Who Can Calculate The Orbit Of His Own Soul?

Celebrating William Orbit aka William Mark Wainwright, 15th December 1956 to 23rd July 2026.

The news of William's passing broke on Friday, unexpected and deeply, deeply sad.

I first encountered William Orbit's work in the late 1980s when he remixed Dreaming by O.M.D., Camouflage by Stan Ridgway and More by Doctor & The Medics. 

The latter two were on the I.R.S. Records label, where William had not only found work as an in-house producer, but a home for his band Torch Song, with Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert and his first Strange Cargo album. There was a previous solo album - Orbit - in 1987 but, to be honest, it's not that good.

The 1990s not only saw an exponential growth in his work as an in-demand producer and remixer, but the launch of Guerilla Records, who were a go-to for quality electronic and dance music, including William's own Water From A Vine Leaf, featuring Beth Orton and era-defining remixes from Underworld and Spooky. 

The decade drew to an end with one of his greatest collaborations, Madonna's incredible Ray Of Light album. William's CV expanded to such an extent that I think it might be a greater challenge for anyone to find that they don't have music in their collection that has William Orbit's involvement in some shape or form.

In recent years, I greatly enjoyed William's musings and memories on social media, sometimes completely leftfield or stream of consciousness, but always entertaining. The insight into such an incredibly questing and creative mind, responsible for so much music that I've listened to , bought and treasured through my life.

I've created a 46 minute selection on the fly, very little deliberation over the song choices, other than wanting to include some overlooked gems and deeper cuts, and spanning the 1980s through to the start of the 21st century.

The nine songs create some strange bedfellows: Creation hopefuls 18 Wheeler next to Seal and Kate Garner (post-Haysi Fantayzee) followed by Limp Bizkit. All Saints fans may be out for my blood for choosing the instrumental version Pure Shores, but I wanted the music to have space to breathe. 

Likewise, I've skipped the singles from Ray Of Light for an album cut which is a perfect example of why the team up with William was so inspiring.

Bassomatic's finest moment is represented here with an alternative mix from the 12" single, 

Malcolm McLaren turns up with The Bootzilla Orchestra (remixed with S'Express guru Mark Moore, whilst I've closed the selection with William's remix of The Shamen, a memory of happy times in clubland.

Today's post title is lifted from De Profundis, a letter written by Oscar Wilde in 1897 whilst imprisoned in Reading Gaol, to his beloved Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. If you have time to spare, you can find De Profundis in it's entirety here. The quote in question is on page 22 (of 28) and seemed fitting for this tribute.

Rest easy, William.

1) Stay (Strange L’Escargot Mix By William Orbit & Mat Ducasse): 18 Wheeler (1997)

2) Crazy (William Orbit Mix): Seal (1990)

3) Pure Shores (Instrumental) (Remix By William Orbit & Mark 'Spike' Stent): All Saints (2000)

4) Fascinating Rhythm (Soul Odyssey Mix By William Orbit): Bassomatic (1990)

5) Call A Wave (Orbital Mix By Mark Moore & William Orbit): Malcolm McLaren & The Bootzilla Orchestra ft. Gina Cie & Jeff Beck (1989)

6) Love Me Like A Rocket (Psychomix By Paul Caplin & Torch Song aka William Orbit): Kate Garner (1983)

7) My Way (William Orbit Remix): Limp Bizkit (2001)

8) Shanti / Ashtangi (Album Version By Madonna & William Orbit): Madonna (1998)

9) Hyperreal (Orbit) (Remix By William Orbit): The Shamen ft. Plavka (1990)

1983: Love Me Like A Rocket EP: 6

1989: Call A Wave EP: 5

1990: Crazy EP: 2

1990: Fascinating Rhythm EP: 4

1990: Hyperreal EP: 9

1997: Stay EP: 1

1998: Ray Of Light: 8

2000: Pure Shores EP: 3

2001: My Way EP: 7

Who Can Calculate The Orbit Of His Own Soul (46:45) (GD) (M)

It was only in May this year that I wrote about William and Guerilla Records. I've reactivated the link the to the bespoke Dubhed selection that accompanied the post.

Decayed III: 2005

Side 2 of Volume 3 of my 'maginary mixtape meander through the first decade of the 21st century.

2005 is especially memorable because Mrs. K and I took a month off work to explore Japan... well, Honshu, the largest of it's four islands, at least. Travelling by train, we got a snapshot (literally and metaphorically) of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and a lot of places there and back.

