Central Reservation

Orton made the album with the band that toured with her: guitarist Ted Barnes, keyboardist Sean Read, drummer Will Blanchard and bassist Ali Friend. Victor Van Vugt produced the band tracks, which opened with Stolen Car. Mark Stent produced and mixed the original version of the title track. Ben Watt of Everything but the Girl produced Stars All Seem to Weep and a second version of the title song. David Roback produced two tracks, and Dr. Robert produced and mixed Pass in Time. Terry Callier sang backing vocals on that song, Ben Harper played electric guitar on two tracks, and Dr. John played piano on Sweetest Decline. Strings on two songs were arranged by Beki Doe and Oliver Kraus.

The album reached number 17 on the UK chart and stayed for eight weeks, went to number 35 in New Zealand, and reached number 110 on the Billboard 200 and number 2 on the US Heatseekers chart. By 2002 it had sold 244,000 copies in the US. Stolen Car reached number 34 on the UK singles chart and Central Reservation number 37. In 2014 the label 3 Loop Music reissued it as an expanded two-CD edition with B-sides, demos and live recordings.

The album brought Orton a second Mercury Prize nomination and the Brit Award for British female solo artist in 2000. It was ranked number 982 in the 2000 edition of All-Time Top 1000 Albums and appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The AllMusic critic Jason Ankeny wrote that it stripped her music down to its raw essentials. Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield found it lacking the accessibility of Trailer Park but still said that whenever Orton opens her mouth she is "bitching and bewitching". In the Guardian, Caroline Sullivan called her "simultaneously frustrating and rewarding". Orton told the Guardian in 2026 that she had conflicting feelings: Trailer Park had been organic, but around this record there was a push to have her remixed, and some things did not feel as though they came from her.