why don't you poll me I feel like flying to... the UNDERWORLD Poll Results thread -- produced by Smith & Hyde for ILM Artist Poll #102

107 points from 3 voters were for Another Silent Way / Drift Poem / Better Than Diamonds from Drift Series 1 box set
album suite audio

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

for all those people whinging over the years saying that underworld suffered with the loss of Darren Emerson welcomed back with open arms and relentless legs

I love both this song and bld's hot spicy takes

yea the 15 minute version is really where it's at

I think I completely forgot to put Cherry Pie on my ballot

Damn, I forgot to include "Deep Arch" on mine.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u050-800816.png

50. Little Speaker 
451 points, 11 votes
2002 album track from A Hundred Days Off

audio

too fuckin low!!!!!

Early thoughts, obviously stand out tracks seem to be Little Speaker, that piano riff towards the end is absolutely hypnotic, just spins you round and round.

― Ronan, Wednesday, September 25, 2002 12:30 AM

Little Speaker is such a sharp tune as well, very subtle but I could imagine it working really well live too, it's just so perfectly layered at the end, like really good techno except more soul and less machine.

― Ronan, Wednesday, September 25, 2002 8:23 PM

piano cover

https://i.imgur.com/8moyUy6.jpg

I like parts of it such as the wobbly off-beat rhythm on "Little Speaker" or the ambience of "Twist" (the live versions blow this out of the water by the way) but a lot of it feels uninspired for this band...particularly "Dinosaur Adventure" which seems like an analgam of past UW successes constructed just for single purposes; "Sola Sistim" doesn't really go places and much of "Little Speaker" is kinda lame, especially as the bass drowns out everything else. I still like the album and think it's actually quite good for a post-2000 release from an electronic act but it was definitely a drop off from the first three. Come With Us I'd rate on the same level - not as good as the first three, does have some great tracks, just not enough substance for me

― frogbs, Tuesday, February 5, 2013 2:18 AM

I retract that now, Little Speaker ain't lame & the album has plenty of substance

too late buddy! everything anyone says on the internet once has to remain their opinion forever

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u049-033767.png

49. Oich Oich
461 points, 11 votes
1996 CD5 b-side

audio

nice young men

too late buddy! everything anyone says on the internet once has to remain their opinion forever

lol don't I know it. I've accidentally argued with myself on a music board more than once

anyway..."Oich Oich" is incredible, my favorite off the Pearl's Girl EP. wish there was an even longer version

Actually, there's one called Oich Oich that I like a lot too... Maybe that.

― KeefW, Thursday, May 18, 2006 8:27 AM

There is a 'jam' version from their old website. It's pretty good too.

― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, April 22, 2015 12:55 PM

jam audio

https://i.imgur.com/YqfDAx9.jpg

A life without Faxed Invitation, Peach Tree, Trim, Best Mamgu Ever, Oich Oich, 8 Ball, Thing In A Book, and River of Bass is a life not worth living.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, May 31, 2018 2:19 AM

God tier three track single right there

https://i.ibb.co/Tmhhtp7/zepp-karlface.gif

I probably put "Oich Oich" too low. That dreamy guitar hook has been haunting me since we voted. It's a dark-sounding track with an incredible lightness to it

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/interupt-dirtyguitar.png

With 456 votes from 9 voters, the white label remix Dirty Guitar by Lemon Interupt would have placed at 52 on discrete votes.

audio
audience audio 1998

Ouch Oich Jam is new to me. Wonder why they didn’t include that on the box set. I never kept up with their website, sounds like there might have been lots of other alternate takes I’ve. Issued out on.

*missed

They did looooads of sketches & demos & things in the early duo years, some low-bitrate live shows, and a handful of alternate or early versions. The Dark Train that's on the "cutting room floor" mix was released as a standalone, and a few more MAY OR MAY NOT turn up in this poll yet!

The Something Like A Mama / Nuxx jam upthread was a website giveaway - here's another Mama-related joint, for fun.

oh wow i'd never heard "mama / nuxx jam" and "oich oich jam" before, both rule

voted for a bunch of recent tracks: "brilliant yes that will be" is one of their best ambient tracks, "glam bucket" is gorgeous, what really makes "another silent way" is that piano. i absolutely should have had "something like a mama" higher, that sort of mode is one of their best and i love that bassline

oh phew I did vote for Toluca Stars

now did I leave the stove on....