There were lots of temples, enormous statues, a samba festival (!), the madness of the Shibuya Crossing at night, the beauty of Mount Fuji, the heartbreaking legacy of the atomic bomb, men pissing in the gutters on their way home from a sake bar, and the then-unusual sight of people wearing face masks when out and about. It was the experience of a lifetime.

Naturally, I came home with a clutch of Japanese CDs, none of which make an appearance here. Instead, I've mined the UK singles charts of 2005 for a dozen top tunes that floated my boat, and still do twenty years later.

Two Number Ones this time, one from the Queen Of Pop, Madonna, which shouldn't come as a great surprise as Hung Up was her 11th UK #1, albeit her first in five years. Gorillaz on the other hand scored their first - and to date only - UK #1 with Dare, bringing Shaun Ryder along for the ride.

Today's selection opens with Mylo, whose brilliant song Destroy Rock & Roll is an example of some of the challenges I encountered when creating these compilations. The track was originally doing the rounds in 2003, and popped up in my longlist for that year. However, Destroy Rock & Roll the album came out in 2004, whilst the title track entered the singles chart in early 2005. 

I made quite a few errors when I created the original 1980s Decade cassettes back in 1990, without the internet to hand and relying on record sleeve info to give me a rough idea of release dates. This time around, I checked all the chart positions, which involved some last minute swaps in the final year-by-year sequencing. I'm clearly quite adept at making an 'easy' job more complicated!

Destroy Rock & Roll is built on a extensively edited sample of the Church Universal and Triumphant's Invocation For Judgement Against And Destruction Of Rock Music. A long list of artists and bands are read out as deserving "the judgement of the sacred fire in this hour before the throne of almighty God" including Michael Jackson (twice), Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Paul McCartney, Patti Smith, Prince, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Unfortunately, thanks to a particularly incompetent preacher who was clearly unfamiliar with most of the names on the list, hapless innocents David Booey, Cyndi Looper and Jack Cougar Mellencamp suffered eternal damnation whilst their more famous nearly namesakes got away scot free.

Daft Punk weren't around then, but if they were, they'd no doubt be on the list for the perverted act of going around pretending to be robots. Thankfully, in 2005 James Murphy was hosting the most improbably gig ever, by cramming them into his humble abode. After a guest appearance here in 2002, at the controls for a single by Radio 4, in 2005 he makes a return with his own band, LCD Soundsystem. Not the last we'll be seeing of them in this series, either.

Another act who have only previously appeared on production duty is Coldcut, way back in 1990 on Telephone Thing by The Fall. in 2006, they released the brilliant album Sound Mirrors, preceded by a couple of singles, including Everything Is Under Control, featuring Jon Spencer (sans Blues Explosion) and rapper Mike Ladd.

Ben Watt also made a comeback of sorts, though as a solo artist rather than with then-partner Tracey Thorn (they married in 2009) as Everything But The Girl. Instead, the unexpectedly titled Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass has a star turn by Estelle, a spoken word tale laid over a bouncing dancefloor beat and surely a contender for the Some Songs Make Great Short Stories series at The Vinyl Villain.

Keeping the alternative/rock scene alive in 2005 were The Mooney Suzuki, The Bees and The Coral, whilst Cagedbaby and Hot Chip remixing Architecture In Helsinki were pushing my electronica buttons, even if the record buying public were less convinced.

Client was a super duo of sorts, teaming Sarah Blackwood (Dubstar) with Kate Holmes (Frazier Chorus, Technique), and signed to the Toast Hawaii label owned by Andrew Fletcher (Depeche Mode). Andy co-produced the single Pornography, Client's only Top 30 single, undoubtedly helped by a guest vocal from Carl Barât (The Libertines).

Things were about to change for the UK charts though, as 2006 would see a significant shift in the scope of eligibility, reflecting the change in formats and listening habits in the digital age. But was the music any good in 2006?

Please join me next weekend to find out!

1) Destroy Rock & Roll (Album Version): Mylo

2) Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (Album Version): LCD Soundsystem

3) Everything Is Under Control (Album Version): Coldcut ft. Jon Spencer & Mike Ladd

4) Alive & Amplified: The Mooney Suzuki

5) Chicken Payback (Album Version): The Bees

6) In The Morning (Album Version): The Coral

7) Hung Up (Radio Version): Madonna

8) Golden Triangle (Radio Mix): Cagedbaby

9) Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass (Edit): Ben Watt ft. Estelle

