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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Having outgrown the happy house of the green and brown albums and exploited narrative far too complex for ambient techno, the Hartnoll brothers--Phil and Paul really do find themselves in some Eastern adventure in The Middle of Nowhere. Thus they prove again that they are the most reliable innovators in danceable electronic composition. The inchoate political rage of 1994's "Snivilisation" is here, but it has found purely instrumental claws that are unafraid to dig for new melodies. "Know Where to Run" gathers itself from some beastly buzzing weather to become a dance-floor creature lurching through the village at night like some urban nightmare and "I Don't Know You People" turns the dance floor into an escapist fantasyland once more with its grousing refrain, "nothing changes--goddamn you!" The highly evolved vocal softness of "Autumn" and the weirdly Tangerine Dream-gone-hip-hop "Style" keep a trip-hop story line seamlessly borne out on jungle and electro beats. Nowhere comprises a portrait of boom-boom techno that carjacks beats once lost in space to whole new worlds where breakthrough songwriting is an aesthetic ideal. The UK act who forced the sales charts fully into the postrock 90s is now realising the participatory promise of rock & roll liberation in the dance clubs, where music lives now. --Dean Kuipers
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
1999's "The Middle Of Nowhere" in many ways encapsulated everything that Orbital were about up until then. While 2002's "The Altogether" and, to a lesser extent, "The Blue Album" can be seen as compilations of individual tracks, Middle Of Nowhere is a seamless, cohesive one-listen album. After two albums of more ambient, introspective work, Middle of Nowhere harks back in many ways to 1993's "Brown Album" (Orbital II) in that the dancefloor once again is king. The beats come constantly and the rhythms flow and alter seamlessly over the course of the record.
While Brown channelled the rhythms and structures of the UK rave scene with more epic techno flavouring that was distinctly the Hartnolls, Middle Of Nowhere is a much more unique sounding album that shows just how far Orbital had left behind any simple genre tags. The beats are arguably more chunky than at any other point in Orbital's discography, but their snap and crackle is more electro than the big-beat you might expect from the era. Meanwhile the melodies are intoxicating and truly unique- critics have struggled to liken them to any number of fellow electronic acts but the truth is they're pure Orbital: bizarre and strange yet simultaneously infectious and memorable.
What this album manages better than any other Orbital record is the density and complexity of the composition. While the Brown Album will forever be my favourite Orbital record, Middle of Nowhere surpasses it and the overrated and over-indulgent In Sides for musical depth. Never is this more apparent than those moments where you hear a melody re-emerge after seven minutes and realise that you're still in the same track as back then, despite all that has happened since. Because the tracks flow into each other without any pause, the boundaries of tracks are obscured and really irrelevant- every sample, hook and synth on the album seems placed with regard to what preceded it and what will follow.
As said before- for me this is not the best Orbital record. That would be The Brown Album. Middle Of Nowhere, for all its intricacy, never quite manages to be as perfect or varied as that masterpiece. The melodic side is also more demanding than The Blue Album- arguably the most satisfying and approachable Orbital record in terms of catchy and memorable melodies. Middle of Nowhere demands a degree of acclimatisation either to Orbital or to more experimental electronic music, and the dazzlingly unconventional array of sounds employed further that. However, Middle Of Nowhere certainly sits up there with those two as my favourite Orbital records, and aside from the weak ending of Style (hardly Halcyon & On & On, is it?) it's absolutely stunning from start to finish.
While Brown channelled the rhythms and structures of the UK rave scene with more epic techno flavouring that was distinctly the Hartnolls, Middle Of Nowhere is a much more unique sounding album that shows just how far Orbital had left behind any simple genre tags. The beats are arguably more chunky than at any other point in Orbital's discography, but their snap and crackle is more electro than the big-beat you might expect from the era. Meanwhile the melodies are intoxicating and truly unique- critics have struggled to liken them to any number of fellow electronic acts but the truth is they're pure Orbital: bizarre and strange yet simultaneously infectious and memorable.
What this album manages better than any other Orbital record is the density and complexity of the composition. While the Brown Album will forever be my favourite Orbital record, Middle of Nowhere surpasses it and the overrated and over-indulgent In Sides for musical depth. Never is this more apparent than those moments where you hear a melody re-emerge after seven minutes and realise that you're still in the same track as back then, despite all that has happened since. Because the tracks flow into each other without any pause, the boundaries of tracks are obscured and really irrelevant- every sample, hook and synth on the album seems placed with regard to what preceded it and what will follow.
