Underworld - Classic or Dud?

Strange - that's what initially attracted me to Underworld; and was the first step I took towards electronic/dance music - I hadn't heard any interesting throwaway cutup soundbytes-strung-together fractured- narrative stuff before, and the music seemed to be the perfect accompaniment to this - I couldn't imagine Karl Hyde-isms succeeding over a guitar backdrop etc. And as someone a very long way away indeed from Underworld's BritCity; it seemed oh so very exotic&mysterious&sexy. Inauthenticity of musical tourism, and all that guff; but Underworld were something I could be palpably excited by; and a doorway to a whole new world of music, apologies for RAGING CLICHES.

And I love Karl Hyde's lyrics.

i like all of their albums but [i]dubnobass..[/i] is defintely my favourite. i love the fact that the albums contain pure dance floor killers next to more downtempo tracks like [i]dirty epic[/i] and [i] m.e[/i]

they are also jaw-droppingly fantastic live - i've seen them seven times - and they were really the pioneers of taking dance music into the live arena and in so doing paved the way for bands like [b] orbital, chemical brothers[/b] and [/b]the prodigy[/b] to follow in their footsteps.

there's plenty of their live gigs available on audiogalaxy including the superb european club gig. fans should also check out [url] http://www.underworldlive.com[/url] which is an official site where you can download soundboard recordings of some of their gigs as well as some recent studio stuff such as the blue mountain sessions.

Those two tracks are great. I think I need to live with them a little more before they really sink in, but so far they're much better than, say, the ambient tracks on the "Pearl's Girl" single. (None of them can touch "Tongue", though.)

now, on to my ancedote, which is about how the promo vinyl we got for 'King of Snake' was a 12" and os I put it on at 33 and it was SUPER FUNKY like WOW until Karl's vox came in and it sounded like he was a dying robot from planet Opium. So I put it on 45 and it turned into house music, which while quite good was not nearly as enjoyable as the 33 version.

echo...

I also went to one of the concerts (Broadcast on Radio 1!!!!!) at around the time of "Dubnobass...", (The same night as they found the body of Kurt Cobain!!!!) and it was grebt/GRATE/etc!!!!! Unlike the recent "live" album, it was one big long DJ mix style jam, mixing in various bits of their songs. The track on the live album which mixes "Cowgirl" and "Rez" is nearest equivalent- imagine a whole concert like that with most of the tracks from "Dubnobass..." and an early version "Born Slippy"!!!! (I've actually got a tape of it somewhere, taped of the radio...)

Anyways, Underworld is still classic because did I mention that "Tin There" is basically my favorite techno barnburner ever?

The kickass house/blues romp "Big Mouth" (with some guy named Philadelphia Slim whom I've never heard of on harmonica!!) is another awesome underrated early Underworld song. Underworld kicks ass.

(I'm sorry I won't pimp out that article ever again, this is the millionth time, prob haven't written anything decent for free since, it was 18 months ago)

But I must ask: If Underworld's a dud, who's classic?

...Ball ist rund. Spiel dauert 90 Minuten. Soviel ist schon mal klar. Alles andere ist Theorie...

I love how each record they make gets more and more minimal, but it doesn't diminish the impact at all.

With the benefit of hindsight, Darren Emerson leaving seems to have been beneficial.

That said, they are one of my faves.

I think it would ride pretty high in my best of the 90s, FWIW. For all I know I might have bypassed electronic music almost entirely if not for that album and 'In Sides'

"Juanite/Kiteless/Confusion The Waitress" would pass muster if it wasn't 8,000 years long.

I was at the Denver show as well. We were close to the stage - a lot closer than I was when I saw them in SF a few years ago - and it sounded so good. It was such a physical experience. Really great set. Loved the visuals as well.

yes to all of that - sound was amazing - clear and powerful - and light show was perfect. i loved the white / rainbow flash bulbs for "born slippy nuxx" at the end. true rave annihilation! still so much hardcore energy from them. "denver luna" into "s.t.a.r." was lovely too. linking mickey mouse references... one from their wide-eyed past and one from ... a sort of dream-reality past and then a waking realization. that life is all about connection. kstl's a capella section in "denver luna" was just beautiful and moving. he has so much charisma, it was just so great to finally absorb some of it in-person! for all their arty qualities they're definitely still rough n tuff lads lol.

They’re inspiring dudes, truly. The BBWFASF/Drift/Hotel run mixed in with the Eno/Hyde albums is really something else, just a stellar example of a band giving the people not what they wanted, but what they never knew they wanted. And seeing Karl pogo around onstage in his late 60s gives me life.

why do so many Underworld songs reference Mickey Mouse? have we ever gotten to the bottom of this?

