker tracks. To make up for this, the CD inexplicably includes the full, eleven-minute version of "Impact USA" (a reworking of "Impact" that is available on the Diversions EP). This track was a low point of its original album; it's got a little bit of melody and a whole lot of brass instruments blowing off-key single notes, obnoxiously goofy samples ("It's...it's...it's like...a cry! A cry...for...survival! For their survival...and for our survival!"), and pounding drum monotony. This more dissonant version is even more pointless. Why not shorten this track, if it was necessary to include it in the first place, and stretch out a better track to its full version?

It's not all bad. "Belfast" and "Lush 3-1" are still here in their unedited glory; the latter of these two still has all of its surging power, and is surely among the greatest pop songs ever written. Aside from that, however, this compilation does Orbital a disservice. And it doesn't even cover their whole career, because it was released before the band's last album. It's too bad, because if ever there was a band that needed a good solid best-of CD, it's Orbital. This CD isn't it, though.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Badly judged selection..., November 18, 2002

By A Customer

Unfortunately this CD does not do Orbital justice.

Understandably, being a 'best of', they had to include a few recent offerings which take up space better reserved for some older tracks that were not included. What classic tracks they have put on it have (as the Amazon review stated) been butchered and remixed to a much lesser end result. For example, the melodic buildup to 'Halcyon' has been cut, 'Impact' has been sacreligiously tinkered with and the included version of 'Satan' sounds bloody aweful. I'd liked to have seen a few more offerings from their 'Snivilisation' and even the rare version of 'Belfast' (with Therapy).
Maybe wanting to appeal to established Orbital fans, they decided to offer previously unreleased versions of these tracks, but it didn't work and certainly won't present Orbital's potential to new listeners.
In short, newcomers to Orbital should try full albums like 'Orbital 2', 'Snivilisation' and then 'In Sides' and 'Middle of Nowhere'...you won't be disappointed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars O, September 5, 2002

By A Customer

As is stated in other reviews... Orbital is brilliant, but unless you are a completist (as I am) there really isn't much of a reason to pick this up. I wanted this for the single version of "Halcyon," which I did not already own. Unfortunately the mix on here can't even compare to the epic full-length "Halcyon + On + On," which appears on the Orbital 2 album. The one new track, "Frenetic," appears on their "Rest" and "Play" EPs, issued about the same time as this retrospective. The Kirk Hammett collaboration of "Satan" is dreadful. Most of the other tracks here are edited versions of songs taken from their catalogue. I won't even bother to get nitpicky about which omitted songs should have been included on this CD, and vice versa. In general I would give Orbital 5 stars, but I would recommend picking up their other albums instead.