Underworld - Classic or Dud?

I went digging around to try and track which songs came out in what formats and which have different versions and so forth, and found that Darren Price had his own big mid-Drift-style archive cleanout in the months before Drift started:

Two remixes of Lenne Penne from RiverRun, that were never used:
https://soundcloud.com/dj-darren-price/underworld-lenne-penne-darren-price-acid-mix-unreleaded-2006
https://soundcloud.com/dj-darren-price/underworld-lenne-penne-darren-price-drums-remix

A mix of Deep Arch used in the Olympics opening ceremony but not included on the album:
https://soundcloud.com/dj-darren-price/underworld-deep-arch-darren-price-unreleased-mix

A mix of Dark & Long he did with High Contrast that only appeared on the Olympics album in cut-down form:
https://soundcloud.com/dj-darren-price/underworld-dark-long-unreleased-6m-28s-darren-price-high-contrast-remix

A mix of Cherry Pie that he and High Contrast did that was meant to be used during the athletes' march, but they marched too fast:
https://soundcloud.com/dj-darren-price/underworld-cherry-pie-darren-price-high-contrast-mix-unreleased

A first-draft mix he did of Twenty Three Blue off Barbara Barbara, that got shelved when the original got relegated to a bonus track in Japan
https://soundcloud.com/dj-darren-price/underworld-twenty-three-blue-darren-price-unreleased-mix-2015

aaaaaand a 2002 mash-up he did of the Nuxx vocals over a track on Carl Cox's label, of which he made two dubplates and gave one to Cox, so nobody else has played this since
https://soundcloud.com/dj-darren-price/underworld-born-slippy-darren-price-unreleased-dubplate-2002

nice! Thanks for that. Only just got hold of a copy of his Under the Flightpath, which I've been enjoying a lot.

yeah - those mixes with High Contrast are great. weren't they playing a lot of Price's stuff during those '05/'06 shows? "Yard Beat", "Moroccan Meatballs", "Aquafunk", etc.? surprised none of that's come out.

James - his soundcloud also has chunks of unreleased solo material, like 13 minutes of tracks from a 1998 followup album for NovaMute, and these two songs from the same shelved release

weren't they playing a lot of Price's stuff during those '05/'06 shows? "Yard Beat", "Moroccan Meatballs", "Aquafunk", etc.? surprised none of that's come out.

I'd guess either: he just doesn't have enough of a name for labels to be bothered; or he was simply happy having both a day job with Underworld where he got to play his music live to people and a night job DJing where he gets to play his recorded music to people, without having to try and promote & sell it to anyone.

He did start a new label last year to release a track Underworld were playing from 2011-2014, with new B-sides (audio on youtube), and here's a recording of Underworld playing his Nicodemus in 2010

BTW Underworld just did four nights in a row at the Sydney Opera House, and included one new song and a few Drift tracks in the sets - here's the unreleased one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjJ6gtBafRo

(unlisted video, might not embed)

Cute video released today on the Sydney shows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WerkBv-bQP0

Wonder if they're going to release a full show or compilation.

Going to wait on hearing Border Country. It has to be part of what's left of Drift. I've seen fans online losing their minds over it since they debuted it live (early last year?).

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

might be the strangest track yet

hahaha i'm glad drift has provided them an avenue to do bizarre things like that

someone on the boards mentioned Soul Coughing which makes total sense to me. but yeah I'm in agreement, as much as I love stuff like "Threat of Rain" or "Schlipol Test" from last week, this is the sort of thing I'm interested in hearing them try

this sounds like loads of ‘90s Australian hip-hop

lol as soon as i heard the beat i was like "karl's gonna do some 'bruce lee'/'ring road' shit over this" and lo

i love it

This is the only song of theirs on the "Bruce Lee" template that I've liked

new one's an ambient piece...sounds a bit like Aphex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-cAlgzLzOQ

it's short...but! there is apparently an entire album of this stuff. I guess it was done a couple years ago, but still...

https://mcrstreetpoem.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=52418

Score is very nice. Love ambient Rick

sounds a bit like Aphex

it does!

for those not signed up, instead of a free mp3 this week, you get that link to buy the entire Manchester Street Poem album (pay what you want, minimum £5.00, proceeds go to the charity). Now that the eventual album and box set are announced, they're evidently prompting themselves into messing around with the week-to-week format in new ways.

