Forgive my aging memory, but wasnāt Remind originally a remix of a Meat Beat Manifesto track? Always felt a bit odd to have it on the album
Remind is a MBM remix with the MBM bits taken out.
This is the remix and itās brilliant 
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Phew, was hoping I hadnāt lost it! That does sound like they built on their remix for Remind and did new stuff with it though - in my mind it was just the mix put onto the album.
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Iāve just realised we should be talking about Diversions here. Should we talk about it here or give it itās own week?
This is a great idea.
Orbital 2, then. There have always been things I love about this one (Lush and Halcyon in particular) but find it a bit lacking as a front-to-back listen. It feels to me like a bunch of tracks geared towards being off yer face in a field just off the M25 which got chucked into an album, which I imagine is precisely what it is and no doubt these tracks would be great fun in that environment. Consequently I think it suffers a bit as a home / car listen.
Basically ^this except itās never fully landed for me, which is a matter of taste rather than a criticism.
Lush hints at an album full of glorious pads and warmth, then I spend ages waiting for them to re-appear at the end.
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Love this album. Lush 3-1 is an al-time favourite - Iām sure we all have that feeling sometimes where a song can resonate deeply with some kind of internal personal rhythm, well this is one of mine - but the whole album is just great fun from start to finish. Itās not my favourite of their studio albums but it would be for most acts.
In contrast to the post above, I find this a perfect car listen and did so just the other day. My wife approved - āis this Bicep?ā - and even my five year old liked it. But then as a concept album, being off your face in a field is a concept I can really get behind on an artistic level.
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I really love that Orbital feel in Bicepās DNA, it makes me happy.
I wish I could hear it as anything other than pastiche. Bicep try way too hard and I hear it in every carefully copied note and sound design.
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I can see that but I still really enjoy them. Their live stream was so much better than their album earlier this year.
I enjoy Bicepās Orbital pastiche far more than the last Orbital album. Long may it continue!
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Monsters Exist is a good album if you basically ignore the actual album and just listen to the extras from the deluxe editions, all of which are vastly superior. Itās like The Altogether all over again*.
*but more of this later.
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Lovely to have a proper listen to this album again. I liked it even more than I remember. The tracks I thought I wasnāt so fussed about (Planet of the Shapes, Monday), I really enjoyed. I like the elements of trance and breakbeat that come in at different points. The techno suite remains exhilarating and Halcyon +On +On is still a masterpiece. I mentioned earlier in the thread that I quite like Time Becomes as a warm-up/callback/statement for the opener. The only thing I donāt care for on this album is Input Out as the closer which feels a bit unnecessary and is a bit jarring after the blissful transcendence of Halcyon +On +On. Excellent album overall. Good work, Hartnolls!
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And here is the mid week poll. Which are the top 2 tracks?
Orbital Brown album
- Time Becomes
- Planet of the Shapes
- Lush 3-1
- Lush 3-2
- Impact (The Earth Is Burning)
- Remind
- Walk Nowā¦
- Monday
- Halcyon + On + On
- Input Out
0 voters
Poll closes next week.
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Tough choice, this vote. I have one obvious and overwhelming favourite, then a few candidates for that second vote.
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For me, this is where Orbital cemented their sound after the Green album. The jump in quality is just jaw dropping, to sand off the rough edges and come up with something so slick (in a good way) and so polished while still being so exhilarating is pretty much unheard of.
I love the Mobius gag, itās a fun intro to the album and is a nice intro to Planet of the Shapes.
But!
There is a massive problem that 5 of these tracks tower so much over the others that it damages the album. The run from Lush to Remind is one of the best runs in music, let alone dance music. Halcyon, I mean, Iām so sick of Halcyon. I really canāt stand the live version anymore, I donāt care if itās Belinda Carlisle, Bon Jovi or the Darkness theyāre mixing in I donāt want to hear it again. Iāve heard it too many times.
Except, every time Iāve listened to this album for the listening club, Iāve never skipped it. I keep meaning to skip it but 10 minutes later Iām just smiling along.
The other tracks, fine, I find Walk Now a bit annoying but they are just crushed under the brilliance of the other tracks. What an odd problem to have.
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On a different note, it seems that Iāve mest up the album vote. Does anyone know how to get the averge vote in a poll? Thanks.
Needs to be set up as this (note the three options at the top) for a poll to rate out of 10:
If you prefer manual coding the polls it would look like this minus the spaces before and after the last/first bracket.
[ poll type=number results=always min=1 max=10 step=1]
[/poll ]
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Thanks.