ORBITAL THE ALTOGETHER ALBUM FFRR, LONDON, WARNER RELEASE: MAY 4, 2001 REVIEW: MAY 29, 2001

Every so often, "The Altogether" feels just like spending too much time in an amusement park. In particular, tracks like "Meltdown", "Waving not Drowning" and "Shadows" bring the sensation of being stuck in a high speed merry go round with Kraftwerk-on-acid in concert right beside you. Finally getting off the merry go round you are instantly jammed into an arcade game ending up fighting ghosts and goblins.
There is quite some amount of the 80's plasticity on this record, not in a bad sense though. This is modern music in a retrospective manner. And it's very entertaining, most of it.
Unfortunately, there are a few uninteresting fallbacks on the album as well. "Oi!" and "Pay per View" are songs that remind me of "Snivilisation" or "The Brown Album" from 1993 and 94.
Actually, "The Altogether" ends in a better way, than it starts. The last six tracks are a great deal more interesting than the five first. For those of us old enough to remember the old "Doctor Who" (maybe the strangest science fiction TV-series ever) Orbital brings us a version of the cool theme.
The best way to experience the Orbital extravaganza is probably to see and hear them live. And they are hard to miss, as the Hartnoll brothers always seems to be on tour. This summer they are visiting various festivals around Europe. Go there, get too drunk, sleep in the wrong tent, make out with the wrong person/s. But don't miss Orbital!

ANDERS WIIK