Friday, October 22, 2010

If you could listen to one last tune...


We've all got a story to tell of a crazy night, a throbbing club, the pills (kids don't do drugs), the copious amounts of water and the long hard morning after I'm sure. In between some serious dance anthems; Rofo's Theme, 2 Fabiloa, Altern8, Rum & Black, one with Here Comes The Sun vocals in it and so many more of the classic rave era tunes that sound a bit, well... 'dated' nowadays we'll all have a standout tune that sums up a much less stressful time.
 
Mine doesn't exactly come from punching the air, twisting and grinding amongst the throng, gurning the night away and still smelling menthol come college the following Monday. No, the tune that stands head and shoulders above all others and captures that time in life, for me at least, is Orbital's chilled out epic Belfast.





















Let me briefly explain... yes there was dancing, gurning, and Vics prior to the event that has engraved this tune on my soul, but having walked home at dawn, across cow filled fields like some surreal KLF adventure. Slept in one of those bizarre post club mists and awoken to an all too bright and cheery mum bearing mugs of tea and toast for the lads. 

Our over exerted, aching, come down state had us slumped around my bedroom, clutching a cuppa in front of my overly illuminated hi-fi system listening to suitably chilled tunes whispering about the night before. To this day, all three of us in that room swear this tune sped up over the last 2 minutes into a crescendo - it doesn't, we were just out of it!

Ahhh, the things we do, but no matter how you look at it, brother Phil and Paul Hartnoll's Belfast was a tune and a half, building on their galactic success of making tunes with a beautiful core throughout the 90's and making an indelible mark on electronic music that few have surpassed. Their live shows paved the way for the likes of Daft Punk and co - so Paul and Phil - cheers!




Originally released on the B-side of Satan, LC1 (FX149) in 1991 it was later reworked with a vocal - adding an extra dimension to an already cracking tune! Not something that is often done very well, although maybe next I'll post Weekend's Sunday Sessions - another tune with a killer vocal sibling! But for now, I'm off to reminisce about crap stereo systems and when you had to get up every 6 minutes to turn the record over or start it again! Glory days!

No comments:

Post a Comment