Orbital's debut album is, depending on your personal preference, self-titled, untitled ot the 'green' album.
Why the latter? Well, in the great tradition of artists like Peter Gabriel and, er, Red House Painters, Orbital released consecutive, eponymous albums.
GIven that SWC, the person behind the fantastic music blog No Badger Required was asking for votes on The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, this clearly presented something of a dilemma.
Vote for Orbital's 'green' debut? Or the follow up 'brown' album? Or both?
A lovely thing about being called up to the NBR Musical Jury is that there are rules, but only to inspire not influence. For example, we had the option to request additional 'grovel' points for a nominated album, but only if we could back it up with a reason why. I should say that we could also ask for 'grrr!' points to be deducted, but my options there will be left for another post, another time, if at all.
So, when it came to the twin dilemma of Orbital albums, we could basically go for either. I stuck with the ‘green’ debut.
After a run of blisteringly brilliant 12" singles between December 1989 and August 1991 - Chime, Omen, the III EP (containing Satan and Belfast) and double A-side Midnight / Choice - brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll unleashed their debut album in September 1991.
The album more than delivered on the promise of those early singles. Such was the brother's confidence in their material that Omen, Satan and Choice didn't even make the final selection, and only Belfast is the same version as the previously released single. In the UK, at least.
In the USA, a different version of the debut was released, with a resequenced running order and versions and all UK single sides, except the unfairly maligned Omen, present and correct.
Thankfully, versions of Orbital on either side of the Atlantis include the 12-minute epic Desert Storm, proof that you don’t need to be a protest singer to make a meaningful political point.
Phil and Paul weren't not shy in having an opinion and sharing it. When Chime cracked the UK Top 40 in March 1990, they were invited to appear on Top of the Pops. What did they wear? Anti-Poll Tax sweatshirts, of course.
Sticking it to "the man" - well, TOTP's then insistence on mimed not live performances - Orbital stood on stage and made no effort to mime, and even positioned the power plugs on top of their kit to nail the point. Despite subsequent single successes, Orbital were not invited back to Top Of The Pops for another six years.
The thing is, Orbital were/are a great live act, and the debut album also showcases this; the conjoined live versions of Chime and Midnight are stunning and sound every bit as good as the studio recordings on either side of them.
I love the 'brown' second album too, but without this incredible debut, the follow up may never have existed. Orbital - the album and the band - changed my life.
I requested an extra 'grovel' point for Orbital, for having the balls to kick off their debut album with a sample of Lt. Worf, the Klingon good guy from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The random headline star for today's post, snapped off the small screen, is Barbra Streisand, from Peter's Bogdanovich's 1972 film What's Up Doc?, co-starring Ryan O'Neal and "introducing" Madeline Kahn.
Barbra is seen here distracting a pizza chef played by Chuck Holison aka Chuck Hollom, whose only other listed credit on imdb is "store manager" in a 1976 episode of Starsky And Hutch. Barbra, on the other hand, is "one of the most successful personalities in show business". And then some.
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