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

Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have been making music together for four decades and counting, from the Screen Gemz 7" in 1979, to the Drift box set in 2019. Most of it has been under the name Underworld, and much of Underworld's output has been lengthy compositions, often with multiple various arrangements. While you're trapped inside or working from home due to the pandemic, what better time to listen to loads of it and decide which you like best?

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

In this poll, you can vote for up to SEVENTY SEVEN (77) songs, ranked in order.

You must vote for at least 13.

Once you've voted for 20 properly different songs, you can vote for variations - different mixes, recordings, uses of the same elements under different titles, and so on.

(Sometimes it's not clear what is and isn't a different piece: eligibility lists below will attempt to distinguish via bolding, for major releases*. I'll figure out how to represent them in the tally depending on whether anything gets enough votes to stand out separately.)

ANY SONG that Smith and / or Hyde have played on, performed, written or produced can be voted for. Here is a fairly exhaustive list of songs/tracks from their mainly-electronic period of 1992-2019, but if you want to vote for earlier incarnations of Underworld, or [squiggle] Freur, or side projects or soundtrack work, go ahead (and feel free to campaign below, with links).

Ranking albums is optional and fun! Minimum of 5, maximum of 15.

Send your ballots to ilxpollster [at] gmail [dot] com by midnight on FRIDAY 22nd MAY. Please arrange from your #1 picks at the top, but do not number your lists.

If anyone has a borndirty login, or has IRL/elsewhere Underworld pals, go ahead and spread the link around. The more voters, the bigger the party.

i'm not ready for this

I was making a single-page site with a list of songs and versions, but wordpress deleted it for inexplicable TOS reasons while I was dinking about in a table. So I'll keep this thread bumping with serialised lists, and do an all-in-one-place list somewhere after that.

*For versions, let's skip Rick's notated versions like (3 comp75 id9 a1771 aug 93a) and (a1558 nov 92b.1) from the archival box sets.

While many of the remixes credited to Underworld are largely one or two very long new compositions by Smith, we'll also leave 'em out of this poll. If this upsets anyone, we can do a sequel.

From the Riverrun period, you can vote for a whole half-hour release as a track, and/or any individual movement as a track, given that some pieces came out separately and many didn't. The three Riverruns overall count as one album for album polling purposes.

haha max ballot size of 77 this is going to be wild. i think i could manage about 40 at most but will probably end up around 25 to stay sane

to be clear is it only ballots of 20 or more can have votes for alt versions etc., or just top 20 can't have multiple alts of the same track?

UNDERWORLD ALBUMS:

Underneath The Radar 1988
Change The Weather 1989
Dubnobasswithmyheadman 1994
Second Toughest In The Infants 1996
Beaucoup Fish 1999
Everything Everything (live album / DVD) 2000
A Hundred Days Off 2002
Riverrun 2005-2006
Breaking And Entering: Music from the Film (Underworld and Gabriel Yared) 2006
Oblivion With Bells 2007
Sunshine: Music from the Motion Picture (John Murphy & Underworld) 2007 (rel 2008)
Barking 2010
Frankenstein: Music from the Play 2011
Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future 2016
Manchester Street Poem: Installation Score 2017 (rel 2019)
Drift [Series 1] 2018-2019

If you feel strongly about a Freur LP, or a Rick Smith solo score, or a Karl Hyde & Brian Eno collabo album, fill yr silver boots in the tracks section, but I'm locking this list down.

what about Live in Tokyo 2005

Incidentally, the filmed versions of Frankenstein are both up for free viewing this week. Directed by Danny Boyle for the National Theatre in 2011, the leads traded roles each night. Here's Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature and Benedict Cumberbatch as the doctor, and here's the Cumbercreature version.

what about Live in Tokyo 2005

― ufo, Tuesday, May 5, 2020 4:27 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

aaaah wow! i know there's a list around here somewhere of upcoming polls but I'd lost track of it. I'm definitely in for this.

It's tangly though...

> While many of the remixes credited to Underworld are largely one or two very long new compositions by Smith, we'll also leave 'em out of this poll. If this upsets anyone, we can do a sequel.

So, Spoon Deep, 215 Miles, Thing in a Book... they're out? That's really odd, considering I can vote for "The Piano Song" or "Sydney Hotel Room Peal". Some or all may have seen release without the "mix" naming, if that matters. And then there's "Born Slippy", which has been the title of the big hit and its "original" instrumental song, depending on the release. Maybe your master list of songs would be good to have so we could copy and paste.

Thanks for doing this!

i'm pretty sure sic means remixes of other artists

the best way to share the master list of songs would be a google docs spreadsheet imo and just inform everyone in a post if you've made any significant updates etc

what about Live in Tokyo 2005

nah, no recorded-and-sold-on-the-night concerts either. Everything Everything, as an album, is an elaborate studio creation mixed from live performances in a bunch of large rooms, like dubnobass is an elaborate studio creation mixed from live performances in one small room with no paying audience.

to be clear is it only ballots of 20 or more can have votes for alt versions etc., or just top 20 can't have multiple alts of the same track?

The former! If you're nerdy enough to list 20 tracks at all, you unlock the power-up of listing multiple versions. If you really want to, you can then have your entire top eight be tracks that at some point were released on a CD with the words "Dark & Long" on the spine.

I kind of assumed anyone who has that many tracks they wanted to give shine to will cluster variety at the top, but classicists can totally get 45 down on their ballot before the second album.

I think of myself as a pretty big UW fan, own many of their albums, have seen them live, but tbh there's so much I haven't heard, among soundtracks, Drift songs, mixes, etc. Pretty overwhelming. The one thing I know I absolutely have to hear before voting is Oblivion with Bells; beyond that, we'll see what I have the time for

that's the spirit!

Oblivion With Bells is one of my favourite post-Beaucoup Fish albums, some real standouts like "Crocodile"/"Beautiful Burnout", "Glam Bucket" and "Best Mamgu Ever".

yeah I've never heard Barking or Barbara in full either iirc

i'm pretty sure sic means remixes of other artists

Yes, apologies for non-clarity there.

the best way to share the master list of songs would be a google docs spreadsheet imo and just inform everyone in a post if you've made any significant updates etc

tbh one potential benefit of serialising the lists: gives people a chance to shout at me about what is and isn't a different song if they disagree with how I've broken 'em up, before I finalise a single list

fair enough!

here's a (very possibly incomplete) list of tracks & remixes/edits that aren't available on streaming, from the period roughly from dubno through to beaucoup fish. everything else from that period seems to be available either on one of the compilations or in the deluxe editions
Minneapolis Airwaves
Why Why Why (Edit) (released on The Best of Volume Part 1, 1995)
Why Why Why (Remix) (released on Volume Eight, 1993)
Dark & Long (Spoon Deep)
Dark & Long (Dark Hard)
Cowgirl (Winjer Mix)
Born Slippy .TEL EMATIC
Pearl's Girl (Carp Dreams...Koi)
Pearl's Girl (Short)
Rowla (Extended Mix)
Juanita (Short Cut)
Moaner (Long Version) (this isn't the 10 minute version just the album version with an intro that was only on the single)
Moaner (Relentless Legs Mix)
Moaner (Short Version)
Push Upstairs (The Full Length of It)
Push Upstairs (The Large Unit)
Push Upstairs (Radio Edit)
Jumbo (Edit)
Bruce Lee (Short)
Bruce Lee (Dobropet)
King of Snake (Straight (Mate) Mix)
King of Snake (Barking Mix)
King Of Snake (Rick's Bungalow Remix)

i think only frogbs will back me up in thinking oblivion with bells is their best album. idk every song hits

i'm glad i have some familiarity with the remixes already otherwise this would be an overwhelming listening project. expect a high placing for thing in a book

ELIGIBILITY LISTS

no straight 'edit's listed, votes for 'short' and '7"' mixes will be noted but count toward the song overall. track times are not definitive, and are included to help you determine which version of a track you might be thinking of.



