Orbital: Orbital 2 - The Brown Album (2LP) [LONDON]

Why you'll love it

This London Records reissue is a half-speed master across two LPs, with liner notes. The Brown Album is in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and Mixmag ranked it ninth among the 50 best dance albums of all time.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Half-speed master
• Liner notes
• Pressed in the EU
• Obi strip
• Stereo mix

About the album

Orbital didn't bother giving their first two albums titles, so fans named them after the covers. The second, with a diagram of kidneys on the front, became the Brown Album, and it's where Phil and Paul Hartnoll stretched their rave tracks into a proper long-player, built to be heard from start to finish rather than one twelve-inch at a time. They made much of their early music at home, and it shows in the best way: warm, playful and full of curious sounds.

"Time Becomes" opens with a Star Trek: The Next Generation sample, "Planet of the Shapes" borrows a line from Withnail and I, and "Impact (The Earth Is Burning)" uses dialogue from the French animated film Fantastic Planet over a breakbeat from Meat Beat Manifesto's Jack Dangers. "Walk Now..." builds on a didgeridoo and a Sydney crossing signal, "Remind" reworks their remix of Meat Beat Manifesto's "Mindstream," and the album closes with "Halcyon + On + On," a brighter, faster take on their 1992 single.

That closer went on to turn up in Hackers, Mean Girls and the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. Its title borrows from a washing machine advert, and it's been putting rooms into a lovely spin ever since.

Also at Kops: more Orbital on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Internal / London Records (cat# LMS1725563), a reissue of the 1993 album.