Mega Mega Vote Thing - UNDERWORLD (Smith/Hyde) in ILM Artist Poll #102 - Campaigning, Discussion, Equivocating until 22nd May

Barking is a fine album on its own merits but it really could've been better - the only track the outside remixing really works on is "Between Stars". I like "Scribble" a lot too but man the original they played on that Live in Tokyo album, what a corker. also really love the original "Diamond Jigsaw" with the Van Halen synth though the one on the album is pretty sweet as well. original "Moon in Water" - gold, obviously, the remixed version is just a totally different tune

in retrospect the real disappointment was the bonus disc, I wanted something like Barking w/o the outside collaborators, but this was just a bunch of demos

Oblivion with Bells is the only proper album that I felt had truly nothing for me.

And A Hundred Days Off I think much more belongs with the three that cake before it than anything that came after.

Cake, came, both are good.

"crocodile" into "beautiful burnout" is a real high-point and while the rest never reaches the same heights the only track that doesn't work for me is "ring road" which is a sort of underworld track that's never done anything for me (don't like "bruce lee" etc. much either)

Holding the Moth & Best Mamgu Ever are also incredible

the thing with both 100 Days Off & OWB is that they're both incredible sounding albums. I mean they all are really but those two have so much depth to them

revisited Barking and my opinion hasn't really changed. it's not bad by any means but never particularly memorable and feels quite anonymous. doubt anything from it will make my ballot

is the Karl Hyde solo album at all worthwhile? as mentioned before i really love the Eno/Hyde records

ok A Hundred Days Off is a lot better than i remember. still probably one of their weaker albums, but that's more about how strong their discography is. the percussion on this album rules so much.

I like Barking a lot. ALAF is an out and out banger and there's some other good tracks too.

For me, Oblivion With Bells is their weakest by a country mile. Apart from Best Mamgu Ever I'd be happy never listening to any of the other tracks again.

"ess gee" is the best underworld guitar interlude

good evening

luna luna luna luna

UNDER｜｜｜ORLD: babs & bobs

Baby Wants To Ride (Underworld vs Misterons 12'' Mix) • [Frankie Knuckles cover 12", 2015] 7:48
Baby Wants To Ride (Underworld vs Heller & Farley 12'' Mix) • [Frankie Knuckles cover 12", 2015] 9:27

I Exhale • Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future [2016] 8:10
If Rah • Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future [2016] 7:12
Low Burn • Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future [2016] 6:44
Santiago Cuatro • Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future [2016] 4:00
Motorhome • Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future [2016] 6:23
Ova Nova • Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future [2016] 5:31
Nylon Strung • Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future [2016] 6:48

Twenty Three Blue • [b-side/bonus 2016] 6:45

Eventually But • [b-side to Long Slow Slippy, 2017] 2:57


Bells & Circles • [Underworld with Iggy Pop, Teatime Dub Encounters EP 2017 (rel. 2018)] 7:30
Trapped • [Underworld with Iggy Pop, Teatime Dub Encounters EP 2017 (rel. 2018)] 7:44
I’ll See Big • [Underworld with Iggy Pop, Teatime Dub Encounters EP 2017 (rel. 2018)] 4:47
Get Your Shirt • [Underworld with Iggy Pop, Teatime Dub Encounters EP 2017 (rel. 2018)] 7:31
Bells & Circles (Instrumental Version) • [Teatime Dub Encounters EP 2017 (rel. 2018)] 7:30
Get Your Shirt (Instrumental Version) • [Teatime Dub Encounters EP 2017 (rel. 2018)] 7:31

Too Little Too Late • [Joris Voorn feat. Underworld, 2019] 5:49
Too Little Too Late (Club Mix) • [Joris Voorn feat. Underworld, remix 2019] 7:03

looking forward to the extensive documentation of all the Drift alternate versions

i think i might have Barbara Barbara very very high, it's one of their most enjoyable to listen to as a whole. the only low-point is "Santiago Cuatro" which isn't bad, just quite a bit more out of place than the guitar interludes usually are.

listening to "big meat show," an outtake from dubnobass that's on the 1992-2012 comp, and it's..... fantastic???? they produced enough incredible music for three albums during and around that one

starting to think "why why why" is also going to be surprisingly high on my ballot

I've probably mentioned this on other threads but to me UW have three peaks, the '92-'94 era with all those awesome singles & EPs leading to dubnobasswithmyheadman (perhaps one of the only albums in history that justifies the five disc deluxe reissue), the '05-'07 era with Riverrun, OWB, and all sorts of interesting tracks being played on radio broadcasts & live shows, and the recent Drift period. I think all these periods produced like, 4-5 albums worth of quality material but Drift was the only one to actually just release it as such

