Record Exchange Boise

Reviews:

"Say what you may about the fifteen-year career of Paul and Phil Hartknoll, but these boys have got some good heads on their shoulders. Such good sense must have been rare in the British rave culture from which their Orbital project sprung, but that, alongside a keen melodic sense, has kept their modest international following intrigued for the past years. Still, after the disappointment of their last LP, The Altogether, their brand of euphoric, neo-baroque techno was starting to sound tired and forced, and being dropped from London/ffrr must have seemed a sign that their time had passed. And so, reasonable as ever, Orbital has chosen to bow out gracefully with The Blue Album, a hardly perfect, yet distinctive and effective way to end a career.

The times we're living in don't resemble the multicultural dance utopia envisioned by British rave culture in the least, and the Hartknoll brothers know it. Beginning with the morose, string-augmented ""Transient,"" much of this album communicates a sorrow and darkness only hinted at in the band's earlier days. They do pick up the tempo old-school on the raucous ""You Lot"" and ""Acid Pants,"" their collaboration with '70s New Wave eccentrics Sparks, and provide for a hopeful coda in ""One Perfect Sunrise,"" which wouldn't sound out of place in a Paul Van Dyk set. And then that's it. And while eliminating boring interludes like ""Easy Serv"" or ""Bath Time"" may have helped make this parting shot sound more graceful, one is easily reminded of what made this group special in the first place. So rest easy, guys. You've earned it. "