Underworld - Classic or Dud?

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.

"Pretty good" is probably the accurate assessment of Barking. I don't think it's that interesting and while the first three songs all sound massive I don't think they're nearly interesting enough musically in the way Underworld typically can be. The rest of it has its moment but I never listen to it. I said it upthread iirc (or elsewhere) but it doesn't really sound like them, and it worried me for their subsequent work (Barbara Barbara and the Eno stuff proved me wrong.) I rated it over OWB back when it came out but I was dead wrong. I think the '90s albums are all classic, BBWFASF is almost on par, AHDO and OWB are both pretty excellent and Barking is in that "pretty good" area.

last time I listened through their catalogue those were the two that seemed most worthy of reappraisal. especially OWB - I remember a lot of people being underwhelmed by that one at the time, but I think it's held up incredibly well, I still hear new things each time I listen. some days I think it's their best. they were doing a lot of very interesting things during that period, a lot of which also show up on that Tokyo set. I even kinda like "Ring Road", though you're right, something's off about it...even the beat it was just jacked from a preset, which UW never seems to do otherwise.

Don't be afraid of Barking - there's no real dubstep on it (the track you're probably thinking of, "Hamburg Hotel", is not really dubstep in the way you're fearing). I think it does lose something by being *just* remixes but the tunes themselves are generally very good. You definitely want to seek out some of the originals though. I was really disappointed that the second disc was sort of a half-assed demo thing rather that the "Barking minus collaborators" album we were all hoping for. Some of the live versions of those tracks are absolutely excellent - "Strumpet", "Always Loved a Film" (especially the "Silver Boots" version), "You Do Scribble", and "Diamond Jigsaw" (I'll never forgive Paul Van Dyk for just paving over the chord change, that's the money part of the tune!). Plus I happen to think the original "Moon in Water" was way better. But Barking is still very good.

I rated it over OWB back when it came out but I was dead wrong.

same and i was also wrong

still love barking, some of my favorite underworld jams are buried in the second half like "between stars" and "grace"

and i always forget how amazing "bird 1" is

i loved scribble but was really disappointed by barking

that's a great single but the live versions that appeared as early as 2005 were truly mindblowing. THAT is what I wanted them to capture in the studio

I liked Scribble a lot upon release but Bird 1 is the jam that has had the longest shelf life. There are moments or lyrics that work great in other songs (like "The sound of a barking dog on a loop/A plane rises in the crystal blue/The rhythm of keys swinging in your hand/The rhythm of light coming out of your fingers" from Always Loved a Film) but the songs as a whole don't work as well as they could have w/more traditional untraditional Underworld structure and production. I don't think the album is bad by any means, it was just a wrong turn for them.

There's a noise in Bird 1 that repeats that kills the song for me. I love Strumpet and still play it a bunch, but they ruined the track once they took it to the studio. I would love to discuss the meaning of the lyrics of that song though. I have a theory, but I'd like to hear other theories.

Barking rules a lot, the weakest song on it is "Scribble" which is still fantastic

also I play "Bird 1" something like once a week

oh yeah i believe *looks up ilx thread with my posts* i felt the first three songs (bird 1, film, scribble) were fire then it fell off

i was at Berlin nightclub in chicago & 'scribble' came on at like 1am it was so epic of an experience ill never be down on that song

'film' is def amazing also

the live set from 2010 i listened to a whole bunch more than the album but i also just liked the energy of the crowd noise & shit

yea thanks for alerting me to the existence of that. I definitely think an EE-style live recording of this stuff would've blown Barking out of the water. what an awesome set.

thanks for this fellas, I'll probably get Barking the next time around. Judging the crowd that usually frequents this particular shop, it won't be gone, since it does not feature beardy guys playing folk songs.

Ah, I bet they'll be putting on those gigs shortly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&noapp=1&v=uwqWAal0jB0

i forgot to report, i did gét Barking, after all, at RSD. It was even cheaper now (at the same shop). Only fifty cents. If one waits long enough, one might get the album for free.

anyway, I enjoy it. I guess this is Underworld's most amusing, POP record, in a New Order (or even Bad Lieutenant) kinda way.
I mean a lyric like.. 'the rhythm of the summer that you'd wanted (voice in the background: BURNING BURNING)' is quite.. Sumnerish. :-)

the closing track is Talk Talk-heaven. Underworld wears its influences on their sleeves here.

New track with Iggy Pop in grandpa telling old stories mode

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KmJWD9jQvhc

wow, this goes hard. sounds like they've turned back the clock about 20 years

btw I kind of wonder how this didn't wind up in Trainspotting 2, it almost feels like it should've been to that what Born Slippy was to the original

am i the only person who has listened to second toughest in the infants 4 millions times but never really listened to anything else by underworld? its just so perfect to me and i never felt like i needed more.

I’m so sick of Iggy Pop after he ruined that song on the last New Order record. Get one new idea guys please. Send him a card to tell him you used to listen to The Idiot.

haha, iggy was on a new order song? hahahaha! oh brother. i don't think i've ever heard any 21st century new order and i'm gonna keep it that way.

that album was p good but also no one really needed it

am i the only person who has listened to second toughest in the infants 4 millions times but never really listened to anything else by underworld? its just so perfect to me and i never felt like i needed more.

― scott seward, Wednesday, May 30, 2018 7:11 AM (fifty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you might be but i can't argue with your reasoning tbh

am i the only person who has listened to second toughest in the infants 4 millions times but never really listened to anything else by underworld? its just so perfect to me and i never felt like i needed more.

I love the albums either side of it but they don't quite do the same thing for me. Wait does this mean you've never heard Born Slippy?

i've heard it. and i've heard dubnobass and i actually bought beaucoup fish when it came out but i never played it much and dubnobass just seemed like a not as amazing infants when i heard it. but that's just me! but i SERIOUSLY love infants. i've played it year in and year out since it was released.

I love the albums either side of it but they don't quite do the same thing for me. Wait does this mean you've never heard Born Slippy?

― Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, May 30, 2018 5:08 PM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Scott, you're not alone! I bothered with Dubnobass and Beaucoup Fish, but they didn't take. Second Toughest is all I need. And I bought this 2cd when it came out, which does have Born Slippy. And Rez, man. Rez.

idk how y'all can live without "dirty epic" but more power to you