Underworld - Classic or Dud?

hard to think of any electronic group putting out as much great music as UW did from 1992-1997

Orbital
The Orb
Prodigy
Aphex Twin
Squarepusher
Mike Paradinas
Luke Vibert
Coldcut

just off the top of my head and not considering labels (Moving Shadow, Suburban Base, Reinforced, R&S, early XL, +8, etc etc)

Meant to say "over a five year span" there. I think both the Orb and Orbital come really close. Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and Paradinas certainly did a lot of music in there but I don't think all of it is great. I don't know much about the others. But I admit that I probably overrate Underworld - for them it's two of my all-time favorite albums, a handful of classic, non-album singles ("Dark Train", "Rez", "Nuxx"), some excellent side releases (Dark and Long, with the magnificant "Thing in a Book", and Pearl's Girl, which was practically a whole new album in itself), plus a lot of really good single tracks - "Spikee", "Why Why Why", the original "Born Slippy", and so on. None of those guys did so much great stuff outside of the albums!

underworld created an unbelievably deep and rich catalog in that era simply by remixing themselves a lot

Jaxx did tons within 5 years fwiw.

yeah I know a lot of those are supposed to be remixes but they're often so different from the source material that you almost wouldn't know. the three mixes of "Born Slippy" are so different that I would have never guessed they sprung from the same thing. even when it's more obvious (say "Rowla" and "Cherry Pie") the overall mood is so different that it doesn't quite register as just a "remix"

exactly

The remixes they did for other people from 92-95 are killer too. Spooky, Simply Red, Bjork, dreadzone, Orbital, mental Generation, Massive Attack etc etc etc

hard to think of any electronic group putting out as much great music as UW did from 1992-1997

UR

xp Lush 3.3 and Soundsystem are two of my all time favourite remixes

Brian Eno and Karl Hyde are releasing an album together on Warp this spring. I loved Bebop Hurry and think this collaboration will yield a few great songs so i've preordered the vinyl already.

http://warp.net/records/enohyde/enohyde.com

Does anyone remember who Underworld was touring with in the US for Underneath the Radar in 88? I saw them in Cleveland; pretty sure they were the openers for a UK band -- maybe Mighty Lemon Drops?

was it the Eurythmics?

Mighty Lemon Drops did tour the US in 88 but the only listing I could find said they were opening for Love and Rockets.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/10367142_10152103259101960_6289136037550289382_n.jpg

Ha ha ha, I was just looking at that photo… for reasons that are too complex to go into here.

couldn't resist cross-posting it, it's so amazing!

What is that?

Freur

Thx. Amazing photo. Hard to tell what decade that's from, tho. Is that the 60's?

such a great frown out of the guy between Rick & Karl

that's actually John Cusack

Oh yes:

http://www.underworldlive.com/news/2014/06/dubnobasswithmyheadman-20th-anniversary-re-issue-show-2/

People are talking about that on the Dubnobass thread.

needed a lift so decided to listen to Underworld and Underworld only this week. can recommend so far. never would have tried that 5 (!) cd version of dubno otherwise, and it has some great moments.

I know the feeling, I remember playing "Ouch Ouch" on replay for nearly an hour

Oich Oich? or is there an alterate Ouch Ouch version?

uh.......no :(

(seriously though, lets get that 5-disc STITI box coming???)

There is a 'jam' version from their old website. It's pretty good too.

seriously though, lets get that 5-disc STITI box coming

I've got my $59.95 set aside.

Et volia:

http://www.borndirty.org/2015/09/second-toughest-in-the-infants-2015-deluxesuper-deluxe/

£70?!

... Alright.

is it a challop to rank Beaucoup Fish over Second Toughest in the Infants?

So long as you're not ranking Oblivion With Bells above STITI, you're on solid ground.

Dubno > STITI > OWB > BF > Barking > AHDO

Gonna pre-empt any chatter about OWB not being a great album by saying there are some great songs on there. Faxed Invitation and Best Mamgu Ever in particular but there aren't any bad tracks in my opinion. Even Boy Boy Boy and Ring Road are enjoyable to me.

I think OWB is a great album. Took me a couple years to come around to it but the depth and the sound design on it was incredible.

I like "JAL to Tokyo" better than anything on OWB.

Sorry, it's STITI > BF > Dubno > AHDO > Barking > OWB

beaucoup fish and second toughest are the clear top two for me, tipping over to the introspective side of underworld a bit more than the bangers side in a way i love. i think STITI is their best but BF is so good, i can't argue with anyone picking it as their best. but i agree with eric's ranking 100%

i have to argue that even though i probably agree with eric's ranking oblivion with bells is so good

Beaucoup Fish > Barking = dubnobass... > AHDO > OWB > STITI

I'll reiterate that my dislike of STITI comes from seeing them live on the tour for that album before ever hearing the album and having everything on it (aside from "Pearl's Girl", which reads much better outside of the context of the album anyway) come across as borderline lifeless.

on nov 20 they're releasing the deluxe edition, maybe give it a re-listen and you'll come around???

And I'll reiterate that your reaction is mistaken.

Gonna pre-empt any chatter about OWB not being a great album by saying there are some great songs on there. Faxed Invitation and Best Mamgu Ever in particular but there aren't any bad tracks in my opinion. Even Boy Boy Boy and Ring Road are enjoyable to me.

^^

this was right around the time they did the riverrun singles as well, good time for them

I like "JAL to Tokyo" better than anything on OWB.

Yeah if anything that's the issue with OWB, no real single or standalone track that could become a live staple the way "Two Months Off" did. I know it disappointed me a lot at the time. The real crime is that "Parc" wasn't included - that's probably one of their very best, so strange to see it essentially left unfinished and placed on a Japan-only remix compilation

Even Boy Boy Boy and Ring Road are enjoyable to me.

these are two of my favorite songs at this point. burning from the inside!

In addition to the RiverRun's they did the Breaking and Entering soundtrack too and several live jam style radio broadcasts. Definitely a high point of creative output.

Any love for Karl Hyde's 'Edgeland'?

Dubno > STITI > BF >>>>>>>> OWB/Barking >>>>>>> AHDO

Has anyone bought the STITI remaster?

I'm kind of balking at paying £75 for the 4 CD version. £40 more for 2 extra CDs seems a bit much to me

xp I like it plenty but lately I've had a lot more time for the bonus tracks - "Dancing on the Graves of Le Corbusier's Dreams", "Final Ray of the Sun" and "Cascading Light" are all brilliant, can't imagine why they didn't make the final cut.