LEMON INTERUPT / TOMATO ERA

Dirty [Lemon Interrupt 1992, re-released as Dirty Epic (Dirty Mix) by Underworld in 1994] 10:19
Dirty Guitar [Lemon Interupt 1992, re-released as Dirty Epic (Dirty Guitar Mix) by Underworld in 1994] 10:02
Dirty Epic dubnobasswithmyheadman [1994] 9:56

Minneapolis [Lemon Interupt 1992] 10:04
Minneapolis Airwaves [Lemon Interupt 1992] 3:03

Bigmouth [Lemon Interupt 1992] 10:07

Eclipse [Lemon Interupt 1992] 13:01

Mother Earth [Tomato 1992, also M.E. on dubnob 1994] 7:12
Mother Earth (FM Mix) [Tomato 1992] 5:42

The Hump (Wild Beast) [Tomato 1992] 6:26
The Hump (Groove Without A Doubt) [Tomato 1992, remixed by Stepping Razor [Rick & Darren]] 8:52

The Big Meat Show [1992 / unreleased til 2012] 9:05

Putting in an early shout for the Breaking and Entering soundtrack, and the songs St Pancras and Counterpoint Hang Pulse in particular. They're both beautiful, evolving ambient movements that sound great for hours at a time on repeat. Realistically don't expect either of these to place, and they shouldn't with the amount of amazing material from their studio albums, but these are exceptional pieces of music that would be help up as modern masterpieces if they had been released in the last 5 years on Erased Tapes.

Counterpoint Hang Pulse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aCHF4kXql0

St Pancras
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rIrUmfMSTg

I also think Oblivion with Bells is their best album. Love it. I wore my purple OWB tour t-shirt yesterday. Glam Bucket sounded so much bigger/better live.

i'm not too familiar with much of the non-album stuff so i'm busy making a playlist right now. some of these tracks have quite the history - "second hand" is an edit of "thing in a book" which is a remix? of "dark & long" (but is basically entirely something new)

i do wanna rep for "i'm a big sister, and i'm a girl, and i'm a princess, and this is my horse" which i went to sleep to for a few months

oh Mother Earth (FM Mix) is another that's not on streaming

Drift and Riverrun to be ranked as albums...... i'm gonna need a spreadsheet

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5qIqg9x4lKvq1DR4BKFXdX

here's an attempt at a playlist of their non-album material pre-A Hundred Days Off. a few tracks like "Ramajama" and "The Big Meat Show" were from that era though unreleased at the time. i haven't included any of the demos or jams from the deluxe editions and tried to keep the "remixes" to the Underworld-authored ones that are most distinctively different from the originals and not just extended mixes or radio edits or slightly different arrangements but please let me know if there's one i've missed that's also on streaming. i might make a youtube playlist for as much of the rest as i can find later

i do wanna rep for "i'm a big sister, and i'm a girl, and i'm a princess, and this is my horse" which i went to sleep to for a few months

the whole EP is great but "Wedge"/"Showlder" is really some of the most gorgeous music I've ever heard in my life

i think only frogbs will back me up in thinking oblivion with bells is their best album. idk every song hits

it's definitely in my top 3, which place I don't really know yet

imo the 3 best are dubnobass, OWB, and Drift Sampler (doesn't seem fair to rank a 6 hour release among everything else so idk yet how I'm gonna rank that) in some order

i don't really have any idea how any of the riverrun EPs are really split off beyond the few tracks they released separately

Drift and Riverrun to be ranked as albums...... i'm gonna need a spreadsheet

A three-track album that's 90 minutes long, and a fifty-ish-track one that's six hours long. Easy!

"Ramajama" and "The Big Meat Show" were from that era though unreleased at the time. i haven't included any of the demos or jams from the deluxe editions

I was counting Ramajama as one of the demos from the deluxe Fish. No other release apart from the Darren Price mix posted to Soundcloud last month, right?

idk i was counting it as different from the demos since it didn't have the same annotations in the track title, taking that to mean it was a more finished track they just never released until the BC deluxe reissue. who really knows what the distinction is though

i really don't think i'm going to get through any of the boxset jams/demos etc. unless anyone has some favourites to recommend. they really have so much out there

They're not eligible, so save them for later!

UNDERWORLD MK II ERA

Rez • [1993 12"] 9:58

Why, Why, Why • [1993 12" b-side] 12:24
Why Why Why? [Volume remix 1993] • [comp exclusive] 5:16
Why Why Why? [Volume Wasted remix 1993] • [comp exclusive] 8:20

Spikee • [1993 12"] 12:33
Dogman Go Woof • [1993 12"] 12:15

Mmm...Skyscraper I Love You • [1993 12", also on dubnob 1994] 13:10
Mmm...Skyscraper I Love You (Telegraph 16.11.92) • [1993 remix / b-side] 7:09
Mmm...Skyscraper I Love You (Jam Scraper) • [1993 remix / b-side] 9:15

Dark & Long • 7:35
Dark & Long (Hall's) • [aka 7" - remix by Steven Hall] 4:10
Dark Train • [aka Dark & Long (Dark Train)] 9:55
Dark Hard • [aka Dark & Long (Dark Hard)] 11:34
Most 'Ospitable • [aka Dark & Long (Most 'ospitable)] 5:56
Burts • [aka Dark & Long (Burts)] 8:48
215 Miles • [aka Dark & Long (215 Miles)] 20:07

Surfboy • dubnobasswithmyheadman [1994] 7:34
Spoon Deep • [aka Dark & Long (Spoon Deep) - faster remix of Surfboy, not D&L] 17:59

Thing In A Book • [aka Dark & Long (Thing In A Book), but another distinct track] 20:15
Second Hand • [reworking of Thing In A Book for Cafe Del Mar] 9:01

Spoonman • dubnobasswithmyheadman [1994] 7:42
Tongue • dubnobasswithmyheadman [1994] 4:50
River Of Bass • dubnobasswithmyheadman [1994] 6:26

Cowgirl • dubnobasswithmyheadman [1994] 8:29
Cowgirl (Irish Pub In Kyoto Mix) • [remix] 11:46
Cowgirl (Winjer Mix) • [remix, related to Underworld's remix of Lush by Orbital] 6:25

Born Slippy • [1995 single, later released as "original instrumental version"] 8:32

. NUXX • [aka Born Slippy .NUXX [various lengths inc:]] 11:46
Born Slippy NUXX (2003 12" Version) • [remix by Rick] 7:04
Born Slippy NUXX (Down Version) • [2003 ambient mix by Rick] 4:55
Slow Slippy • [2017 Trainspotting 2 restretch] 3:50
Long Slow Slippy • [2017 single restretch] 11:51

Deep Pan • [aka Born Slippy .NUXX (Deep Pan)] 9:59
.TELEMATIC • [aka Born Slippy .TEL EMATIC] 9:40

oh Dark & Long (215 Miles) is another missing from streaming that i forgot about.