God why is life so unfair that they don’t do a comprehensive US tour like Autechre.

yea I agree there was def something inspiring about this show, I mean every act has their era of peak popularity and a crowd from that era that shows up, hard to forget this period for them was nearly 30 years ago, but the best acts still have a way of sounding current even if they're not really updating their sound a whole lot. nothing about this felt retro at all, nor toned down from the glory days, every single one of the new tracks went down really well, hell "Denver Luna" may have been the highlight of the night...also really loved how they kicked it off with "Gene Pool", usually you save a cut like that for when people need a breather, instead opening with that (and the 2nd set with "Jumbo") felt like a warm up, because after that it was just one banger after another

had I not known I would never have guessed how old they were. the main reminder was the fact that several folks had to be taken out in stretchers...kinda wondered how many in the crowd were doing molly for the first time in a while and forgot how dehydrated they would get

i saw a heartening number of young people! we were waiting in line and a group of twenty-something guys passed us and i said "wow, youngsters!" and the guy in front of us, similarly aged as myself, turned to me and smiled.

I would like to state that I am genuinely happy for you guys who saw them this go-round.

watch the man in the stonewashed jeans

otm

Glad to have a kid who will with a fair amount of frequency ask me to play strawberry hotel

i made these shirts last year, idea came from the mind of stevie d

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/626160717844217da932985d/1749820156225-FBZUG3HP7YPJGP1DV7ZA/A3F059EA-4D4D-43B3-9A46-0E288F93FD1D.jpeg?format=1000w

also i got to see underworld in nyc and they played the entirety of juanita : kiteless : to dream of love, yes including the "and red, and yellow, and blue, and white" part. got my whole entire life at that show

Incredible. I also saw they’re rebooting their website. I think it’s especially related to their merch, which they want to have a bit more control over. With all due respect to these legends, I think releasing a strawberry hotel shirt, which is just the album art on a white tee, is very short of what the tomato empire is capable of achieving.

apparently they got a big announcement tomorrow, fingers crossed for more US tour dates

they played the entirety of juanita : kiteless : to dream of love

envy

ditto

jfc

that part's in Juanita 2022! They've played it at nearly every headline show in the last four years (and every festival in 2022).

OK, going to the New York show. Been a fan for 30 years but never have seen them live.

that was me last year. not quite 30 years but they've pretty much always been my favorite group, was a bit worried I'd built it up so much in my mind that the actual show would be disappointing, it turned out to actually better than I expected

I got a cassette promo from Wax Trax!/TVT records at my record store the summer of ‘96 that had “Pearl’s Girl” on it (along with songs by Autechre and Nightmares on Wax) and I was hooked.

My then-roommate in 1996 had friends over and were planning to see Underworld at a club down the street. I knew and liked “Thrash” from Sire’s Just Say Mao compilation and decided to tag along to check out the show.

I was not prepared.

lol I bet ... considering which album they were touring

The ticket website is f’ed up. It (and all of Underworld’s advertising) clearly implies there are two concerts, one on Thursday Sep 3 and the other on Friday, Sep 4. when I go to the website try to buy a Friday ticket (which is $10 more than Thursday) the ticket I got back says thursday. so I email their customer service and they tell me “no your ticket is for Thursday and there is no Friday concert”

I ask them why everything says Thursday and Friday and they explain, “that’s because the concert goes to midnight”.

that famous way we describe a single concert if it might go to midnight “oh hey I went to so-and-so’s show on thursday and friday”

I also bought tickets for the friday show. Emailed them about the same problem and this is what i got back…

We're sorry for the confusion here.
I’ve checked your tickets for the event Underworld Presents Crazy, Crazy, and I can confirm they are definitely for September 4th.
Because this is a two-day event, the app often displays the start date of the overall festival (September 3rd) on the main heading. However, your specific ticket type is valid for September 4th.

yes I finally cleared that up again after another round of emails with their support :/

it might've been all the painkillers i was on, but when i saw them for the first time last year (i've been a fan suns dubno) it was a transcendental experience.
a lot of strawberry hotel stuff also didn't properly register until i heard those tracks live, denver luna needs to be heard live

actually tried to buy a ticket using half a dozen different browsers on three different devices and never even got far enough to learn what the ticket price was

tight one-hour festival set from EDC last Friday — thrilling views of Rick’s patch label strips for each song, the “for2026” versions of Pearls & Kittens with the Boiler Room samples back in, opener is Born Slippy with Good Day Today sung over the top