Shakenstir Verdict: This album is obviously being released to welcome the Orbital boys back to the live arena this year and to showcase what is one of the best electronic dance acts around. You don’t have to be a dance fan to like Orbital…

They cross barriers and genres with such ease, they have the one constant that many don’t - ‘melody’. They often remind me of electronic rock acts like Depeche Mode but without the vocals, but there are always echoes of Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, and even Simple Minds! They make it all sound so effortless, I’m no avid fan, but I like what I hear and there is not a bad track over two cd’s here. The remixes take them somewhere new and the live tracks make me want to go to a show; I saw them live once and they were spectacular;  like Faithless, Moby, The Chemical Brothers, they need to be seen in a field at dusk… But for now this is an essential album, below are some Amazon buyers thoughts on various Orbital stages… So it’s not just me… Go buy this record…

5/5: Jj

Debut: I own all five albums and it’s interesting to see how orbital have evolved from the green album. This is by far their most simplistic album. By Orbital’s standards, that’s not a bad thing but the relatively primitive loops do show up in comparison to their other albums. An excellent display of staggeringly strange and unique synths such as those on Oolaa remedy this and indicate the experimental and redefining nature of their albums yet to come. It’s definitely worth purchasing if you already own the latter four and especially for Belfast which to this day remains one of their standout tracks. It shows the foundations from which Orbital evolved from and which indeed many following electronic artists would attempt to imitate. Overall, I think it deserves four stars as it helped redefine a genre which many considered at the time to be a momentary phenomenon. The Hartnol brothers proved them wrong with this landmark album.

Orbital: Glastonbury: Live: This is definitely up there with the best live albums that have ever been released. Orbital made their name (and helped Glastonbury’s) with their legendary gigs at Glastonbury over a 10 year period, and their live shows were well known for creating that amazing atmosphere of combined light and sound that is so unique to festivals, and particularly in the 1990s, Glastonbury.

Normally I might think a sort of Best Of album with crowd noise etc would not really be ideal listening, I’d rather have the studio versions, but in this case it IMPROVES the listening experience because even if you weren’t there at the time, you feel like you were! Definitely a must-have album for anyone who likes dance music

Orbital’s Back to Mine collection is a bit special, not only is it the 10th in the series but it’s probably the most eclectic mix to date, but if you’ve heard the Hartnoll brothers own recordings you wouldn’t expect anything less. Here the boys dim the lights on their famous torch glasses and rely on trusty candle power to accompany an evening back round theirs. Orbital’s soiree kicks off with 60’s soundtracky grooves like John Barry’s ‘the knack’ and glides into skanking reggae territory courtesy of Lee Perry and an exclusive from the Hartnolls themselves in the shape of ‘Ska’d For Life’. Then as more gold label gets drunk the boys move into a more twisted dancefloor direction and drop standout tracks like DSR’s ‘Babaloo’ or the ever trippy Earth Leakage Trip’s ‘No Idea’. The odd curveball is thrown in too like PJ Harvey and Divine Comedy then it’s wound back down again as the boys experimental faves Tangerine Dream and Plaid take us to home time.