Altogether [Import]

Lets hope the Blue Album will be a proper swan song

The thing with this one is that the songs are all more experimental - unlike the first one, Orbital never really took the time to really build much on these rhythms. That's bad for anyone who loves extended techno, as only the final track goes over 6 minutes. But it is good for anyone who thinks that a few of Orbital's songs has overstayed their welcome. Even songs that sound like they ought to be longer, such as Funny Break or Last Thing (mainly because these are the songs that at least let you know they're still the same guys), really just present themselves quickly, cutting to the chase more than anything. The other thing that stands out is how simple the songs are - at least by Orbital's standards. They don't build on themselves the way the brothers are known for, making some of the songs seem more bland at times. Don't worry, it stands up to repeated listens quite well, but it seems that they did this one more in the style of Fatboy Slim then themselves.

But I can't help but feel that it's just more gimmicky than anything. Take the song "Oi!", for instance. Since when has Orbital sampled from something popular? Sure, there's been a vocal sample here and there, but this song borrows pretty heavily from "Hit me with your Rhythm Stick"...you might not know it, but I'm sure you've heard it before. Similarly, there's "Tootled", which borrows a lot from Tool's "Sober" (A.K.A. the only decent Tool song, although it still sucks). Luckily, they both have enough original elements to keep interesting. Then you have "Doctor?", a remake of the Doctor Who theme, which has been remixed probably around 883902 times, but this one's still the best. Despite it not being too original (it's really Orbital's only cover), it still rocks and is a great reason to buy the album. The other song that samples a lot is the opener, "Tension". The bass line from "Surfin' Bird" holds together a bunch of odd vocal samples - but the song is actually quite good, as Orbital proves that their mixing abilities are at the top of the game. The closer, "Meltdown" is similar, but much more original. With thumping bass notes and plenty of hooks to go around, the 10-minute epic brings the album to a fulfilling but unsettling close.

There's still more on the experimental side - "Pay Per View" is quite interesting, yet kind of annoying. I still don't see why they would start a song out with porno noises (but at least it's not too extreme). Likewise, the whole first minute is kind of boring, at least until an 80's style slap bassline kicks in (think Seinfeld). It's not bad, but it could have been mixed a little better. "Shadows" is quite a cool song however. It's dark and suspensful, and, like on "Last Thing", the brothers mix it up enough to keep it interesting. "Waving not Drowning" is quite an oddity, using a relentless repeating acoustic riff. If anything, it's got quite a happy mood to it, which is a nice chance of pace. It's also exteremely catchy, so I like it.

This only leaves "Illuminate" with David Gray. All the hate and loathing that fans feel toward this album probably can be traced back to this song. Yes, it sounds commercial. Yes, David Gray does not do too well a job on the vocals. But I like it. It is a pretty damn catchy melody, so don't pass it up.

Finally, there's the whole second disc. It's actually longer than the first one, bringing the total to over two hours, so at least you know it's worth it. Here's a quick review of that: out of the eleven tracks, only four are originals. There's three Style remixes. Each of are quite unique, especially "Bigpipe Style". There's also two "Nothing Left" mixes, neither of which are really special. One mix of "Otono", which is good, but hampered a bit by the annoying vocal sample used. The other mix is a Weekend Ravers mix of "Funny Break"...it's just a standard rave anthem using only the vocals from Funny Break...and when they kick in, it's really moving. But the rest is kind of bland. Finally, the originals..."Monorail" and "Mock Tudor" both have nice rhythms, but you can see why they're B-sides - but they should have been included on Disc 1 anyway. "Doctor Look Out" and "Beezlebeat" are also quite good, although I can't see why people are ranting and raving over the latter - it's good, but not that good.

So yeah, it's worth it.

There is still a lot of good music on here to satisfy any Orbital fan. I give it 5 stars since the second CD will supplement you with plenty of great music.