10) Do The Whirlwind (Hot Chip Remix): Architecture In Helsinki

11) Pornography (Extended Mix): Client ft. Carl Barât

12) Dare (Album Version): Gorillaz ft. Shaun Ryder

16th January 2005: City (#22): 11

23rd January 2005: Alive & Amplified (#38): 4

30th January 2005: Destroy Rock & Roll (#15): 1

6th February 2005: Outspoken Part 1 EP (#74): 9

6th March 2005: LCD Soundsystem (#29): 2

10th April 2005: Free The Bees (#28): 5

15th May 2005: The Invisible Invasion (#6): 6

4th September 2005: Demon Days (#1): 12

23rd October 2005: Cagedbaby Will See You Now (# n/a): 8

13th November 2005: Confessions On A Dance Floor (#1): 7

20th November 2005: Sound Mirrors (#93): 3

20th November 2005: We Died, They Remixed (#100): 10

Side Two (46:58) (GD) (M)

Like this? Then why not dip back another couple of decades with my selections from 1985 and 1995?

Decadance V: 1998

Side 1 of an imaginary 90s compilation cassette, spooling out in 1998.

This selection went through several last minute changes as I discovered that several songs, whilst listed as or appearing on albums in 1998, weren't released or charted as singles until 1999. You may see some of those tomorrow, but the short list was already rather long, so maybe not...

Not the substitutes were sloppy seconds and, in what I think is a record for this series, a third of the selection all hit the UK #1 spot. Mind you, this was at a time when new releases would crash into the Top 5 in the first week and promptly disappear without trace the next. I'm not even sure that the guaranteed Top Of The Pops appearance carried all that much weight by then.

This was the first time I struggled to fill the MAW slot in this series. In 1998, Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood's cuts as Two Lone Swordsmen tended to be glitchy, queasy electro numbers, either very short or very long and with little or no vocals. 

The only real contender for me was their epic remix of Come Together by Spiritualized. The only problems being that it was over fifteen and a half minutes long, with not the faintest trace of Jason Pierce to be found. 

My solution - Lord Sabre forgive me - was to create my own vocal edit. I found a bootleg MP3 of the filtered vocal of Come Together and with some painstaking cutting, editing and sequencing, ended up with a version that comes in at just over four and a half minutes. The sound quality is shonky. the editing amaterish, but it's not as awful as I thought. Please feel free to disagree, I will not argue!

Cornershop were one the surprise #1s, entirely thanks to Norman Cook who was everywhere at the time as Fatboy Slim. Brimful Of Asha was a (very) modest hit in 1997, but Norman liked it, wanted to include it in his sets but needed to speed it up a bit. Cue the trademark big beats and carousel swirls and a chart topper was born. I still quite get over Tjinder Singh sounding like a member of Alvin & The Chipmunks and I will also prefer the original over the remix, but I'm happy that it gave Cornershop (and their album) a well-deserved boost.

A fair bit of rap here, from the masters Run-D.M.C. to new kids on the block Jurassic 5 and superb homegrown talent in Asian Dub Foundation. 

Roni Size Reprazent, er, represented my birthplace and, fresh off of winning the 1997 Mercury Music Prize, ploughed the prize money straight back into Bristol. Not the only Bristol artist though: Massive Attack return, this time with Elizabeth Fraser for Teardrop. Even the truncated promo edit featured here is phenomenal, and seeing it performed live last year was a real 'pinch me' moment.

Madonna returned with William Orbit at the controls for Frozen, with a Chris Cunningham-created video that had Madge looking her Gothic best. A slew of remixes accompanied the single as you might expect, though Stereo MC's version was head and shoulders above the rest.

Just outside the Top 30 was Don't Die Just Yet by David Holmes, sampling Serge Gainsbourg with aplomb. David remixed Failure by Skinny, label mates with Dido who also provided backing vocals on the song.

Speaking of samples, somehow Italian duo The Tamperer aka Alex Farolfi and Mario Fargetta managed to clear a hefty sample of The Jacksons' 1981 hit Can You Feel It? for their own song. 

Frankly, the sample does all the heavy lifting, but American singer and actor Maya Days gamely adapts lyrics from Urban Discharge's 1995 single Wanna Drop A House (On That Bitch), including the unforgettable line, "What's she gonna look like with a chimney on her?"  They don't write 'em like that anymore...

As a counter to all of the hits, 1998 closes with a 'flop' single from what proved to be one of my favourite albums of the year, by the wonderful Solex aka Elisabeth Esselink. Solex vs. The Hitmeister featured 12 songs, every single one featuring Solex in the title. I hadn't heard any of the music, but was so taken by the review I read that I tracked it down and bought the CD. A fabulously quirky album and a perfect way to round off the year.

