Underworld - Classic or Dud?

Ambient Underworld is much more interesting to me than the beat driven club tracks. Wish they'd give up on the club tracks and just focus on the atmospheric stuff now.

+1 to UW being incredible work out music.

I would hate to have them focus on one particular aspect of their sound - they've been so good at basically everything

I think "Motorhome" from their new album is prob in their top 15 or maybe even 10 tracks, it is so beautiful and impeccably-textured! It sounds like Eno or some shit ("High Life" must have really rubbed off on them)

I have taught my toddlers how to sing the main synth theme from "If Rah" and they periodically request the song by shouting "LUNA LUNA LUNA" at me

I will accept my Greatest Dad Ever award now

I've tried with that new album like five times and I just find it so boring. Can't get into it at all.

That's / too / bad

they periodically request the song by shouting "LUNA LUNA LUNA" at me

Presumably when they're old enough they can move on to LAGER LAGER LAGER LAGER

new album still sounds awesome to me

i've only tried once but so far i'm with don van gorp. i don't hear any of the focus or tension between carefully calibrated parts in a ruthless point-a-to-point-b sweep that i feel like made them great at their best, just an unfocused pile-on of bland ideas meandering and lyrics that have gone from compelling-and-slightly-embarrassing to drunk-dad-cringey.

The 2nd half of the album is better.

i'll have to give it another shot, i was almost there on a few of the later tracks.

i liked the one before this i think??? it's so much easier just to go back to the stone classics idk.

yeah I mean I don't think it's stone classic but it's still a really great album even if it's not excellent, one of the best recs of the year and kind of astounding they're still releasing stuff so solid like 20+ years in

i actually think this is better than anything they've released aside from their dubno/stiti/bf run. i like meandering ambient late night driving underworld best of all.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/b4/f6/bd/b4f6bd764b32d8cf900e40d60abf512e.jpg

new one is about equal to oblivion with bells for me, which, thanks ilx for making me try with that record so much that it's sorta my preferred underworld experience these days

I really like all seven of their albums so I find this sort of thing difficult, especially since I'd rather hear "Best Mamgu Ever" over "Rez" these days.

i love classic cuts like 'rez' but i feel like their deep cuts are often pretty revelatory and inspiring, like idk 'luetin' or 'air towel'..

I made a playlist on Spotify of the tracks I now prefer. Sadly, not all of the ones I'd like to include were available.

https://open.spotify.com/user/brotherlovesdub/playlist/2e1kCLXPU4cypdYShxeLMC

omg M.E. is SO GREAT AND UNDERRATED

I have loved "Luetin" since I first heard it even though I spent like 3-4 years calling it "Lutein"

holy crap I am literally just now realizign it is not called "Lutein"

also I keep calling it "Juniata" bcz that is the name of a neighborhood in Philly

good christ i love m.e., it's one of their hippiest sunrise on ibiza tracks too.

I've tried with that new album like five times and I just find it so boring. Can't get into it at all.

I also was not down until I listened to this live date from this year which brought it all together for me

I've never understood why people are down on M.E

From day one, it's always been one of the (many) highlights on Dubno for me

if you dig you can find the original version from '91 back when it was intended to go on the follow up to Change the Weather

whoa seriously?? I am investigating this at once

also xp to Brakhage does it sound all that diff from the album cuts?

It's not nearly as varied as the Tokyo 2005 date linked above (which may be because they didn't have time for a longer set, or because their live performances are more lackluster now, like people are saying), and yeah it sounds identical to the LP like Kraftwerk live dates, but it has great energy because of the crowd. The tracks that I thought just laid there inert on the new record sounded a lot more vital to me, I think it's worth tracking down

Which reminds me, thanks Brad for the YT playlist of the '05 gig

the Tokyo 05 date is great but the constant edging of "Mmm Skyscraper" with no drop or climax or anything is so odd!

1996 Dutch doc filmed at a Megadog night in Leeds with live footage and attempted interviews with Underworld.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEMRR7paAgo

Think that would have been 93/94 when they did that Midi Circus tour with the likes of Underworld, Aphex, Orbital, Eat Static etc

Actually yeah, misinfo. It's not a Megadog night, just Bob Dog. And of course Emmerson had left by '96. I was going to say the set didn't seem to have changed much since '93/'94, although I guess they still play a lot of that stuff. Well, totally prime era then.

Further corrections. This *was* a Megadog, and Emerson has one m.

there are TOO MANY DANG live releases (upwards of like a dozen???) but I will say, beyond "Everything, Everything" which is def the most accessible and digestible, the one from Tokyo in 2005 might be the best?

I need to explore all of the 2007/2008 releases more, though. They switched the setlists up each gig.

also great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ukd28MVvtU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2p2VL2pKC8

Tokyo 2005 is the 2nd best b/c of the sound quality, I think. I haven't heard those LiveHereNow releases in a while but I remember the two I bought being quite good. You can hear "Banstyle" on those, right?

there was an awesome and very recent live set that I think we were discussing on another thread - lots of improv, excellent set list, etc. etc....it was like they turned the clock back 15 years. but the sound quality was not so good. alas.

The one time I saw Underworld live I got overexcited and double dropped half and hour before they came on. I don't remember one second of it.

oh noooooo

I saw them in NYC on the Barb, Barb tour and it was AMAZING but it basically just felt like a greatest-hits DJ set, v little improvisation

They did a bit of improv at the show they did at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam last year, but other than that, it's essentially the exact same show every night. There is no more 'improv' in Underworld's set. Until they decide to tour their ambient / downtempo work in smaller venues similar to Karl's solo shows, i'm done seeing them live.

Tokyo 2005 is probably the best complete show, but I have real fondness for the Ibiza August 8 2010 show (which I think was broadcast as an Essential Mix), which has an intense 'we're here to party' vibe that you'd hope for at that venue

ok i am listening to tokyo 2005 for the first time rn and

wee-ow

Tokyo 2005 is probably the best complete show, but I have real fondness for the Ibiza August 8 2010 show (which I think was broadcast as an Essential Mix), which has an intense 'we're here to party' vibe that you'd hope for at that venue

― Brakhage, Thursday, March 15, 2018 2:10 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

essential mix at privilege! that was in my top ten that year and is late enough to include "scribble"

ahh hah ha always thought the announcer was saying 'A privilege' not 'AT Privilege', good shout

i was wondering if Underworld we're still 'talked about' on ILX.. but it's been only 3 days. :-)

i was going to bump the thread because i got Hundred Days Off and Oblivion With Bells at a bin sale for 2 euros each. Could have bought Barking too (for the same price) but i seemed to recall this was some kind of collab album with all kinds of dubstep hipsters, and I like the 'regular' Underworld sound.

Oblivion with Bells is a little underrated, it seems, i think it has some nice new ambient pop vibes going on, noodling along nicely - too bad about the half-rapped track, where either Hyde couldn't be bother to match his lyrics to the music, or probably more interestlingy, Smith didn't want to match his music in free jazz improv style to Hyde. missed chance.

Anyway, HundredDaysOff has a couple of massive singles, which ain't so bad either.

Barking is a pretty good album despite the collaborators. There are some great anthems on there and also some beautiful and dark songs too. Moon In Water and Louisiana are fantastic. I say go back and get Barking if it's cheap. It's a fun album.