Beth Orton - Pass In Time Definitive Collection

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 29 / 9 / 2003

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Review

‘Pass in Time’ is Beth Orton’s ‘Best of’’. As a loyal fan of Miss Orton, I feel that it has come too soon. Beth’s music has been with me since ‘97 when I first saw her playing support to the likes of Tindersticks and Mark Eitzel. This double CD, however, does hold some interest for me as it includes some unreleased tracks and also some early recordings from a legendary Japanese CD, ‘SuperpinkyMandy’, which came out on Vineleaf Records and has been much sought after, even by me. Disc One lasts just over 76 minutes and features everything from her first one sided 7” single, ‘She Cries Your Name’ to 2002’s ‘Concrete Sky’, a duet sang with Ryan Adams and which was co-written with former Smiths axeman,Johnny Marr. 13 of the 14 songs on this first disc are collected from her 3 albums, ‘Trailer Park’, ‘Central Reservation’ and ‘Daybreaker’. The only unreleased track. ‘The Same Day’, offers a fine view of what to come. More orchestral than the other songs on Disc One, it does, however, fit in well with with the spirit of the rest of the tracks on ‘Pass in Time’. Of the 14 songs here. only 6 are singles, so it is not a ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation at all. For those who haven’t fallen in love with her yet, Beth Orton’s music is ambient, danceable, clubby and jazzy at times, but mostly folk based. It is is very Radio 2 in its tone and at a recent solo gig I found most of her audience was made up of young couples. The songs, while soul searching and lovelorn, are often joyeous with life.. Disc 2 is my main reason for this purchase. It features an Ibiza style remix of ‘Central Reservation’ ; ‘Where Do I Begin’, a track which features the Chemical Brothers, and a beautiful unreleased completely solo new song called ‘Safety’. There is also a new version of her long serving encore number, ‘It’s Not the Spotlight’ and two songs from ‘SuperpinkyMandy’, ‘Don’t Want to Know ‘bout Evil’ and ‘Where Do you Go’, which were both written with her then partner William Orbit,. While they don’t feature the Beth we know now, they were good dancey pop numbers for 1993, the year in which they came out. The thing that lets both these tracks down, however, are the vocal s which are far deeper than what we know Beth for. Another track co-written with William Orbit, ‘Water from a Viine Leaf’, finishes the album off, and features Beth’s first ever vocal, which is is a spoken word piece that has been placed over grooving beats. It’s good to hear some rare Beth Orton material. Now roll on the fourth studio album please

Track Listing:-

1 She Cries Your Name
2 Someones Daughter (Single Version)
3 Touch Me With Your Love (New And Exclusive Edit)
4 Sugar Boy
5 Galaxy Of Emptiness
6 I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine
7 Best Bit
8 The Same Day (Previously Unreleased)
9 Stolen Car
10 Sweetest Decline
11 Pass In Time
12 Central Reservation (Single Version)
13 Concrete Sky (From Daybraker)
14 Thinking About Tomorrow (From Daybreaker)
15 Central Reservation (Spiritual Life-Ibadan Remix)
16 Where Do I Begin (With The Chemical Brothers)
17 Stars All Seem To Weep-B-Side To Stolen Car
18 Safety-B-Side To She Cries Your Name
19 Pedestal- Original B-Side To Touch Me With Your Lo
20 Dolphins (With Terry Callier) Taken From The EP. B
21 It's Not The Spotlight -Exclusive Recording& Origi
22 Don't Wanna Know 'bout Evil- Taken From Rare Album
23 Where Do You Go - Taken From Rare Album Superpinky
24 Water From A Vine Leaf (With William Orbit) -Taken

Band Links:-

https://twitter.com/beth_orton
https://www.facebook.com/BethOrtonOffi
http://www.bethortonofficial.com/
http://www.songkick.com/artists/308960
https://www.instagram.com/bethorton/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xWO

Label Links:-

http://www.heavenlyrecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HeavenlyRecor
https://twitter.com/heavenlyrecs
https://www.youtube.com/user/HeavenlyR
http://heavenlyrecordings.com/emporium
https://plus.google.com/11237698160736

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