UWMKII: SECOND

Juanita • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996]
Juanita (Promo Short Cut) • [1997 promo] 3:49
Kiteless • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996]
To Dream Of Love • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996]
Banstyle / Sappy's Curry • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996] 15:23
Air Towel • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996] 7:37
Airtowel A2778 Live Jam for Web Dec 2000 • [streamed 2000, released 2019] 10:20
Blueski • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996] 3:03
Stagger • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996] 7:37

Confusion The Waitress • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996] 6:47
Confusion The Waitress (Remix) • [mix by Emerson] 7:29
Mosaic • [1996 b-side related to CFW] 5:00

Rowla • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996] 6:31
Cherry Pie • [early Rowla iteration released as Pearl's b-side] 8:25
Rowla (Long Version) • [12" 1996] 8:24

Pearl's Girl • Second Toughest In The Infants [1996] 9:37
Pearl's Girl (short) • [single 1996] 4:25
Pearl's Girl (Tin There) • [1996 b-side] 8:16, also
Tin There • [various Wipeout 2097 Soundtrack edits 1996]
Pearl's Girl (14996 Version) • [1996 b-side] 9:05
Pearl's Girl (Carp Dreams... Koi) • [1996 b-side] 10:09

Oich Oich • [1996 b-side] 8:35
Deep Arch • [1996 b-side] 8:25
Puppies • [1996 b-side] 3:54

Oh • [1997 A Life Less Ordinary OST] 5:51

Moaner • [1997 Batman track / single] 10:21
Moaner (short version) • [1997 single] 4:08
Moaner (Relentless Legs Mix) • [1997 remix] 10:12
Moaner [BF album version] • [1999 edit for Beaucoup Fish] 7:41

Are You Rockstar • [broadcast on satellite 1997, on livestream 2008, exact same version released as download 2019] 4:55

i object to splitting up "Juanita : Kiteless : To Dream of Love" though, it's one big piece and i'd have a tough time telling you exactly which part is which, especially since "Juanita/Kiteless" from Everything Everything is a significant enough rearrangement.

"Cherry Pie" should have been on the album instead of "Rowla"

but like... what a track "Juanita : Kiteless : To Dream of Love" is. i think Second Toughest is a little inconsistent as an album but it hardly matters when it opens with that followed by another 15 minute epic.

yeah, I only tweaked that yesterday (after poking at this for months) bcz the single "Juanita" version exists, and the titling of J : K : TDOL vs Banstyle/Sappy's convinced me that the band intended the two suites to read as 1. three pieces or movements, vs 2. two versions of a piece. If folks vote for it as one piece, I'll reflect that in the tally.

Tin There is totally a version of Pearls (or at least wholly derived from that drum pattern), but so many people came to the band via Wipeout that I wanted to honour its other life.

wow "Thing in a Book" rules

it does!

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

and here is a youtube playlist of every track through Beaucoup Fish that's missing from streaming, including radio edits etc.

the only ones that aren't even on youtube are the following:
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 nothing else)

UWmkII: more, finish

Push Upstairs (The Full Length Of It) • [1998 single] 6:10
Push Upstairs [album version] • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 4:34
Push Upstairs (The Large Unit) • [1998 remix] 5:39
Push Downstairs • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 6:04

King Of Snake (original version) • [1999 single] 8:55
King Of Snake (Straight (Mate) Mix) • [1999 remix] 3:54
King Of Snake (Barking Mix) • [1999 remix] 3:56
King Of Snake (Rickʼs Bungalow Mix) • [1999 remix] 8:48
Shudder / King Of Snake [album version] • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 9:32


Cups • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 11:45
Winjer • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 4:29
Skym • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 4:09
Kittens • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 7:31
Something Like A Mama • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 6:38

Bruce Lee • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 4:42
Bruce Lee (Short) • [1999 single] 2:58
Bruce Lee (Dobropet) • [1999 remix] 4:11

Jumbo • Beaucoup Fish [1999] 6:58
Jumbo [extended anthology version] • [comp exclusive] 9:12

Please Help Me • [1999 b-side] 7:35

8 Ball • [2000 The Beach OST] 8:55

good morning

you bring light in

UNDERWORLD MK III ERA

Two Months Off • [2002 single & A Hundred Days Off] 9:08

Dinosaur Adventure 3D • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 7:56
Dinosaur Adventure 3D (R.C.M. Version) • [2003 remix] 8:09

Twist • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 6:24
Twist (Music Bank Jam Take 7) • [rehearsal version of live arrangement recorded 2005, released 2019] 10:46

Mo Move • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 6:54
Sola Sistim • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 6:26
Little Speaker • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 8:38
Trim • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 3:23
Ess Gee • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 2:22
Ballet Lane • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 3:39
Luetin • A Hundred Days Off [2002] 7:00

Tiny Clicks • [2002 b-side] 2:16
Headset • [2002 b-side] 5:59
Like A Swimmer • [2003 b-side] 5:26
Ansum • [2003 b-side] 16:17

020202 (Old Mix) • [2002 track, released 2008] 6:04
020202 (New Mix) • [remix released 2008] 6:35

Biro The Leggy (Romford Dub) • [performed live from 2000, on broadcasts from 2004, Romford Dub version recorded 2006 & released as download 2019] 9:43

Small Conker And A Twix • [performed live over many years (& included as part of You Do Scribble on Live In Tokyo), released as download 2019] 5:17



Riverrun 1: Lovely Broken Thing [2005]
JAL To Tokyo
Billy Goat
Peggy Sussed
Dub Shepherd
Lenny Penne
Monkey Wink
Witness

Riverrun 2: Pizza For Eggs [2005]
Food a Ready
Back in the Fears
Vanilla Monkey - Flatz
Ancient Phat Farm Coat
Play Pig

Riverrun 3: I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess, and This Is My Horse [2006]
Peach Tree
Mowed Path
Showlder
Wedge
11 Hundred Hz

various other versions exist of many Riverrun tracks




Crocodile • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 6:32
Beautiful Burnout • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 8:11
Holding the Moth • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 5:31
Ring Road • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 4:33
Glam Bucket • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 5:48
Boy, Boy, Boy • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 6:07
Cuddle Bunny vs The Celtic Villages • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 2:24
Faxed Invitation • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 4:46
Good Morning Cockerel • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 2:30
Best Mamgu Ever • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 9:12


To Heal • Oblivion With Bells [2007] 2:38
To Heal (And Restore Broken Bodies) • [2008 Songs For Tibet exclusive] 4:59

Loads Of Birds • [Japanese exclusive 2007] 5:30

Sydney Hotel Room Peal • [2006, released as download 2019] [credited as 2008 in notes, but appears to have been slowed down to turn into Primrose Hill from Breaking & Entering OST (2006)] 14:13

Phonestrap 1 • Phonestrap [2008] 1:59
Phonestrap 2 • Phonestrap [2008] 2:02
Phonestrap 3 • Phonestrap [2008] 2:02
Phonestrap 4 • Phonestrap [2008] 2:31
Phonestrap 5 • Phonestrap [2008] 2:16
Phonestrap 6 / Autotrader 4 • Phonestrap [2008] 7:10

Parc • [from The Bells The Bells, 2008 Japanese exclusive comp - live versions titled Darc also released] 4:17

totally recommend "Parc" if you haven't heard it, one of their best B-sides. kinda surprised it didn't made OWB

that said I feel like it was maybe never finished

Pearl's Girl (Tin There) • [1996 b-side] 8:16, also
Tin There • [various Wipeout 2097 Soundtrack edits 1996][i]

Going to stunt for the latter of these two. It's much less blown out, but I dig its strict crescendo-decrescendo symmetry better than the [i]Pearls Girl version's variations.

that said I feel like it was maybe never finished

yeah, even Parc (made for a Japanese radio station, first broadcast May 2008) is remixed from this live performance of Darc in July 2005. They may have never even tried to do a studio version per se, and almost certainly weren't still working on it by the time of recording Oblivion.

The notes on Sydney Hotel Room Peal:

‘I remember when Rick first sent me this piece he’d written in his hotel room in Sydney back in 2008 (I seem to remember him taking his laptop into the fire-exit stairwell to listen to the natural reverb and getting very excited...). For many many years, it was my go-to piece for combating my insomnia. It was only this weekend, when I was talking to Rick about the track that I realised that was precisely what he wrote it for.’ (Mike Gillespie - UW manager)

maybe Primrose came first?

....