Riverrun stuff isn’t available anywhere at the moment other than fan uploads on YouTube. Not sure why they don’t stick it on streaming or sell downloads anymore

oh wow i am gonna take part in a music poll! i do this almost never! display name relevant

looking at this poll and realizing how little i've actually listened to though, holy moly. i guess i just listened to dub a million times? i was like "well i'll try the other stuff, i prob won't like it as much anyway" and randomly started with barbara and was like "oh no i think i love this"

watched everything everything last night for the first time in like 10-15 years, goddamn underworld rules

the impression I get is that the Riverrun stuff didn't work out the way they wanted, none of the casual fans knew about it & a lot of people had trouble downloading them. there wasn't really the infrastructure for just putting stuff out the way there is now. when they started the project I think they had eyes on doing more than just 3 but I think they quickly learned that if it wasn't on a studio album most people just weren't gonna hear it

your idea of all these sustained peaks - challenging the very nature of a peak! - and none of them containing Second Toughest... just boggles the mind. But that's why this whole poll in bonkers. Happy listening yall

im actually doing my first 'second toughest' listen-thru ever right now! (i'm still on track 1 lol)

yesterday i did those two first albums which were fine but i don't think i'll vote for anything on them or for them. very interesting to hear their origins tho! had no idea they were doing that kinda stuff and then just pivoted hard into DNBWMHM. such a crazy pivot, such a perfect album

was supposed to see them on their tour next week. I am very sad about it. =(

ugh. hope they reschedule and you get a chance to see em! in the meantime might i recommend throwing the dvd on and dancing in front of your tv like i may or may not have at 2am oops

the deluxe remaster of dubnobass kinda bridges the gap. if you really look hard you can find a demo tape for the 3rd UW mk1 album which was never made. there's a version of "Mother Earth" on it. some of the other tracks from that era like "The Hump", "Big Meat Show", and "Can You Feel It" (which became part of "Skyscraper") also show their roots a bit. and they did some cool experimental stuff as Freur, most of it didn't make the albums though. but something like "Rez"...yeah, total left turn

your idea of all these sustained peaks - challenging the very nature of a peak! - and none of them containing Second Toughest... just boggles the mind.

I mean really everything from 1992 to 1999 is really great, but really there was just an insane wealth of stuff from 93 and 94 alone. STITI has a handful of really great B-sides & remixes of course, absolutely love "Oich Oich", "Puppies", "Cherry Pie", and "Tin There"...but overall idk if that deluxe set worked quite as well as the dubnobass one

that said I forgot about one of my favorite Underworld live tracks ever, a performance of the original "Born Slippy" from the infamous European Club Gig which is just fucking incredible. the whole gig is awesome but this part from 1:47:00 on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_HoEQ7ThvE

I really don't understand how people aren't in love with Barking, even given the rest of Underworld's discography. It's just a great album back to front.

but overall idk if that deluxe set worked quite as well as the dubnobass one

woah woah... 5 years of development vs the follow-up record... judge what's on the albums eh :)

I really don't understand how people aren't in love with Barking, even given the rest of Underworld's discography. It's just a great album back to front.

― DJP, Friday, May 8, 2020 10:50 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i really think of it as the underworld album that's all bangers

At this point, I may have played "Always Loved A Film" and "Bird 1" more than any other Underworld songs except maybe "Pearl's Girl", the original "Born Slippy", and "Dirty Epic"

yea those tracks are great. I just think the outside remixers smoothed over a lot of the nuance in favor of just making the tracks straight bangers. the original ALAF had this awesome bass line that's just not there in the Barking version. and Diamond Jigsaw had these massive chord changes which Paul Van Dyk didn't even seem to bother with.

before I forget...how about a little love for "Bamboo", from 2008 or thereabouts. kind of a fleshed out version of "Lenny Penne", one of my favorite unreleased tracks. I take it we can't vote for this??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqu-n3EJXiY

no Bamboo!

listening to "big meat show," an outtake from dubnobass that's on the 1992-2012 comp, and it's..... fantastic???? they produced enough incredible music for three albums during and around that one

how I (D3) break it down to an extent:

a 1992 album of singles, bar M.E.: 79 minutes
a 1993 album of two singles: 47 minutes
the actual 1994 album: 73 minutes
a 1994 "double CD" comp of Cows, Darks and Skyscrapers: 2 hrs 14
an 1995ish album of Slippy: 40 minutes

plus I have The Big Meat Show hived off with the Why? remixes and Second Hand into other compilations of b-sides and reworks

PLUS the band have also given us a 75-minute album of unreleased tracks and versions from 1993, PLUS an hour-long mix of the best bits of more unreleased versions, P L U S an hour-long album of The Evolution Of NUXX.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5qIqg9x4lKvq1DR4BKFXdX?si=yw8o4tJRTPyiCW_NS-5iVg

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxWLJazbXOaluH99S3_FgWInzNemME8RN

have kept the playlists of non-album material up to date with everything available pre-Drift, based on sic's documentation of it all. there's a few pretty obscure remixes etc. that aren't even on youtube though

an hour-long album of The Evolution Of NUXX

!!

