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

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u035-693400.png

35 Kittens
675 points, 14 votes
1999 album track from Beaucoup Fish

audio

Too low

"Kittens" (a storming epic), "Something Like A Mama" (jungle-inflected track like "Pearl's Girl" with its tongue in its cheek) and of course "King Of Snake". It's a strong album.

― Tim, Tuesday, October 17, 2000 11:00 AM

Everything Everything DVD-only audio

Kittens, which is...is...the sound of taking lots of drugs and feeling very expansive :) So between classic and dud, leaning on the classic side.

― o.munoz, Thursday, January 18, 2001 12:00 PM

audience video 2017, Rick alone and lasers going pew pew pewww

"Kittens". I heard a RealAudio excerpt of this when _BF_ came out and was suitably staggered. I was all set to run to the store to buy the album when I heard "Push Upstairs"... ew. (I've since grown used to that song, but I don't see anything overly special about it.)

― DJP, Thursday, January 18, 2001 12:00 PM

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

OMG! I did the same 33-45 mistake with the "Kittens" promo, with the same effect: the slow version easily trumped the "right" version.

― Eric H., Thursday, January 8, 2004 4:27 AM

That Wipeout 2097 page was sampled in the Tin There image, nbd.

― an, uh, razor of love (sic), Tuesday, June 16, 2020 3:43 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

omg oops wow

aw geez shit-talk on push upstairs in the comments ;_; (it was my first underworld song i think and is v close to my heart)

you gotta have tough skin in here will

Kittens was the greatest thing ever when I was 13

its a wonder they don't play it live more often. seems like it would bring the house down

kittens too low!!!!!!

this is Rowla Pie country

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u034-208597.png

34. Luetin 
677 points, 15 votes
2002 album track from A Hundred Days Off

audio
live audio 2002 with interview snippet

also too low

Hyde's lyrics are starting to annoy me more here and there these days, particularly on Luetin tho that is a fantastic track (a classic case of a track you are just casually listening to, a few minutes pass and then you just hit a moment and realise where you are who you are what's going on etc.)

― blueski, Friday, May 21, 2004 2:09 AM

The trick to Luetin for me is the strings. I often don't notice them come in, but I do, it's lovely. I can't even make out most of the lyrics on it though.

― Vinnie, Friday, May 21, 2004 2:20 AM

he says 'cokey cola'

― blueski, Friday, May 21, 2004 2:21 AM

Peel Session audio 2003
piano cover

Dan, I've just relistened to Luetin based on this post, and you're otm that it's great, but I don't think it's as satisfying for some reason.

― roxymuzak, Thursday, October 20, 2005 1:34 AM

Oh...but...I forgot this part where the synths come in.

― roxymuzak, Thursday, October 20, 2005 1:34 AM

https://i.imgur.com/t6CiTyf.jpg

hey at the very least my last relisten revealed that "luetin" is one of their best songs and is totally buried on that record!

― BradNelson, Tuesday, March 15, 2016 5:20 AM

^^^^ I have been saying this for years

― DJP, Tuesday, March 15, 2016 5:21 AM

great tune, glad to see it this high. but yeah Karl's lyrics on this one are kinda...uh...best not to pay too much attention

I never intentionally pay attention to Karl's lyrics, so it's always a nice surprise when a phrase catches on and sticks in my head, or I can associate a song with some words.

"The rhythm of keys swinging in your hand, the rhythm of light coming out of your fingers" - the latter part sat in the song as a general vibe of positivity, or a rave visual of lasers and splayed hands, for years before I suddenly locked it with the first half and realised they could be paired. Maybe Karl had spotted an extremely menial, quotidian image at a moment where the sun hit, and sparked a tiny hidden poem out of it.

that's so beautiful :')

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u033-822491.png

33. Surfboy and Spoon Deep
712 combined points, 16 total votes
11 votes for the 1994 album track from dubnobasswithmyheadman, which would have placed at 49 alone
plus the five previous for a remix released as sort of b-side while claiming to be a remix of a different song

audio
audience audio 2003 link at 8:20

Can't recall if it's "spoonman" or "surfboy" that i'm thinking of (think it's the latter), but it's the one where they go all stuttering miami electro bass and have the rising pitches sorta trailing off throughout the song, until it builds up and starts going "doo doo doo doo. doo doo doo doo" with this great little sound. that's always been a favorite.

― rentboy, Thursday, May 18, 2006 10:00 PM

"Surfboy" is underrated IMO

― DJP, Thursday, June 2, 2016 6:16 AM

"Surfboy" is always a wonderful surprise when I listen to dubnobass. I can remember the beginning, but I forget the crazy shifts it goes through. Because of this poll, maybe I'll finally remember what a brilliant track it is

i voted for "spoon deep" but a great track in both forms

"spoon deep" is just like getting your face mutilated by great techno

just posting these vinyl labels sic got me breaking down buying a copy!...... remaster is on eBay for not much

original "air towel" is pretty dull but the live jam version is so much better
"stagger" is just gorgeous

lol @"Rickless tour" (I caught this at Primavera Sound... playing dubnobass to a festival crowd was kinda brave... well they did finish with NUXX and all!). Wonder what Pricey is even up to in that video there, really?