Just cuz they haven't been mentioned a lot yet.... Second Toughest and Barbara Barbara are going to be high on my ballot!

https://youtu.be/4izZYfo58-E

anyone new to Barbara, check the full version (and whole album) if this single edit does anything for you. I remember fans being pretty divided when this hit. I just loved it. Remember just being amazed they still had new directions left in them......... and then Drift!

wow "Mother Earth (FM Mix)" is fantastic, love that melancholy sax intro. significantly better than the album version

my favourite from Barbara, Barbara is "If Rah". luna luna luna luna luna!

in love with

tie strunky tape to it

I like Barbara except for the first two songs. Really love Twenty Three Blue, the Japanese bonus track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxELB8NMBWk

yeah that really should have been on there, it's not like there wasn't room for it.

maybe Primrose came first?

yeah, or the manager might have been given a track in 2008 that Rick had made years earlier, or been fiddling with Primrose to try and crack its soporific powers ever since.

"born slippy .nuxx" has to be their only track that actually works better in 4 minute radio edit form

like the full-length studio version just kinda meanders around without any clear direction to go in once it's bored of the vocals + that transcendent synth riff and even in the live versions where they bring the the riff back in eventually that's better but it doesn't really feel earned?

oh i just realised the Eno/Hyde stuff is eligible i love those records but i'd have no idea how to rank anything from them against underworld material

I'm embarking on a listen-through now, roughly drawing the line at no later-released variant mixes & no solo stuff / collaborations, however "no live" is a step too far, Everything Everything needs to be in there, and...? Is there anything obvious I'm missing out with this approach? Also I will absolutely be putting Doot-Doot in my top 10, sorry, unavoidable.

polling all this seems like rank madness to me and i won't play but i am loving listening to all this stuff so thanks guys

Live In Tokyo 25th November 2005 is a pretty essential listen even if sic isn't allowing votes for it

just come up with your top 77 tracks and then randomise their order Noodle


roughly drawing the line at no later-released variant mixes & no solo stuff / collaborations

I listed the two later NUXX revisits bcz they were singles, but I'll be surprised if anyone votes for them at all


however "no live" is a step too far, Everything Everything needs to be in there, and...?

Everything Everything is in there as an album, and ppl are welcome to add notes about favourite live versions of compositions to their ballots

Doot Doot needs no apology

it just plays best to me as one endless woosh of music, like the Autechre that probably doesn't annoy my neighbours as much

we're saying the same thing imo

nah i get ya

Voting for this (not high up), think it's obscure enough that a few people here won't have heard it, so here's the signal boost -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LDgHJq1LDw

Stoked for this.

And I think I'm right in assuming that once you've voted for 20 tracks you could, for example, have both Dark Train and Dark & Long in your Top 20?

And I guess Edgeland etc is admissible?

Everything Everything is in there as an album, and ppl are welcome to add notes about favourite live versions of compositions to their ballots

Anything that ensures that the version of "Juanita" that officially ranks is the album/single version gets my whole-hearted support.

will be surprised if that's not #1 tbh. An independent Rez will split the Cowgirl vote.

And I think I'm right in assuming that once you've voted for 20 tracks you could, for example, have both Dark Train and Dark & Long in your Top 20?

If you're nerdy enough to list 20 tracks at all, you unlock the power-up of listing multiple versions. If you really want to, you can then have your entire top eight be tracks that at some point were released on a CD with the words "Dark & Long" on the spine.

studio Juanita is excellent but the one on Everything Everything just sounds like the perfection of house music to me

here's my super obscure track of choice. iirc I think one of the fans convinced them to put this out on underworldlive.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OWy4NlAdV8

will be surprised if that's not #1 tbh. An independent Rez will split the Cowgirl vote.

If ppl have particular opinions that they don’t mind thinking of them as one, or Definitely Object to such revisionism, feel very welcome to add notes about this and other distinctions to your ballot. (You can just vote for them one point apart if yr especially keen to keep ‘en together in the results, of course.)

i'm definitely gonna do a 77 song ballot and i'm already tired

xp
i think it's appropriate they're distinct... if nothing else, they were both singles. Just when I think of what the real big ones are among fans, J/K/TDOL and Cowgirl/Rez are right at the top.

i'm learning a lot here already... this is great, thanks again!

man... they were gold from the moment "spikee" dropped

the whole EP is great but "Wedge"/"Showlder" is really some of the most gorgeous music I've ever heard in my life

I never learned the names of the songs within Riverrun... and just now I can't track down a list of what times they all start at. Anyone have one? Cuesheets or anything? Would be great for thread. Or I'll listen through and check them off as I go :p

nevermind, found em!

Riverrun track times:

1:

PERFORMER "Underworld"
TITLE "LovelyBrokenThing"
FILE "audio.mp3" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "JAL To Tokyo"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Billy Goat"
INDEX 01 05:37:00
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Peggy Sussed"
INDEX 01 11:39:00
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Dub Shepherd"
INDEX 01 14:00:00
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Lenny Penne"
INDEX 01 16:30:00
TRACK 06 AUDIO
TITLE "Monkey Wink"
INDEX 01 23:33:00
TRACK 07 AUDIO
TITLE "Witness"
INDEX 01 26:55:00

2:

PERFORMER "Underworld"
TITLE "Pizza For Eggs"
FILE "audio.mp3" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Food A Ready"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Back In The Fears"
INDEX 01 06:58:00
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Vanilla Monkey"
INDEX 01 09:14:00
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Flatz"
INDEX 01 13:42:00
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Ancient Phat Farm Coat"
INDEX 01 14:16:00
TRACK 06 AUDIO
TITLE "Play Pig"
INDEX 01 22:22:00

3:

TITLE "I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess, and This Is My Horse"
PERFORMER "Underworld"
FILE "05 I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess, and this is my Horse.mp3" MP3
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Peach Tree"
PERFORMER "Underworld"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Mowed Path"
PERFORMER "Underworld"
INDEX 01 10:03:00
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Showlder"
PERFORMER "Underworld"
INDEX 01 14:58:70
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Wedge"
PERFORMER "Underworld"
INDEX 01 18:35:27
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "11 Hundred Hz"
PERFORMER "Underworld"
INDEX 01 28:12:44

nearly forgot how amazing "most 'ospitable" is

selected ambient works quality ambient

studio Juanita is excellent but the one on Everything Everything just sounds like the perfection of house music to me

It is still fascinating to me how much most Underworld fans seem to prefer one over the other. This is not a new fight to me here at all.

move to combine points for STAR and Lenny Penne

*votes for every "dark & long" "remix"*

hell yes

really wish the deluxe reissues of the records were more exhaustive in their remix inclusions. i can't get rid of my singles for fear of losing "spoon deep"

"spoon deep" goes really well with this playthrough of system shock 2 i've been watching

And I guess Edgeland etc is admissible?

Songs are, album isn’t.

Tempted to vote for every track in that case.

even "dark hard" is ridiculously great!!! i hate this!!!!!

Ted Lopez
3 years ago
I dropped this track (respect to underworld) in summer 1994 san fernando california, at a warehouse event. .. shit was underground back then thanx.....

Not sure how anyone can possibly vote for less than 20 tracks.

I'll be doing the full 77 and already think there'll be some tough choices about what i want to leave out

Spoon Deep
215 Miles
Most Ospitible
Thing In A Book

All the Dark and Long “remixes” are career bests for any other band

I didn't include track times for the Riverruns because they're just what one rando with free editing software made up, but at least you posted them in the clearest, most practical way possible ;)

man... they were gold from the moment "spikee" dropped

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, May 7, 2020 11:57 PM (yesterday)

I also called up [the radio, as a teenager, to huff] when an announcer played something off dubnobasswithmyheadman and said "Nothing to do with the group that had a #1 single with Underneath The Radar! Completely different band."

― Elon's musk (sic), Wednesday, May 6, 2020 8:36 AM (two days ago)

Seriously considering sitting this out since ranking their tracks seems impossible.

Vote!

