Orbital-Live @ Glastonbury 1994

The breakthrough gig for Orbital came when they played Glastonbury in 1994,oh how i would have loved to have been there!
This recording of part of that set has been through the wars,recorded onto cassette from Radio 1,at the time of original broadcast and played to death for maybe 7 years,the tape began to seriously degrade,there are several dropouts,and sound fluctuations aplenty.I stopped playing the tape around 6 or 7 years ago,until i could have it transferred to mp3 via Goldwave.Then i removed the tape hiss and balanced out the dropouts as best i could.The result is listenable but far from perfect.
Orbital,like Daft Punk,essentially take their studio on tour and play improvised sets,mixing in samples and sequences on the fly.A superb live act,i have been lucky enough to see them play several times,including one of their final shows at Glastonbury 2004,which forms part of the live Glasto shows on the Glastonbury 1994-2004 cd and dvd.

Daft Punk-Alive-1997

You are looking at the cover of one of the best,and most important House/Techno live albums ever.
Doesn’t look like much does it?….
Never judge a book by it’s cover,or Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover for that matter.For on this disc is one of the most fervent and exciting performances that will ever grace your speakers.

Alive 1997,not to be confused with Alive 2007, is an excerpt from a Daft Punk live show from the Daftendirektour ,as performed at Birmingham’s Que Club,November 8th,1997.It has interpretations of various Daft Punk tunes including,Rollin’ and Scratchin’,Da Funk and Daftendirekt.The disc’s only fault is that it is indeed an excerpt.Clocking in at a tad over 45 minutes,it clearly fades out when there was still more of the show to be had,but hey,what a 45 minutes!
Unlike some electronic acts who opt for a more dj approach to playing live,Daft Punk lugged much of their studio out on the road.This meant they had far more control over the show and could more easily tailor the performance to the mood of the night..“Everything was synched up — the drum machines, the bass lines. The sequencer was just sending out the tempos and controlling the beats and bars. On top of this structure we built all these layers of samples and various parts that we could bring in whenever we wanted to”-Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk.

It’s a cracking set,sparkling all the way through with energy and passion,the two members of Daft Punk work together like one person,slicing loops in and out of the mix,adding effects ,whiplashing the eq and panning sounds.It really comes across that they themselves are having a whale of a time.Their grasp of the dynamics of their music is impressive,they tease the crowd with snippets of familiar tracks,then fade them out again,building tension before releasing it by bringing that snippet back in full,This is another live recording much like Banco De Gaia’s Live At Glastonbury where the impressively vocal crowd play an enormous part in bringing the whole thing to life.

This kind of raised the bar when it was released,people listened to it and realised what a properly live techno show could be like.I can’t think of many others that could play at this level,Orbital,The Chemical Brothers and the aforementioned Banco De Gaia and thats maybe about it
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‘Evil’ Eddie Richards

Eddie Richards is one of the unsung stars of UK House music,he’s been belting out his flawless mixes of House/Tribal/Techno records for over 20 years.Richards has had residencies and played in some of the most important clubs in the history of dance music,Clink Street,Heaven and many more.He released one of the first Acid House records,remixed everyone from Orbital to The Shamen, and found time to start the world’s first ever dj agency

I met him very briefly twice, a very nice and articulate guy,very down to earth,with non of the posturing you get from some big name dj’s who have been around a tenth of the time.I remember he was slightly miffed as the decks were supposed to have been set up so the pitch was +/-16,instead of the usual +/-8,(this was so he could play some older, slower stuff,pitched up to match the speed of much newer records)He was cool about it though,and like the true pro he is,he just got on with it and delivered an excellent set.He even came back to the afterparty and played for hours before going back to his hotel for a couple of hours kip before his flight back home.What a star!

Check out his site ,there are several top quality mixes to download.