Chime (song)

"Chime" was the first single from the UK dance group Orbital, allegedly recorded for less than £1. It was recorded on a cassette deck and was originally released in late 1989 and had moderate success. In 1990 it was released by FFRR Records, and reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.^[1]

According to Paul Hartnoll, the track was recorded in Orbital's "under the stairs" home studio - "a knocked-through stair cupboard that my dad set up as a home office". Key amongst the band's equipment at this time was their Roland TB-303 which had been acquired for £100 from a northern working men's club keyboard player who was living in London.^[2]

It was not their highest-charting song; four other Orbital songs have reached higher positions, but it was the song that brought them into fame.

The tape recorder they recorded the track onto was too fast, meaning a slower song on faster devices.

"Chime" is still regularly played live, usually as a medley of the original and "Chime Crime" arrangements.

A new version called Christmas Chime was released on December 16th 2013.^[2]

Versions of Chime

There are numerous versions and remixes of Chime. Orbital themselves have done several. Here below is a list of them ^[3]

• Orbital
  • Original version - 1989
  • Helium Mix - 1990
  • Crime Chime version - 1992
  • Live Style Mix - 2002
  • Christmas Chime - 2013

• JZJ - 2 versions - 1990
• Ray Keith Mutation - 1992
• Joey Beltram & Program 2 Mutation - 1992
• Mike Flowers - 2 mixes - 1997
• Knuckleheadz - 2006
• Shapeshifters - 2008
  • Remixes of Shapeshifters' version.
  • Martijn Ten Velden - 2008
  • Henrik B - 2008
  • Moudaber Bombarge - 2008

References

1. ↑ Roberts, David (Ed.) (2004). British Hit Singles & Albums (17th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 0-85112-199-3.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Stuart Aitken (16 December 2013). "Mistletoe and Chime: the story of Orbital's acid house". guardian.co.uk. 
3. ↑ [http://www.discogs.com/search?type=all&q=Orbital+%22Chime%22:. "Orbital - Chime search discogs.com"]. Discogs.com. Retrieved 2012-05-12. 

External links

• Video interview with Orbital on YouTube by DJ Magazine about the making of Chime and their early days of producing dance music.