Imagine the hardest part will be ranking the Top 20 or so - after that it'll be fairly arbitrary anyway

I haven't even got to dubnobasswithmyheadman and I've already found a case where I much prefer a different mix, hmm.

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

I didn't include track times for the Riverruns because they're just what one rando with free editing software made up, but at least you posted them in the clearest, most practical way possible ;)

yall fucks with cuesheets, don't front

UND3RWORLD: big rooms, bass & collabs era

Downpipe (Original Club Mix) • [Mark Knight & D.Ramirez v Underworld, 2009] 8:10
Downpipe (Original Dub Mix) • [Mark Knight & D.Ramirez v Underworld, 2009] 8:10


Scribble • single and Barking [2010] 6:58
You Do Scribble • [broadcast 2008, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 8:04
You Do Scribble (Abbey Road version) • [iTunes bonus track 2010] 5:49
Scribble (Instrumental) [b-side] • [b-side 2010] 6:42
Scribble (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 7:05

Always Loved a Film • single and Barking [2010] 6:52
Always Loved A Film (Extended Club Mix) [2010] • [2010 remix] 7:52
Always Loved A Film (Lemonworld Mix) • [broadcast 2003, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 7:24
Always Loved A Film (Instrumental) • [b-side & promo 2010] 7:45

Bird 1 • Barking [2010] 6:51
Strumpet Groove • [c. 2008, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 7:10
Bird 1 (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 6:53
Hamburg Hotel • Barking [2010] 5:18
Hamburg Hotel Essex • [early version, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 3:21
Hamburg Hotel (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 5:16
Grace • Barking [2010] 5:11
Grace (Telematic Peal Mix) • [c. 2008-09, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 7:37
Grace (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 7:13
Between Stars • Barking [2010] 6:06
Between Stars (Lemonworld Mix) • [DJed 2009, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 4:55
Between Stars (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 6:35
Diamond Jigsaw • Barking [2010] 5:36
Diamond Jigsaw (Demo Mix) • [early version, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 3:51
Diamond Jigsaw (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 5:51
Moon in Water • Barking [2010] 5:42
Moon in Water (Lemonworld Mix) • [c. 2008, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 5:53
Moon In Water (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 5:50
Louisiana • Barking [2010] 5:05
Louisiana (Jumping the Cran) • [broadcast 2008, Barking Alternative Versions 2010] 2:05
Louisiana (Instrumental) • [promo 2010] 4:54

(every track bar Louisiana was finished by or with an outside producer; the Alternative Versions disc presents versions in varying developmental stages, but all from before they left Smith's desk.)


Simple Peal • [Japanese exclusive 2010] 4:32

The First Note Is Silent • [High Contrast feat. Tiesto & Underworld, 2011] 5:58


Caliban's Dream (feat. Dockhead Choir, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Only Men Aloud!, Elizabeth Roberts, Alex Trimble) • [Isles Of Wonder, 2012] 7:16
And I Will Kiss (feat. Dame Evelyn Glennie) • [Isles Of Wonder, 2012] 17:16
And I Will Kiss [A Collection 2 version] • [different intro on 2016 anthology version] 17:13

238 Days • [High Contrast feat. Underworld, 2012] 5:12

Ten (Club Mix) • [Sander van Doorn, Mark Knight & Underworld 2013] 6:08

Barking is surely their weakest record

I liked Barking a lot initially but some of the tracks are too straightforward to invite repeat listens. I'll probably still make room on my ballot for one or two tracks

Barking contains some incredible music. The lyrics to Bird 1 are my favorite 'story' songs of Karl's. There aren't many, but this one is very evocative. It was much better live as Strumpet. It ended up getting ruined for the album, same with Holding the Moth on Oblivion. Much better live. They ended up ruining the groove for it on the album. Also, I'll rep for both Moon In Water and Louisiana. I know remixes don't count, but their remix of William's Last Words by Manic Street Preachers is beautiful and fits the same vibe as those two. I'm pretty sure Karl re-did the vocals on that remix too, so it's essentially an Underworld cover of the Manic Street Preachers.

all the outside collaborations didn't really do them any favours by making them sound less like underworld

maybe it's wrong but i'll more readily listen to barking than a hundred days off

both great

a hundred days off is their second weakest imo but at least it has "two months off" and "sola sistem"

re: barking, the concept is cool if imperfectly executed, the songs are all pretty awesome. "between stars" is gonna be on my ballot

Only knew the singles, so familarising myself with Barking by listening to the instrumental version of the album, then the just-Underworld demos album, before the final version.

I'm pretty sure Karl re-did the vocals on that remix too, so it's essentially an Underworld cover of the Manic Street Preachers.

I ID3-tagged the two versions into two of my mega-compilations of non-album/non-era Underworld, rather than at the end of my two mega-compilations of UW remixes. Missing my ipod this week tbh, RIP.

looking forward to playing Barking again... fully expect it to place last but agree that it has a lot going for it. I guess they were in a rough time around then, almost breaking up around the Olympics (I'm not sure Karl worked on that stuff at all?). Apparently they found their spark again around the 2014 dubnobass reissue. I'm almost finished Karl's book (fun read).

Hundred Days, Barking, and Beaucoup Fish will all be a close call for me. I'm sure the latter will place high, but to me it's 4 absolute classics followed by a bunch of filler. Wonder if anything after that point could crack the list at all.

Looking forward to seeing all the ballots eventually!

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/

Karl makes a big deal of his dad getting to see him play Wembley with Debbie Harry... which was in July 91. Can see him here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5fe8cEY6VE

... then he says he's finally ready to give up the rocker thing and make "a different kind of music with Rick." He's done with Debbie now except for one more gig at CBGB's, where he pissed her off for being a rock guitar wanker (still). Apparently that's Nov 13, 1991 ( http://archive.blondie.net/gig_list_debbie_harry_solo.php )

About Glastonbury... well there was no Glastonbury in 1991. Mother Earth single was 1992. I'm thinking that little show behind the crowd couldn't have been 1990?

Karl Hyde you are an unreliable narrator!

good find on the 1992 sound field! this is great. I really want the page above to be describing this '92 set I'm listening to right now -- while the facts may not add up, the "effortless energy" + "let Rick do his thing" certainly do!

I might just make it my headcanon that the '91 description above is actually about the '92 recording...

lol i'm totally confused now. The footer of the page I posted does say "Glastonbury '91" fwiw.

There are pages about the 92 Sound Field stuff -- it's a different, much longer thing

can't wait to read that book. and what a trip to see Karl with Debbie Harry above.

There's a video with 3 20-second snippets of the Experimental Sound Field here: https://www.facebook.com/borndirty/videos/979915415404652/?permPage=1 (publicly viewable)

Not sure how many people have heard the collaboration single with High Contrast and Tiesto, it's like a glimpse of a parallel universe where Underworld were a Chart EDM/D&B group of the early 2010s

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

Sure 90% will find it unbearably cheesy, but afraid I love it without reservations - the backwards string sample at 1:41 is the money shot here btw.

The first salvo in that big room / collab era is also thrillingly obvious, and so Underworldy that it became a regular part of their setlists that year

(checking setlist.fm - aww, the first time I heard it was the first time they played it live)

it's like a glimpse of a parallel universe where Underworld were a Chart EDM/D&B group of the early 2010s
this is kinda what Barking is, which is part of why it feels so strange to me

About Glastonbury... well there was no Glastonbury in 1991. Mother Earth single was 1992. I'm thinking that little show behind the crowd couldn't have been 1990?

yeah, 1990 feels way too early for Karl to accept messing about in electronic / jam format. maybe it was a non-Glastonbury festival in 1991, that's he's overwritten his memory of?