You're getting a banging donk on it already

https://media.giphy.com/media/Yn5tD2eBfI30BlDA03/giphy.gif

Many, many, many, many people have asked me "Rick, how do you approach a remix?"

Rick Smith : How to Remix

Is everyone having a chilled morning?

Cute videos

I'm good

you know who is chilled?

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u048-920115.png

48. Ova Nova 
466 points, 11 votes, 1 #1
2016 single from album Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future

video by Tomato / Simon Taylor
KCRW session video 2016 (link at 41:45)

Respect to whoever gave this a #1.

Fantastic tune

"low burn" and "ova nova" are very og underworld while the rest is verrrryyyy different

― BradNelson, Tuesday, March 8, 2016 5:48 PM

btw NPR is offering "Ova Nova" up as a streamable song and it's kind of incredible

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/07/468737177/songs-we-love-underworld-ova-nova

Between this and "I Exhale", I feel like they've finally hit upon an iteration of the "Bruce Lee"/"Ring Road" template that works extremely well for me rather than making me want to die.

― DJP, Wednesday, March 9, 2016 4:58 AM

instrumental audio

https://i.imgur.com/zp21ip3.jpg

fan cover

"Ova Nova" is so damn good, I'm getting chills from it

― frogbs, Tuesday, April 26, 2016 4:02 AM

bliss

I was the guy who put this at #1, tough decision but it felt right in the end

chillest dude 2020

Ova Nova had managed to bounce off me completely until after the ballots closed, and it's currently one of my favourite Underworld songs.

Listening a lot to BBWFASF after submitting my ballot I wish I'd put it higher on mine too

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u047-208623.png

47. Confusion The Waitress
467 points, 14 votes

1996 album track from Second Toughest In The Infants
audio
live audio 1996

Barbara is so cohesive after the first two (excellent) tracks you almost don't want to talk about it cuz you might sound like you're calling it "samey"... but they're all distinct tracks that manage to sustain a certain...ok, chill

(Holy crap, "Santiago Cuatro" is cuatro minutes long??)

i think ova nova was my highest rated barbara track? maybe if rah was higher. i refuse to look at my ballot and get acquainted with how wrong i was

I was the guy who put this at #1, tough decision but it felt right in the end

― frogbs, Monday, June 15, 2020 6:11 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

extremely respectable no. 1!

I relistened to 2nd Toughest and, surprisingly, didn't hate it. I still feel like the recorded versions of most of the songs aside from "Rowla" and "Pearl's Girl" don't have the same impact that they do in a live setting (ESPECIALLY "Confusion The Waitress", which really kills the momentum of the album) but I have a much smaller chip on my shoulder about the actual album than I used to

I still rank it behind all of their other albums though, except maybe Oblivion With Bells

― DJP, Wednesday, October 24, 2012 1:32 AM

I never really had a problem with "Confusion". You kind of need to listen to it on good headphones to catch all the little things that go on on that album. It just captures SO MUCH of what was great about the whole 90's electro scene (dubnobass did too, but kind of had its own sound)

― frogbs, Wednesday, October 24, 2012 1:38 AM

audience audio 1998

https://i.imgur.com/yzp5ZWJ.jpg

Darren Emerson remix, for more speculation on what he brought to their songwriting

she said

You kind of need to listen to it on good headphones to catch all the little things that go on on that album.

very true

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u046-745074.png

46. Mother Earth    
485 points, 11 votes inc 2 for FM
1992 12" by Tomato featuring Underworld

audio
1990 demo audio (mp3)

omg M.E. is SO GREAT AND UNDERRATED

― Stevie D, Friday, September 23, 2016 6:40 AM

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

― nomar, Friday, September 23, 2016 6:52 AM

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

― groovypanda, Friday, September 23, 2016 6:29 PM

FM Mix audio
1991 live audio

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

piano cover

Although I don't understand why folks are so down on 'M.E.' ... I love that one!

― Turrican, Thursday, June 2, 2016 5:57 AM

M.E is ace. One of my favourite tracks of theirs.

― groovypanda, Thursday, June 2, 2016 6:01 AM

I shoulda voted for that one.

Still one of my favourites although this being Underworld, that wasn't quite enough to make my top 10

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u045-005880.png

45. Dune 
488 points, 10 votes
2019 digital single as part of Drift

Volkswagen Play The Road video 2013
Drift video by Simon Taylor and Carys Staton

Another find from the Drift box on relistening for this poll.

A beautiful thing