I guess it was done a couple years ago, but still...

An early mix of Doris is in the background of this trailer featuring Karl painting, posted in December 2017, and there's more score in this mini-doco (also note that the new video of Doris is cut down by about a minute from the album)

They seem to be interested in clearing the decks rn at the same time as generating loads of new music: as well as this sudden bonus album, there's the in-between-chapters releases and streams, the Iggy Pop collab EP from July 2018 was recorded in 2016, they're digging into unfinished tracks and the Necks sessions for Drift... as if they want to come out the other end with no "maybe we'll come back to that" projects hanging around.

... and finally go back to being a funk act

I would 100% go to an Underneath The Radar 33rd anniversary concert

is it now a drift too far?

Score is very nice. Love ambient Rick

― maffew12, Thursday, June 13, 2019 8:21 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Mostly not as mellow as "Doris". Nice techno in here.

doubt anyone will be shocked to hear this but the 17 minute track is amazing

feels like it could've been the inspiration for "Pinetum"

They seem to be interested in clearing the decks rn at the same time as generating loads of new music: as well as this sudden bonus album, there's the in-between-chapters releases and streams, the Iggy Pop collab EP from July 2018 was recorded in 2016, they're digging into unfinished tracks and the Necks sessions for Drift... as if they want to come out the other end with no "maybe we'll come back to that" projects hanging around.

I just remembered that AHDO is due for an 'ultra deluxe' reissue soon, though I have no clue how many rarities they have lying around from then. Their singles from that era were quite lean. They could easily do a 4+ CD version of Oblivion With Bells though. Does anyone remember a drum n' bass track called "Swing Up High" that was offered up for download on underworldlive.com a decade or so ago? It fuckin' ruled!!

I'd be shocked to see a Hundred Days box. Maybe something to cover their entire '00s? Riverrun and all that

But I'm not sure of the economics of these things anymore. Maybe it is worth their while to press up a small number of boxes and get renewed interest on streaming services for the material (and extras).

I just want the epic ambient tracks collected on vinyl. Peach Tree, Ansum, 23 Blue (i've got the 7" from Electronic Sound, but passed on the bonus 12" due to ridiculous shipping) etc. There are a handful of great tunes that didn't make it to vinyl or were very limited on vinyl.

I'd be shocked to see a Hundred Days box.

nah, there's plenty for a concise & tidy merely "deluxe" Hundred Days box, or a messy blowout one if they include the remixes of the time (that were pretty boring iirc) and the 2000 version and remixes of Cowgirl and 2003 version and remixes of NUXX.

Whether you dump that stuff on a fourth disc or not, there's half an hour of fairly placid b-sides, and 13 minutes of the two versions of 020202, that could stand alone or get filled out on a disc with similar-sounding unreleased and developmental tracks like the other reissues. And then highlights of a Lemonworld broadcast or two could pack a third disc. (Or, though it dates from the end of Emerson's time, the Blue Mountains session would make a great value fourth disc.)

--

Maybe something to cover their entire '00s? Riverrun and all that

I can see a supermegadeluxe 2005-2008 box, skipping all outside remixes, as apparently much of the Sunshine soundtrack, most of the Breaking & Entering soundtrack and all (?) of Oblivion With Bells came out of the work that started as the Riverrun sessions.