Too Little Too Late (Club Mix)

― ufo, Saturday, May 9, 2020 4:40 PM (yesterday)

two weeks of

btw I left this one (& the Barking promo) out since it's still an "in-print" (Beatport exclusive) new release, but on one listen it seemed to just be an extended version of the sedate original, not a banging remix

“The First Note is Silent” is by far my favorite of the banger collab era. At the time I could barely get through it because I feared it was a permanent shift towards straightforward lyrics + famous EDM co-producers - listening knowing that that’s not the case, it’s such a good track.

also really love the original "Diamond Jigsaw" with the Van Halen synth though the one on the album is pretty sweet as well.

and Diamond Jigsaw had these massive chord changes which Paul Van Dyk didn't even seem to bother with.

Poking about in a folder of old UW website giveaways, I found a Diamond Jigsaw that's labelled as "demo mix," but seems to be at least partially live (possibly from Las Vegas?). Those synths are not only SO Van Halen, you'd think they would have been perfect for a mersh trance producer to latch onto and amplify.

listening to "big meat show," an outtake from dubnobass that's on the 1992-2012 comp, and it's..... fantastic????

On further reading, turns out this leaked onto the borndirty board in 2008 from a 1993 DAT that also contained the other two unreleased songs from the 2014 deluxe dubnob -- looks like Rick may have been reminded that they existed and put Big Meat on that best-of bcz the peeps on their message board were into it!

(gonna retag it to reside with the rest of the unreleased 1991-93 album, knocking that one over the CD length limit)

I’d be interested in knowing your track list and running order for that!

Just the disc from the dubluxe box - I previously had Big Meat in "Bs & Sidetracks 1992-2018".

it's weird how I'm A Big Sister... and Pizza For Eggs are so good but Lovely Broken Thing is one of the least essential things they've ever done

Outside of the first track obviously, though the Tokyo live version from 2005 fucking kills it, I never listen to the original anymore

Done the book (very little bio material left after the posted page). Definitely disregard the bit on that page about "returned to Glastonbury nine years after Freur had played there", as that would put it at '93!

Quick timeline cuz this is all driving me up a wall while I'm enjoying going through the early music

- 1983 April-May, "Doot-Doot" single charting. It is kicked off the chart after a friend is caught buying multiple copies, apparently.
- 1984 June, Freur played Glastonbury... some small stage?
- Karl is an extra in an Alison Moyet video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8CeAHfAD2w
- 1985 November, Clive Barker film "Underworld" (aka "Transmutations") released with soundtrack by Freur. Karl's book calls this job a "parting gift" from the label.
- 1986 Freur second/final album "Get Us Out Of Here" is released in Germany and the Netherlands only, with no label push and they're dropped.
- 1988 February, Underworld "Underneath the Radar" album release.
- 1988 summer, six week tour of the US. Sometime around this, Rick builds his first studio in Romford.
- 1989 fall, "Change the Weather" album release. Band plays their final shows on Eurythmics US tour.
- Around that time, Rick and Karl (mostly Karl) work with Terri Nunn on her solo record, and from then it doesn't sound like they grab a whole lot of time together until it's for the early material we've heard. Every other page of this hired gun section of Karl's book ends with something like, "Rick was calling me back to Romford, where I should've been all along."
- I'm thinking Darren enters the picture around now. Karl's book understandably puts off talking about him til he is back in town full time, though this article has Darren joining up with Rick in 1990, at 17 years old (also... Karl's a synaesthete?).
- 1991 late July: Karl back from Debbie Harry tour, sounds like he works a bunch with Rick and Darren... I guess sometime here there's that short show behind a crowd with "Mother Earth", somewhere... and a few earners as a larger band, in front of a crowd, per sic's YouTube.
- 1991 November: Karl called to New York for Debbie Harry sessions that don't pan out (and one show at CBGB's). This is the time in NYC he writes a lot of the dubnobass lyrics.
- 1992: ME/The Hump 12" (any idea when that year, anyone?). Band members involved in Glastonbury "Experimental Sound Field" all-weekend gig (extra plug for book: gig almost taken over by outlaw DJs!). Right after that in the book it's the "first Underworld MKII gigs", at Ministry of Sound and Soundshaft. Can't turn up exact dates.

...... and from there it's all clear enough I guess.

All to say I think Rick was woodshedding a long while. Karl spends the last few pages thanking Rick for letting him be in his band. It's very sweet. Happy anniversary boys :')

👏👏

Too Little Too Late (Club Mix)

on one listen it seemed to just be an extended version of the sedate original, not a banging remix

there's also a bass drum that comes in at the start instead of working up gradually.

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

Could be, but might also just be that their whim changed or they were actively distracted by getting paid for the work. The three Riverruns, Oblivion With and the two film scores are apparently all the product of one consistent two-year run of output from the pair.

And it's not like they were any more consistent when they tried "just putting stuff out" with Drift. First it was just a notion of World Of Underworld where they were going to release old and new stuff regularly. They made it one year-belated EP, one covermount 7" of old tracks, one new single and half a new song on a youtube video before retreating and rethinking.

Then once they had a backlog built up and switched to Drift, it's not like they took advantage of the infrastructure in any consistent way. They could have made a year-long subscription through their website (TMBG style), or created a membership channel on Bandcamp, but instead they seemed to make it up week by week as to how things would come out. The new tracks always had a video version, but the tracks would be on sale on varying platforms at different fidelity levels, week to week. Once they started giving away one-week downloads, they would skip weeks here and there. Sometimes the in-between archive stuff was a new DJ mix, sometimes a "new" old track, sometimes a medley of demos, sometimes an old track that had only been in lower bitrates, sometimes only on mixcloud, sometimes on mixcloud and soundcloud, sometimes a download, etc etc.

(The frustrating inconsistency was part of the fun of Drift! But they definitely limited the audience in a similar way to Riverrun by again not making it a consistent and reliable mode of release.)

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

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

A Hundred Days Off feels a bit like a sequel to Beaucoup imo, the way Second is a sequel to dubnob. I figure it's more because that's where Smith & Hyde's heads were at, especially after touring BF, than any commercial idea of staying close to what people expected.

The deluxe Toughest is absurdly good value by any standards other than classic Dr Who DVDs or the deluxe dubnob... but yeah, it feels less seam-bursting. Possibly a combo of them now being more confident about what Underworld mkII was, and the fact of their success meaning that they could work out new material for hours on stage instead of hours and hours in the rehearsal room, means that there was simply less material on tape to excavate this time around.

(Or Rick was just exhausted after all the work on & remastering from scratch on the first box! Note BF deluxe's "will this do?" offering of two discs of outside remixes, and then the switch to World Of Underworld / Drift instead of cataloguing their legacy with any more reissues...)

i'm into the second toughest material now. "cherry pie"... pure bliss

the og "born slippy" too

xp Great timeline!

I remember the fun of them releasing the Blue Mountain session on uwlive.com back in '99 or so. Featuring an extended King of Snake, Cappe Ffuno, and a superior Something Like a Mama. Feels like this was around the start of their free download experiments. A proper "live in the studio" jam.

https://www.mixcloud.com/MixesByOtherDJs/underworld-live-blue-mountain/

omfg i forgot about "deep arch" and how it is perfect

too bad how they fell off then tho... lol

#secondtoughestteam

I remember the fun of them releasing the Blue Mountain session on uwlive.com back in '99 or so

Same. Crazy how that box set ended up. Looking forward to dipping back into what wasn't on it!

ok what is with that vocal sample on "The Hump (Groove Without A Doubt)" lmao

baaaaaaaaaaaooowww!

Been having a look at what the internet likes by Underworld.

