Back To Mine

07/12/2002 10:00 PM, LAUNCH
Ken Micallef

While most DJs compiling the popular Back To Mine series have created simple chill-down sessions, the Brothers Hartnoll instead take us back to their childhood '70s years when high kitsch and musical oddities were plentiful.

While there are electro tracks ("EON," "Earth Leakage Trip"), and even a new Orbital remix ("Ska'd For Life"), what stands out is Orbital's fondness for old British soundtracks and current alt.pop faves. This is no ordinary house mix, but a messy, "what ya got in the pile?" blast from Orbital's golden years. Eclectic tracks from Divine Comedy, PJ Harvey, Plaid, Tangerine Dream, and even Jethro Tull prove Orbital care nothing for trend.

But the party really begins with the John Barry opener, "The Knack," a legendary track in the U.K. that has all the Barry elements of romance, melody and period '60s instrumentation. Then it's the Tornadoes' "Love & Fury," a corny Brit TV theme with a surreal ARP keyboard solo, Gert Wilden Orchestra's hilarious version of Canned Heat's "On The Road Again," the Selecter's spaghetti western ska classic, "Celebrate The Bullet" and the closer, a sappy and swashbuckling orchestral track titled "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" by Robert Mellin Orchestra. Orbital's Back To Mine lets us in on the dance duo's childhood dream: electro space journeys at the speed of sound.