Work 1989-2002 [Japan]

Techno's best albums act finally gets their very own singles collection, though the results fall just short of displaying the brilliance and grandeur of Orbital's decade of great work. Fortunately, about 75 percent of Work 1989-2002 turns out exactly as it should: great versions of their best material, including their 1990 breakout "Chime" and the parade of excellent singles like "Halcyon and On and On," "Lush," "Belfast," "Impact," and "Are We Here?." A few of these are present in drastically shortened 7" versions, but that's to be expected. Far, far worse is the focus on latter-day material like "Iluminate" and "Funny Break," or the version on offer of the seminal "Satan" -- instead of the 1990 original, the one here (a collaboration by e-mail with Kirk Hammett of Metallica) was taken from the Spawn soundtrack. It'll never replace Orbital 2 or Snivilisation, but Work 1989-2002 does most of what it's supposed to. [The album was also released in Japan.] ~ John Bush, All Music Guide