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Orbital - Brown Album

NME.COM feature on Orbital - Brown Album album including album review, artwork, tracks, listen now, tour dates, discography and more.

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Orbital; Live At Glastonbury 1994-2004

Orbital; Live At Glastonbury 1994-2004

When you think of classic Glastonbury gigs, what springs to mind? Radiohead premiering 'OK Computer' in 1997? Macca knocking out the hits in 2004?

  • Jul 30, 2007
Orbital : Work 1989-2002

Orbital : Work 1989-2002

Best of the dome-headed dance titans...

  • May 21, 2002
Orbital : Brighton Centre

Orbital : Brighton Centre

Michelangelo and Kubrick to a disco beat? That's entertainment...

  • Dec 4, 2001

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Orbital - Brown Album Videos

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Orbital - Brown Album YouTube Videos

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Orbital News

Orbital announce plans to release their first material in six years

Orbital announce plans to release their first material in six years

Dance duo line up double A-side single ahead of Glastonbury comeback

Orbital, Simian Mobile Disco, Tricky for Glade festival – ticket details

Orbital, Simian Mobile Disco, Tricky for Glade festival – ticket details

First wave of acts announced for Hampshire event

Orbital, Tindersticks and The Magic Numbers added to SOS 4.8 festival

Orbital, Tindersticks and The Magic Numbers added to SOS 4.8 festival

Spanish festival already features Franz Ferdinand, The Horrors and Madness

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Orbital - Brown Album: Wikipedia Album Entry

Orbital 2 is the second album from the British electronica duo, Orbital. It is also known as the Brown Album to differentiate it from Orbital's 1991 eponymous debut. It was released in May 1993 and reached the #28 on the UK album charts.

On Orbital 2 the duo aimed to make more atmospheric music than the dance raves of their first album. They used more complex rhythms and denser arrangements on the appropriately monickered pieces entitled "Lush" but still proving themselves capable of making quality pop music on "Halcyon + On + On", with vocals from Kirsty Hawkshaw of Opus III.

The album begins with the same speech sample (by actor Michael Dorn in Star Trek: The Next Generation) which opened their first album.

The second song, "Planet of the shapes", contains a sample from the movie Withnail & I, saying "even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day".

The brothers enjoy aural puns, and the use of the sample from Star Trek: The Next Generation (which appeared on the opening of their first album) was meant to infuriate listeners by making them believe for a few seconds that they had bought a mispressing. The muffled intro on "Planet of the Shapes" has the intentional addition of record static and crackles, followed by the sound of a needle skipping grooves then scratching across the record, also meant to infuriate fans, who bought the vinyl edition, by making them think their copy was less than mint.

This album is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die alongside their 1994 LP 'Snivilisation'. It (along with the In Sides album) was also included in Q magazines "90 Best albums of the 1990s"


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