The 10 Best Underworld Songs - Stereogum

10. “Two Months Off” (from A Hundred Days Off, 2002)
9. “Always Loved A Film” (from Barking, 2010)
8. “Low Burn” (from Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future, 2016)
7. “Beautiful Burnout” (from Oblivion With Bells, 2007)
6. “Small Conker And A Twix/You Do Scribble” (from Live In Tokyo 25th November 2005)
5. “Pearl’s Girl” (from Second Toughest In The Infants, 1996)
4. “Dirty Epic” (from Dubnobasswithmyheadman, 1994)
3. “Born Slippy .NUXX” (from the “Born Slippy” single, 1995)
2. “Jumbo” (from Beaucoup Fish, 1999)
1. “Juanita:Kiteless:To Dream Of Love” (from Second Toughest In The Infants, 1996)

Greatest Hits : Underworld - Treblezine

“Crocodile” from Oblivion with Bells (2007; PIAS)
“Mmm…Skyscraper I Love You” from dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994; Junior Boy’s Own)
“Dinosaur Adventure 3D” from A Hundred Days Off (2002; Junior Boy’s Own)
“Push Upstairs” from Beaucoup Fish (1999; Junior Boy’s Own)
“Underneath the Radar” from Underneath the Radar (1988; Sire)
“Stand Up” from Change the Weather (1989; Sire)
“I Exhale” from Barbara, Barbara we share a shining future (2016; Caroline International)
“Born Slippy .NUXX” from “Born Slippy” single (1995; Junior Boy’s Own/Wax Trax!)
“Pearl’s Girl” from Second Toughest in the Infants (1996; Junior Boy’s Own)
“Scribble” from Barking (2010; Cooking Vinyl)
“Juanita: Kiteless: To Dream of Love” from Second Toughest in the Infants
“Two Months Off” from A Hundred Days Off
“Jumbo” from Beaucoup Fish
“Bird 1” from Barking
“Santiago Cuatro” from Barbara, Barbara we share a shining future
“Beautiful Burnout” from Oblivion with Bells
“Dark & Long” from dubnobasswithmyheadman
“Rez/Cowgirl” from Everything, Everything (2000; Junior Boy’s Own)

I've been listening to hours of Underworld every day for a week and so far all I've determined is that The Hump will not be in my top 77

sic I mailed you (via ilx tho so not sure if it got thru)

xp "Eclipse" tho!

IMO the standout Barbara track is "If Rah", and I don't say this only because my kids used to shout "LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA / I LOVE THIS*" during bathtime

* AFAIC this is the lyric now

that track is in my head all the time but "Ova Nova" is the one I keep coming back to

Funny that I once more get to bemoan missing that Glastonbury festival in 1992. I couldn't easily get the time off work but a bunch of my mates at the time came back talking about the Experimental Sound Field. I think the first time I saw Underworld was the London Megadog the following October (I learned from rowla.com linked above) and that still stands in memory as one of the finest live music experiences.

A few years after that I went to a Goa / psy-trance type thing at Brixton Academy largely because they were using that ESF rig, which was like eight stacks surrounding the large dancefloor. The music was given a deconstructed edge because the decks weren't isolated and were constantly jumping.

I've been listening to hours of Underworld every day for a week and so far all I've determined is that The Hump will not be in my top 77

haven't been managing that much time. All I got so far is that Change the Weather slays Underneath the Radar! Album ballot slots 14 and 15 settled,lol

the version of Spoonman from Nov 92 on the dubnobass boxset is so good, I think I like it even more than the original

OK i see where y'all are coming from re: Barbara Barbara, but, have you considered: "I Exhale"

btw sic thank you for separating out "pearl's girl" and "tin there" because i would've been voting for both anyway

"i exhale" is the rare underworld track that doesn't really justify being 8 minutes. the single edit is great though. love the music video too

If Rah and I Exhale make me irrationally angry. I still believe those are the worst moments in their entire history, including the Freur wardrobe. Just absolute garbage aimed at morons who yearn for a return of the Skint label and a big beat revival. I realize i'm nearly alone in my opinion. So, yeah, that's just like my opinion man.

lol no way

the worst, including the spangled tops? the leather jackets? the running the fingers through the hair?

It's not nearly as fun to just say i skip those tracks, is it?

haha right. I'm placing it extra high now. It does make me irrationally happy

really fondly remember how confused and excited i was when i first heard "i exhale"

I still hear "Hit the North" but yeah great track

i wish it was 8 hours

I've always sung 'Hit the North' over the opening of I Exhale too.

UW may be the only band to ever do the deluxe reissue/"classic album in full" tour thing and come out way more creative on the other side

don't get me wrong I like the Barking period and some of the singles they did around that time (especially "Downpipe") but in retrospect it definitely seems like a deliberate attempt to reclaim their throne as the kings of house floor-fillers (after self-consciously avoiding that sound for a decade) and I think they realized that when it comes to pop culture and singles charts you don't really get a second go at it

q: is "juanita/kiteless" the greatest song ever recorded by anyone

second toughest does feel like a sequel to dubno, more refined, confident, exploratory, lighter on its feet in every way, but "juanita/kiteless" still feels like it comes from another world entirely

like how did they make that

i see you

q: is "juanita/kiteless" the greatest song ever recorded by anyone

a: no

(pvmic)

you're still wrong but it's ok

q: is "juanita/kiteless" the greatest song ever recorded by anyone

I can't help thinking that while listening to it, but it's currently my #3 of 77.

like how did they make that

One thing I'm noticing between these amazing STITI era tracks, namely Juanita / Kiteless, Cherry Pie, og Born Slippy, and NUXX, is just how good / interesting their drum processing was. Like that breakdown in J/K where it's all percussive... idk what's going on exactly, some 909 pitchshifting / delay cleverness or something, but it's so effective.

Brad can you please rank and compare Pearls Girl (Tin There) vs the six-minute Tin There from the Playstation version of Wipeout 2097, vs the five-minute Tin There from the Wipeout soundtrack CD

the lean mean 5 minute oscillating wormhole that is the wipeout soundtrack version is prob my favorite but i also love the proggy excesses of pearls girl (tin there)

ty

All I got so far is that Change the Weather slays Underneath the Radar!

this is the only wrong opinion it is possible to have in this poll

I still believe those are the worst moments in their entire history, including the Freur wardrobe.

this one comes close though


Just absolute garbage aimed at morons who yearn for a return of the Skint label and a big beat revival.

🤩🤩

I think they realized that when it comes to pop culture and singles charts you don't really get a second go at it

they'd already had three goes tbf

is the six minute "tin there" just an additional minute of the breakdown from the five-minute one? i've had trouble differentiating it lol

yeah me too, I think it keeps the frenzied part up a bit longer and then goes to more of a long synth-pad-y outro than the 5-minute version's breakdown-and-fade. basically the short version sounds kind of like an arbitrary edit for time BUT somehow seems to work better! just trying to figure out if I'm missing something.

5 minute edit is just bottled perfectly

Been having some thoughts about A Hundred Days Off

* A friend said he thought they were finished when Emerson left, he seemed to think he was the one with the talent and the other two were cock rock bozos from the 80s, he was really fucking wrong about that eh?
* Two Months Off is the sweetest, most joyful thing of all time, and stands up easily alongside their darkest-sounding work, I love it as much for existing as I love it as a tune, which is a lot.
* I heard the LP in a guesthouse in Krakow, it was being played on the radio, then when I moved to Prague my housemate was a big fan, this was when I relly got into the band, so it's kind of my first Underworld LP in an odd way (though I was aware of Born Slippy, etc. of course)
* First five tracks are superb, then it runs out of steam a bit in the second half, however Trim has the lyric "Woman in a box with her head in her box / Speaks French when spoken like a tourist French / Hey classic coca-cola in a can when you want to cool down" so all is forgiven.
* Dinosaur Adventure 3D is such an odd choice for a single, not that it's bad really, but everything about it is textbook last-third-of-the-LP-semi-banger, even the title is like something filled out when they'd run out of actual titles to use.

xp Moaner is also better in shorter edits, the extra bits at the end are nice but not really needed

when I was in Mexico I once heard Ballet Lane at a movie theater, it sounded awesome there

ADHO seemed to clearly be not as good as the first 3 albums but every time I hear it I marvel at how great the sound is.

main issues with it are A) "Twist" doesn't have the awesome guitar bit that the live version does and B) "Dinosaur Adventure 3D" is missing....something. I can't put my finger on what. Maybe the fact that it reuses the "Dark Train" hook gets me.