??

that was one of the discs on the second toughest super deluxe reissue - 6 early versions of "born slippy .nuxx"

that said I forgot about one of my favorite Underworld live tracks ever, a performance of the original "Born Slippy" from the infamous European Club Gig which is just fucking incredible

wow this rules so much

tx xp

there's a few pretty obscure remixes etc. that aren't even on youtube though

what's the final list of these?

Why Why Why (Remix) (from Wasted, The Best of Volume Part 1, 1995)
Push Upstairs (Radio Edit)
King of Snake (Straight (Mate) Mix) (there's a shorter version cut out of someone's DJ mix but not the full thing)
Biro The Leggy (Romford Dub) (this is pretty readily available on their official soundcloud. the earlier 2004 version that was never officially released is on youtube though)
all the Barking instrumental versions
Baby Wants To Ride (Underworld vs Misterons 12'' Mix) (there's an edit but not the full thing)
Get Your Shirt (Instrumental version)
Too Little Too Late (Club Mix)

two weeks of

had no idea they were doing that kinda stuff and then just pivoted hard into DNBWMHM. such a crazy pivot

...

if you really look hard you can find a demo tape for the 3rd UW mk1 album which was never made. there's a version of "Mother Earth" on it

here's audio of Underworld mkI playing Mother Earth live in September 1991.

Within a few months - maybe less time than we're going to be in pandemic lockdown - they split up, Karl recorded an album at Paisley Park as a session player for the lead singer of Berlin, Rick closed down the band's affairs, sold off their studio equipment to settle their debts and moved a handful of salvaged gear into his marital terrace, Karl did a tour as guitarist for Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Rick met a 19-year-old DJ and started making long electronic grooves, Karl (while rehearsing in NYC for the not-Blondie tour) started writing down snippets of overheard latenight conversation to turn into lyrics, then when the gig ran out, accepted an invitation from Rick to come home and listen to this new stuff as long as he'll stfu about real music by proper bands... then a bloke they've met fronts them credit to press 300 copies of a 12", Rick wholesales it out of his boot and at age 33, 20 years into his career as a professional musician, Karl makes a profit on a record for the first time. And the bloke who arranged the pressing continues to look after their business affairs and knock about in the studio with them for another 28 years and counting.

(maffew may have a better grasp on the continuity with the Dogboy book to hand - this all feels like years in Karl's despair-memory, but the pivot is ludicrously fast if you try and clock a timeline.)

"M.E." always felt a little out of place on dubnobass, makes sense that it was one of the holdouts from the earlier incarnation. never really appreciated it until i heard the FM mix, which isn't that different apart from the intro, but the intro is so good and the other small tweaks add up to it being significantly better

Even the dubnob version is the same one they released on/as Tomato over a year earlier, before Rez

sic: I'm in the middle of all that toward the end of the book. But that can't be quite right.... Karl off to Minneapolis was early 1990. And, "Thanksgiving 1989, Underworld gathered for a last supper ..."

Didn't know about ME live in 91. I'll take down some notes here as I go and post back.

There's a bit about the Change the Weather album being finished by Rick on computer and everyone but Karl loving it, demanding it be done with real instruments. lol. Would love to hear Rick's version

ah, that does make more sense for a timescale - I got dazzled by confirming the date of that tape, but as I was typing I realised they were probably split already by the time of the gig, and just doing it as an earner.


(Per that site, Underworld finished the tour supporting Eurythmics in November 1989, played Glastonbury and no other shows in 1990, then two German gigs and a London club show in one week of September 1991. I think there are two band demo tapes from 1990 and 1991, but haven't heard them - do have a recording of one of the 1991 shows, and it's mostly new songs)

A few hours left to catch the Frankenstein score in situ btw!

Aha. I'll try and piece it all together fwiw. Good a time as any for me to finally play the demos from the time.

Frankenstein too! I only ever played the soundtrack once

Glastonbury '91 bit is funny. Sort of an in between time. Darren is involved then but I guess not at this little show...

https://i.imgur.com/uXf0CDS.jpg

Some more notes when I finish the book later the weekend

you just convinced me to get this book. ordered.

lol... i ordered it when sic posted a bit in the Underworld c or d thread.

I realize now there's confusion about whether they were at Glastonbury in 1990 or 91 (book is saying 91 - it comes right after a bit about the founding of Tomato in 91)... lemme cross reference with what I can.

Glastonbury 92 was the long Sound Field gig with Darren. I didn't realize there's a whole 90min of that online!:

https://www.mixcloud.com/jabril-ivory/underworld-experimental-sound-field-glastonbury-1992-1-hour-portion-official-pa-audio/