But Riverrun alone would take two CDs to press just in the mixed-together versions, and judging by some of the tracks that have been released unmixed, might fill out those two in full versions. If you include the remixes by other people & the Misterons in-house mix, even with no unreleased material, that's easily four discs just covering November 2005 to June 2006, let alone the rest of the decade.

might fill out those two in full versions

OK I checked (and typed up details and then accidentally pasted a URL over the entire post)

But the unmixed Pizza With Eggs promo blows out from 25 minutes to 45, including a 20-minute (!) Ancient Phat Farm Coat*. The unmixed Lovely Broken Thing is only 34, including a ten-minute Lenny Penne, but that's a full 80-minute CD even if I'm A Princess only gained one second per track... but there are two different commercially-released edits of Peach Tree alone that are each over 12 minutes.

*four of the six tracks had commercially-released edits that were slightly shorter than the promo.

(why yes, I have already been inspired by Drift to dig back into some of the C21 Underworld I skimmed or skipped, and in this era just gave up and stuck with the old 192k mp3s on my ipod while waiting for the 20th anniversary box)

I just want "Bamboo"

I’d be satisfied with however many seconds of “Showlder” were left off on either end of the mixed version

gave up and stuck with

(oh alright then, I downloaded some maniac's multiple re-mixed-together compilations of the best performances on the Oblivion With Bells tour releases, and then whittled down his different versions into two and a half hours of Best of The Bests, two hours of Alternative Best Versions, and another four and a half hours covering one version of every song played on the tour.

(and then put it in a folder unplayed and went back to listening to Drift and single / compilation tracks from the last ten years that I'd missed.)

hah I've had those kinda nights

today it's pretty much been "Pinetum" over and over

i've been playing the megadeluxe edition of STITI in the car lately and it's so good, all of it. what a group.

someone on the UW Drift FB group found this. I had no idea Freur had a different lead singer in the beginning. Also: what the Fuck???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWkccmluYOs&fbclid=IwAR3Rsv6GZSy4SyPX8gfPcw6Ek3FEP5NdSixMKBllzk21_ZGK5xv2MOpQFFY

first comment is killing me

embed no worky, what's the link?

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

Karl on guitar and pretty sure Rick is the guy dancing with the stick

ha, that's delightful (and for sure Rick on stick)

Karl was always the singer in Freur (or at least: I had the picture disc of Doot Doot shaped like their squiggle from before they had a name, and it's his voice on it), but the obvious reason he's not singing there is that he is English

I've never been to Wales but I imagine everyone acts like that

Stick Rick was the hardest boss in Mega Man 5

I live in Wales and can confirm that's true xp

reading through the Drift Episode 2 liner notes i noticed that Rick suddenly says "There was no Agata (Melt Banana) on that" while he and Karl are discussing the violin and sax players on "Appleshine" which i didn't quite understand what he meant by it, so i went digging and i found an interview from a few years ago where Karl mentions he has a side project collaborating with Melt-Banana in the works and he's a big fan of them so i'm thinking maybe some sort of Melt-Banana collab will show up in Drift at some point?

indeed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSFq5KhQ_oo&fbclid=IwAR2BMO-yb4_dS5sdY_5cDHHoDq0FxRMhsgRi-7uu1zy8Z4XGmFWHkip4Vp8

i think something weird happened with that embed so here it is again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSFq5KhQ_oo

maybe it's getting tiring to say "this fucking rules" every single time but

Thanks Brad!

going back to April now but Custard Speedtalk is phenomenal

Custard Speedtalk is the best video

that mega banger tune they've been playing live is now out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwFkp1-R0DA

it almost seems custom made to segue into Pearl's Girl

this is one of the best yet from Drift

oh my fuckin GOD border country

it is really quite something

well this is good

second half in particular is amazing. this has got to be the fastest track they've done since..."Tin There" maybe? crazy

one thing I can't figure out is how the songs on this EP are gonna fit together...they're all very different from each other. I wonder how much they're gonna tweak for the release.

ep1 was the only time they reordered tracks weren't it? For 2, Molehill got a nice coda. 3 practically unchanged.

all episodes have started strong. I expected Border Country to start 5.. so really hype for what they're going to drop in 2 weeks

Figure that's Rick going "dub da lubby dub"?