(Spoiler alert: I now love “Push Upstairs”)

goddammit that IS a spoiler!

yeah, I wonder if Rick had health issues, or if - after effectively re-programming the album from scratch for the remaster, and then building a live version for the launch - he just couldn't face playing the same thing again every night, and was relieved to let Price tweak a few faders and let the sequencers get on with it

they said he was ill i think

fwiw, Karl's book mentions that after a Freur or MK1 gig with terrible sound, Rick did the group's sound from the stage from then on.... so even when it's the karaoke type gig, there's that I guess

(apparently they played Spikee on nights when it was Karl & Rick, and not on Price & Hyde. And Rick mixed the show from the booth in Cologne?)

I heard Spoon Deep only a few years ago in the small hours in a fog-filled railway arch with a bunch of very happy maniacs, and even by the regularly high standards of that particular institution at the time it stands out as a peak dancefloor moment. Surfboy is fine too, definitively 1993/94 dubby techno.

Final third of Surfboy is awesome

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u032-094621.png

32. Moaner 
724 points, 16 votes
1997 single for "Batman & Robin"

video video (4:10)
Tomato VHS promo (7:47)
full-length audio (10:23)

Tomato VHS promo (7:47)
full-length audio (10:23)

just like getting your face mutilated by great techno

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, June 16, 2020 4:32 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Okay, this live recording of "Moaner" I've found is absolutely BLINDING.

― DJP, Wednesday, January 5, 2005 9:15 AM

live 1999 audio (transitions out of Bruce Lee)

I've spent the last year or two or three periodically obsessing over "Moaner."

― nabisco, Thursday, February 21, 2008 6:03 AM

Moaner is almost everything I want from Underworld in one lethal shot.

― Eric H., Tuesday, July 17, 2007 5:49 AM

Yeah, I kind of can't believe there was a point where I hated that song. WTF, me from 10 years ago?

― DJP, Tuesday, July 17, 2007 6:05 AM

I liked it back then too, but I've always seemed to like Underworld at their most relentless. "Tin There" is blissful carnage.

― Eric H., Tuesday, July 17, 2007 6:19 AM

"moaner" was the first underworld track i heard, the 10-minute cut off of the batman & robin soundtrack. i was 10, maybe? it absolutely scared the shit out of me.

― BradNelson, Wednesday, July 6, 2011 3:42 PM

https://i.imgur.com/QaZWY4q.jpg

The thing about the vocals is that, well, for instance ... I would possibly agree that "Moaner" was just relentless boshing techno if the vocals weren't doing just as much rhythmic and dynamic work as a less-relentless instrumental track would; there is nothing necessarily better or smarter or less crude about coding that work into the synths instead of doing it through a vocal performance.

(I also love the rigorously simple structure of that song, btw, which spends exactly half the time doing an uphill boshing-techno climb, then starts over and repeats the exact same thing only New and Improved Now with Added Vocals!)

― nabisco, Tuesday, December 16, 2008 6:30 AM

official live video 2011

Underworld (vocals, and also talk about Boner)

moaner is both very good and absolutely too much

otm!

https://media.giphy.com/media/WUr3e8XeI0fbtLYsf1/giphy.gif

Glad my observation about blissful carnage was good enough to be included twice.

I was going to trim it but then Brad cited bradself too :D

Is Boston awake for one more tonight?

nyc's still up

too low!

Moaner too low-ner

"I Exhale" I mean.. that seems to be next. Though beating Moaner, pretty impressive!

we have one NYCer in the quotees on deck but probably not reading this thread

still, since folks are milling around

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31. If Rah
727 points, 15 votes
2016 single from album Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future
video
KCRW session video 2016 (link at 04:40)

luna luna luna!

my favourite from barbara, barbara

I have taught my toddlers how to sing the main synth theme from "If Rah" and they periodically request the song by shouting "LUNA LUNA LUNA" at me

I will accept my Greatest Dad Ever award now

― DJP, Wednesday, September 21, 2016 6:11 AM

official live video 2016

The moment where "If Rah" blossoms into a huge beam of light is probably my favorite single moment on the album.

― DJP, Friday, March 25, 2016 7:45 AM

BBC session for Later video 2016 (VPN to UK if unavailable)

I've been revisiting this album over the past couple of days and "If Rah" is really, really, really satisfying.

― DJP, Thursday, June 2, 2016 5:56 AM

https://i.imgur.com/eAKDO5o.jpg

big thing about "If Rah" is that it just bangs right out of the box, as though the usual slowbuild/intro was just lopped off. good decision IMO.

― frogbs, Wednesday, December 21, 2016 7:28 AM

and then it builds on top of that bang to become a bangernaut

― DJP, Wednesday, December 21, 2016 7:34 AM

I regret almost every single facet of my previous post

― DJP, Wednesday, December 21, 2016 7:34 AM

piano cover

I'm on the edge of my seat just on the order of the Barbara tracks

... goodnight!