It is definitely Orbit work, it's blatantly obvious on every track. And, admittedly, the music is fantastic. Which leads me to the issue at hand. This album would have been so so so much better if it had simply been an instrumental album. But, he throws in vocals. Hip Hop RnB vocals that make you feel like your listening to Heavy D & the Boys or Salt N Peppa from the early 90s. Back then, that style was popular. As time goes by, though, the album's credibility slips further and further as it becomes more dated. William Orbit's music is generally timeless. This is not.
It is a FUN album, though. You can tell that he had a blast making it. A lot of his solo material outside of BoM is very serious work, that's what makes him so special. This album is him playing around, throwing things against the wall to see if they'll stick. The song titles and subject matter are wild and fun and creative. There's nothing revolutionary here, but it is Orbit, and a definite must have for all completists. I missed a mix or two, as the track list would have exceeded the hour twenty mark, but you have what you need.
Forgot about this turkey - I remember how bummed out I was when I got this one home and listened to it in horror after loving the first Bassomatic album so much and which I still have the original cd of. I sold/traded in the cd of this album very quickly!
ReplyDeleteIt's really not as bad as all that. Yeah, the vocals are enh. But the music more than makes up for it.
ReplyDeleteOn a frustrated, related note - the list of albums that somehow have never made it on to CD is a pretty small one at this point. But Torch Song's Wish Thing is most certainly in the top 10 of that list.
I have it and I will be posting that eventually. I try and spread each group/artist about one month between each release, as I don't want to blow my load right off the bat and not have anything else to post by them. I like to spread it out, so we can prolong our enjoyment over time.
DeleteThat's good to know. But my main point was that it's not on CD. I have reasonably acceptable vinyl rips of it (both US and UK mixes) myself. But certain tracks (especially "Water Clock Secrets") are just not designed for 33 year old crackly vinyl, no matter what any vinyl freaks out there might think.
Deleteamen. Wish Thing!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteYou can find 3 completely instrumental versions of songs from Science & Melody on this CD.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Harald-Original-Soundtrack/release/1648335
"Holiday Man" is "Mountain High"
"Crash Landing" is "Potentially Fatal"
"Earth Walk" is "She's On The Phone"
They're not exactly the same as the vocal versions in terms of their arrangement and length, but the elements that make up the track are all the same.
Most definitely appreciated. Sounds like an update for this one, then...
DeleteIIRC, Torch Song's "Wish Thing" album was originally recorded onto cassette in a home recording studio hence the actual "master tape" is a standard compact cassette, and the record companies did not regard the sound quality to be high enough for a CD release. If you have a good LP copy and listen carefully you can hear the tape hiss of the cassette it was mastered on.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, Torch Song's record company, I.R.S. went bust some time in the 1990's.
However, sound quality or not, the album should definitely be released on CD, I'm sure they could clean up some of the hiss, etc., with today's technology.
Gag Helfront.