Amazingly, sadly (for me at least), Sunday will see the final instalment of this alternative tour of the 1990s. Pre-millennium tension? Not 'arf!

 
1) Black White (Brendan Lynch Mix): Asian Dub Foundation

2) Concrete Schoolyard (Clean Radio Edit): Jurassic 5

3) Failure (Radio Mix): Skinny ft. Lee Stevens, Dido & Pauline Taylor

4) Watching Windows (Roni Size Vocal Remix): Roni Size Reprazent ft. Onallee

5) Brimful Of Asha (Brighton) (Norman Cook Remix Single Version): Cornershop

6) It's Like That (Drop The Break Radio Edit): Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins

7) Feel It (Blunt Edit): The Tamperer ft. Maya

8) Frozen (Stereo MC's Remix Edit): Madonna

9) Don't Die Just Yet (Radio Edit): David Holmes

10) Teardrop (Edit): Massive Attack ft. Elizabeth Fraser

11) Come Together (Two Lone Swordsmen Meet Khayem Downtown) (Vocal Edit): Spiritualized

12) Solex All Licketysplit (Album Version): Solex

4th January 1998: Don't Die Just Yet EP (#33): 9

22nd February 1998: Brimful Of Asha EP (#1): 5

1st March 1998: Frozen EP (#1): 8

8th March 1998: Watching Windows EP (#28): 4

15th March 1998: It's Like That EP (#1): 6

5th April 1998: Failure EP (#31): 3

12th April 1998: Solex vs. The Hitmeister (#n/a): 12

3rd May 1998: Teardrop EP (#10): 10

24th May 1998: Feel It EP (#1): 7

31st May 1998: The Abbey Road EP (#39): 11

28th June 1998: Black White EP (#52): 1

18th October 1998: Concrete Schoolyard EP (#35): 2

Side One (46:56) (GD) (M)

Madge Of Honour

A selection of Madonna classics today, focusing (mostly) on TV appearances from 1984/85. Entirely accidental, but this also serves as belated best wishes for her 66th birthday on 16th August. She may still be celebrating as this goes out...

 

First up is Madonna's first appearance on French TV, performing Holiday. It's worth mentioning that the show, H.I.P. H.O.P., was not only the first in France but also the first regular nationwide weekly show in the world to be dedicated to hip hop. Host Sidney Duteil also has a place in history as the first black presenter on French TV. There's a playful entry and introduction to the song, and Sidney does not hold back in getting into the groove when Madonna and her dancers get going. Great stuff.

 

If you're in the UK, you're probably familiar with Madonna's bewigged appearance on Top Of The Pops in January 1985, energetically miming to Like A Virgin, as it seems to be on constant rotation. Here's the same song, same routine and same wig, in late 1984 on US music show Solid Gold. The VHS quality is a bit fuzzy, but Madonna's performance sure isn't.

 

I couldn't find any TV performances of Material Girl, so instead I've gone for a clip from The Virgin Tour in 1985 and presumably from the commercially available VHS that would have added to the coffers back in the day. Already, the production values and stage set up is huge. 

From there to the relatively more gritty setting of The Hacienda in Manchester for a performance of Burning Up for legendary Channel 4 show The Tube. The YouTube title states 1983, the year the single was released, though other sources state that this routine was Madonna's first UK TV appearance, filmed on 27th January 1984. I'll go with the latter.

Ear Say was another Channel 4 music show that ran for just one series and seven episodes between March and September 1984. Here's co-presenter Gary Crowley introducing a pre-filmed Madonna interview/promo. It's a refreshing watch, not least because even a year later it's difficult to imagine Her Madgeness allowing herself to be filmed in rainy New York, whilst her hair becomes increasingly lank. Ah, the days when sheer confidence and energy won out over image and appearance...

Wrapping up with an appearance on Japanese TV, though not so much for the performance of Like A Virgin as the frankly weird interview that follows. Sandwiched between the presenter and translator, Madonna's smile becomes increasingly fixed as she continually flips from left to right, possibly WTF questions she's being asked. Case in point: "what size are you?". The camera operator (one must assume a man) also seems to be obsessed with Madonna's cleavage crucifixes, as the viewer is subjected to continual close ups throughout this frankly awkward exchange. 

 

 

This may have been the first example of Madonna firing one or all of her media team following a TV appearance.

'87 Heaven

A return trip to the 1980s, specifically singles troubling the UK Top 50 on 28th October 1987.

