Underworld - Classic or Dud?

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.)

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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"?

it's not like any of the drift EPs have particularly fit together really

https://www.bpmdatabase.com/music/search/?artist=Underworld&sort=-bpm

fwiw

Starting to seriously consider pre-ordering the box set.

not a lot of tracks there... but anyway u think you saw on the forum where someone was making the point that they haven't had a song in this specific tempo,before,maybe? It was confusing. Underworld: not always slow

*I think you

I need to stop posting on my phone. scuse me.

oh yeah..."Scribble" I guess would be the obvious one. can't believe I forgot about it. anyway yeah on the boards it says this tune is 133...so slower than "Push Upstairs"? idk it feels faster. I immediately thought of "Tin There" and "Pearls Girl" b/c it has that same rush to it.

It didn't strike me as particularly fast

I enjoyed rediscovering both of these prime not-Underworld tracks recently and thought you might like to join me.

Realised that the Shakespeare's Sister 'Black Sky (Dub Extravaganza Part 2)' had soundtracked a few splendid dancefloor moments, both back in the day and more recently.

https://youtu.be/nHT-wy2Uudw

Rick Smith remixing Rob Playford and Goldie's 'The Shadow', I guess he's basically overlaying Underworld synths on those beats. Rules pretty hard.

https://youtu.be/9g3y4eMh6Eg

Also. Hey.

https://youtu.be/NP56homYkjw

so are all these live & rehearsal things going to be in the big box set or no?

I really doubt it - unless it's tucked away in the data section of the Blu-ray or something (can you even do that? I don't own a single Blu-ray). a bit frustrating, this stuff is great but it's pretty lame that it's all in low bitrates - the "Silver Boots" release sounds better than the ripped-from-radio version, but not by much. kinda silly to complain about a band releasing this much great stuff at once though

No.

xp

Another Misterons mix today, up on both mixcloud and youtube, with new joints back next week:

The finishing touches are being put on Episode 5, Part 1 as this reaches you. Keep your eyes on your inbox next Thursday for your next serving of DRIFT straight out of Central Mexico…

that mix (called "Chillin at the Shed") is very much worth a half hour of your time

first context I've ever liked "Push Downstairs" in by the way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB6G7KgBX24

fuck yes

most of Episode 5 has been less whelming than the previous ones, but today's is 13 mins of gorgeous bleepy jazz noodling, with one of the best videos so far

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG74FOPyijY

https://www.mixcloud.com/DarrenPrice/darren-price-todd-terje-bs-dubplate/?

couple of records arrived yesterday. dubnobass is one I've wanted to own on vinyl for like, 15 years. but before this recent reissue they were not only expensive ($60+) but very difficult to find. same place had Barbara Barbara for $14 so I had to go for it

https://i.imgur.com/yTR0ZzD.png

wanna get the full set but OWB & Barking are OOP and fetch pretty crazy prices on the secondary market