As said before- for me this is not the best Orbital record. That would be The Brown Album. Middle Of Nowhere, for all its intricacy, never quite manages to be as perfect or varied as that masterpiece. The melodic side is also more demanding than The Blue Album- arguably the most satisfying and approachable Orbital record in terms of catchy and memorable melodies. Middle of Nowhere demands a degree of acclimatisation either to Orbital or to more experimental electronic music, and the dazzlingly unconventional array of sounds employed further that. However, Middle Of Nowhere certainly sits up there with those two as my favourite Orbital records, and aside from the weak ending of Style (hardly Halcyon & On & On, is it?) it's absolutely stunning from start to finish.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Hartnoll brothers released The Middle of Nowehere over the summer of 1999, amplifying the sheer variety and style of music around at the time. Most of Britain was still in pseudo-trance shock, so this, the fifth Orbital album going, was not only a welcome change, but also a sublime musical experience in its own right.
The opening and eclectic Way Out -> sets the tone for the remainder of the album, which has an almost Jazz-like feel to it. True orchestral brilliance is followed by a more easily recognisable Orbital-stylee number, in the shape of Spare Parts Express.
And so it continues in a slightly muddled though always familiar gait, past oddities like I don't know you people (an Orbital song with vocals??), through chilled Ontono and then into Nothing Left. Part Two is absolutely fantastic, with a slight trance twinge to it; classic builds and a simple melody keep you hooked.
So P and P Hartnoll decide to mess with your head, in eight long tracks, and end with the messed up track 'Style'. Only Orbital could shove a drowning puppy in the middle of freaky electronica and expect to get away with it. Oh, and they do. Flip back and listen to it again.
If you buy one Orbital album this year, make sure it's The Middle of Nowhere. If you buy two albums this year, well, then you're more well off than I am.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Hartnoll brothers has established themselves as dance music intellectuals a long time ago. This is their fifth and IMHO the greatest work. In a sense, it collects all their prime beats and glories form the past up to 1999 and presents them albeit in a nostalgic, but nonetheless very impressive manner. Orbital's compositional tradition once again revisited by a stunning opener "Way Out" before '70s electronica of "Spare Parts Express", track that samples the tune from John Craven's Newsround (! ), takes over and never fully lets go until the closing "Nothing Left" and "Style" (with surprising appearance of Suzi Quatro), which have almost a straightforward hands-in-the-air vibe in them. This record, frankly speaking, frightens me every time I put it on the stereo. The rhythm in the songs always builds up - slowly, but surely - and one can just shiver on the edge of the seat or, God forbid, a middle of dancefloor, - in expectation of what the peak might be. Such is a cry at 7:47 into the second track, a horror effect of a girl drowning in the emotionless music. Very creepy indeed. Rocking guitar of the fourth track is probably less terrifying, but it too helps in creating a very claustrophobic atmosphere throughout the LP and by the time you reach "Style" you're grateful for some lightness and at least a shadow of good feeling it contains. Recommended for listening pleasure only at the maximum value. The stand-out tracks: Spare Parts Express, I Don't Know You People, Style. The best moment: the above mentioned sonic nightmare courtesy of the second track.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
bland, lazy, random electronica
Orbital's early albums saw them pushing all before themselves with a carpet-sweeper of new metallic industrial sounds and busy drumbeats. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mr. F. M. Havicon
Orbital's best
Orbital's Brown album is what got me into Electronic music. It also introduced me a whole new scene and/or culture, which I completely immersed myself in for four years from 1993... Read more
Published 14 months ago by The_Man_The_Myth
Something missing
Although I really like the first track "Way Out" and I can't help but enjoy Alison Goldfrapp's trippy vocals on "Nothing Left 2" everything else on the album is just too harsh and... Read more
Published on 23 July 2004 by B. R. Souter
Great.
Two of my favourite Orbital albums are In Sides and this album, Middle of Nowhere. I think that the former is a higher quality album on the whole, but Middle of Nowhere has a... Read more
Published on 20 July 2004 by the great amphibian
CAN'T ANYBODY HEAR ME?
The header refers a bit in "Spare Parts Express" that doesn't have put the wind up you on first hearing. Read more
Published on 6 May 2001
Contains 2 of their finest tracks ever
Track 3 and 6/7(especially 7)played asloud as you can are my favourite Orbital tracks, and I have got everything they've done I think. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2000
hit and miss as usual
Orbital's albums always seem to represent a bizarre mixture of some of dance music's most powerful material with genuine tosh, which is why listening to their work is such a... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2000 by M R Burrett
Loud, brash, great. Yeah!
The first track "Way Out" is absolutely excellent. It's one of the most exciting, uplifting dance tracks I've ever heard. You just can't ignore it! Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2000
Fantastic - bloody fantastic
WHAT? YOU HAVEN'T GOT IT YET? I got it as soon as it came out the middle of last year and it still has pride of place at the top of my 500 strong CD collection. Read more
Published on 20 July 2000
Pure and beutiful music
Even before listening to this CD I knew it was something special. The white packaging, with blurred images has a certain cleanliness about it. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2000 by Iain S
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