I was 16 and had just started sixth form college...for the first time, anyway, this one didn't last. I was sadly single, at the same college as my ex and was very attracted to a girl called Maria who shared a couple of classes with me. Of course, I was far too shy to ask her out for a date and besides, she'd expressed a preference for tall, muscular Italian men. I was a skinny weirdo from Bristol who had been to a gym and decided it wasn't for me.

Music never let me down, though. There was always something there for whatever mood or situation I found myself in. In October 1987, I was still pretty rooted in guitar music, leaning towards indie/goth, my mate Paul was introducing me to hip hop and rap and, much as I may outwardly protest to the contrary, I still loved cheesy pop, though Stock, Aitken & Waterman were a step too far most of the time.

The UK singles chart was a bit of a mixed bag in the week of 25th-31st October 1987. Bee Gees were at #1 with You Win Again, for the third of what would be a four-week run at the top. Amazingly, the song kept Faith by George Michael at #2 for this and the following week; I would have sworn the latter was also a #1.

This selection cherry picks seven songs that were heading up, down or just staying put in the Top 50, presented here in various 12" versions, my format of choice at the time. Spookily, pretty much all of the songs featured here had achieved their highest chart position in this week (excluding previous or subsequent (re)releases). I've put chart positions in brackets after each song.

 

For the price of admission, you will be entertained by Scarlet Fantastic and Fleetwood Mac respectively remixed by PWL stalwarts Pete Hammond and Pete Waterman, and John 'Jellybean' Benitez.

 

Bryan Ferry ropes in Johnny Marr on what is essentially a cover of Money Changes Everything by The Smiths, Ferry adding his own lyrics to Marr's original composition.  

 

Walk The Dinosaur by Was (Not Was) is a party song and 80s compilation staple. This is a much different, sample-heavy take on the song, which occasionally nods to the original.

Billy Idol originally released a cover of Mony Mony on his debut solo EP, Don't Stop, in 1981. Six years later, a live version was released as a single and cracked the UK Top 10. Tom Lord-Alge provided a couple of new remixes for the 12" single.

Blue Mercedes were a dance pop duo from the PWL stable, remixed here by Phil Harding & Ian Curnow. Whilst they didn't match the success of many of their label mates, debut single I Want To Be Your Property did manage the admirable feat of dropping for a couple of weeks after this week's peak of #47 then staging a recovery at getting to #23 the following month. Rumours that PWL A&R was giving children wads of cash to purchase multiple copies of the single from HMV and Our Price are unfounded.

Ending as it only can with the Queen of Pop, with a nearly 10-minute remix of Causing A Commotion by Madonna. The song was taken from the film, Who's That Girl, effectively a showcase for Madge's sidestep into acting. I'm sure I've seen it at least once but I frankly can't remember a thing about it. I love the song though I was surprised to find that the single peaked at #4 on 26th September and was on a slow and steady exit from the Top 40 by 28th October. Such was Madonna's impact at the time that I would have assumed that every single was a #1.

 

Today's image is from Doctor Who, specifically the story Paradise Towers, the 4th and final episode of which aired on 26th October 1987. It was Sylvester McCoy's eighth on-screen appearance in the titular role, an appointment arguably only slightly less controversial than the casting the previous year of Bonnie Langford as companion Mel. 

 

Although the show was 'rested' a couple of years later for nearly two decades, McCoy was able to establish himself as a great Doctor during his tenure. Bonnie's character rehabilitation took a while longer and via the medium of Doctor Who audio productions. The announcement in June this year that Mel will be returning to the TV show after nearly four decades was greeted with more joy than Bonnie could possibly have imagined in 1987.

 

1) No Memory (Extra Sensory Mix By Pete Hammond & Pete Waterman) (Edit): Scarlet Fantastic (#30)

2) Little Lies (Extended Version By John 'Jellybean' Benitez): Fleetwood Mac (#5)

3) The Right Stuff (Dance Mix By Alan Meyerson / Edited By The Latin Rascals): Bryan Ferry ft. Johnny Marr (#37)

4) Walk The Dinosaur (The Debunking Of Uri Geller Mix By Don Was & Jamie Muhoberac): Was (Not Was) (#10)

5) Mony Mony (Hung Like A Pony Remix By Tom Lord-Alge) (Cover of Tommy James & The Shondells): Billy Idol (#7)

6) I Want To Be Your Property (Daktari Mix By Phil Harding & Ian Curnow): Blue Mercedes (#47)

7) Causing A Commotion (Movie House Mix By Shep Pettibone & Junior Vasquez): Madonna (#35)

 

'87 Heaven (46:04) (KF) (Mega)

For your further entertainment, here are the official videos for each of the seven songs. They don't make 'em like this anymore.