Dinosaur Adventure 3D also has two b-sides which are better.

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

here's one I prepared earlier

the first DRIFT era

Brilliant Yes That Would Be • [single 2018] 6:16
BYTWB • [Drift "Dust" EP intro, 2018] 0:29
Brilliant Yes That Would Be [album version[ • [with piano coda, Drift box set 2019] 10:20


Jenny • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 9:33
Doris • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 4:18
Charlie • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 6:23
James • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 5:51
Ed • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 5:36
Meredith • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 17:09
Harry • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 9:10
Mary • MCR Street Poem [installation score 2017, rel. 2019] 6:50

Doris [EP version] • [Drift "Space" EP version with longer intro] 4:27


Apple Shine for Belfast • [video 2018] 3:15
Appleshine (Film Edit) • [full length version, mp3 2019] 9:42
Appleshine (Film Edit) [album vers / new mix] • [Drift "Atom" EP version 2019] 9:44
Appleshine Continuum • [Underworld & The Necks, mp3 & Drift "Atom" EP 2019] 47:18
Appleshine Continuum [album version] • [Underworld & The Necks, new mix / 13 mins shorter, box set 2019] 34:15
Appleshine (All Of The Lights) • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 5:35

Another Silent Way (Film Edit) • [single 2018] 3:46
Another Silent Way [EP version] • [Drift "Dust" EP version] 5:27
Another Silent Way [album edit] • [longer version, box set 2019] 5:33
A Very Silent Way (#Drift, Ep 1, Pt. 5) • [Underworld & The Necks, stream 2018] 5:07
A Very Silent Way [EP / album version] • [Underworld & The Necks, Drift "Dust" EP version 2018] 10:31
Another Silent Way / Drift Poem / Better Than Diamonds • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 13:58

Dexters Chalk [EP version] • [Underworld and Ø [Phase] , stream & Drift "Dust" EP version 2018] 5:01
Dexters Chalk [album version] • [longer version, box set 2019] 5:25

Low Between Zebras • [Underworld feat. Matthew Trevannion, , Drift "Dust" EP version] 2:57
Low Between Zebras [album edit] • [new mix, box set 2019] 3:00

Universe of Can When Back (#Drift, Ep 1, Pt. 4) • [stream 2018] 3:08
Universe Of Can When Back [EP version] • [Drift "Dust" EP version 2018] 6:04
Universe Of Can When Back [album version] • [new mix, box set 2019] 5:36

Molehill • [mp3 2019] 4:10
Molehill [EP version] • [Drift "Atom" EP version adds long coda, 2019] 5:35

Threat of Rain • [mp3 2019] 15:13
Threat Of Rain [EP version] • [Drift "Atom" EP version loses intro, 2019] 14:50
Threat Of Rain [album edit] • [shorter again, box set 2019] 14:43

Brussels • [mp3 & Drift "Atom" EP 2019] 4:18
Brussels [album version] • [new mix, box set 2019] 4:32

Soniamode • [mp3 & Drift "Atom" EP 2019] 3:30
Soniamode (Aditya Game Version) • [single 2019, box set 2019] 6:20

Dune • [single 2019] 11:09
Dune [EP version] • [different mix on Drift "Heart" EP, 2019] 10:32
Dune [album version] • [new mix, box set 2019] 10:33

Custard Speedtalk • [mp3, Drift "Heart" EP and box set 2019] 9:44
Custard Speedtalk (#DRIFT Ep.3 Pt.2) • [different mix on video] 10:22

This Must Be Drum Street (Film Edit) • [mp3 2019] 6:03
This Must Be Drum Street [EP version, different mix] • [different mix on Drift "Heart" EP, 2019] 5:55
This Must Be Drum Street [album vers / new mix] • [new mix, box set 2019] 7:37

Pinetum • [mp3 & Drift "Heart" EP, 2019] 12:11
Pinetum [album version] • [new long coda mixed in, box set 2019] 13:46

Poet Cat • [mp3, Drift "Heart" EP and box set 2019] 5:40

Listen To Their No • [single, Drift "Space" EP and box set 2019] 5:48
Listen To Their No [radio edit] • [Japanese promo CD] 3:58

Schiphol Test • [mp3, Drift "Space" EP and box set 2019] 8:34

Hundred Weight Hammer • [mp3, Drift "Space" EP and box set 2019] 4:14

Altitude Dub • [mp3, Drift "Space" EP and box set 2019] 8:09
Altitude Dub Continuum • [Underworld & The Necks, Drift Series 1 box set 2019] 31:10

Border Country • [Underworld and Ø [Phase] - mp3, Drift "Space" EP and box set 2019] 6:56
Border Country (Ø [Phase] Dark Room Tension Dub) • [remix 2019] 6:38

Toluca Stars (Film Edit) • [single & box set 2019] 10:18
Toluca Stars [EP version] • [different mix on Drift "Game" EP] 10:18

Mile Bush Pride (Film Edit) • [mp3 2019] 2:51
Mile Bush Pride [EP version] • [cut down on Drift "Game" EP & box set 2019] 1:35

Imagine A Box • [mp3, Drift "Game" EP and box set 2019] 6:02

Tree And Two Chairs (Film Edit) • [mp3 2019] 13:32
Tree And Two Chairs [EP version] • [different mix on Drift "Game" EP & box set 2019] 13:32

Give Me The Room • [video 2019] 9:28
Give Me The Room [EP version] • [different mix on Drift "Game" EP & box set 2019] 9:25

S T A R • [single 2019] 3:36
S T A R [EP version] • [different mix on Drift "Game" EP, 2019] 3:36
S T A R (Rebel Tech) • [exclusive to Drift Sampler Edition, 2019] 3:45
Who is your S T A R ? #London Edition • [video 2019] 0:59
Who is your S T A R ? #MexicoCity Edition • [video 2019] 1:01

One True Piano Need Hand • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 9:42
Roof Off • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 7:11
Do Breakers Trip • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 3:34
Seven Drone Music • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 8:18
Big Bear • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 4:29
Doscentios • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 7:44
Two Arrows • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 3:20
A Moth At The Door • Drift Series 1 box set [2019] 4:45

Happy Christmas from Underworld 🎅 • [video 2019] 0:26

when I was in Mexico I once heard Ballet Lane at a movie theater, it sounded awesome there

I heard the LP in a guesthouse in Krakow, it was being played on the radio

what the... Well now I can't not say that I caught "Two Months Off" coming out of a shop in Tokyo my first time there and danced a little bit. I'm pretty sure it was on the radio and not coming out of a record shop. I was young and full of sushi vinegar.

Happy Christmas from Underworld 🎅 • [video 2019] 0:26

👏👏👏

status: stoned and getting lost in "banstyle/sappys curry"

"banstyle" is like... weightless jazzy dnb that i'd like to hear way more of

It's underrated cuz of what it follows. I'm putting it high!

i took the dubno box set and mashed in all the stuff it's missing. I forgot how good "Minneapolis" is!

Ok, Oblivion with Bells is great. It will be hard to compare songs on that with songs I've loved for 20 years but it's definitely my favorite album they've done after the 90s

I don’t know every single remix and B-Side and outtake to consider myself knowledgeable enough to vote in this poll (I know she’s a classic and all, but does the world really need FIVE official remixes of “Dinosaur Adventure 3D”?), but I’m super excited to see the results. I had no idea they put out so much music in the past ten years and looks like they’re still going amazingly strong 40 years into their career. That is super impressive.

Listen for a couple of weeks and vote!

tfw "sappys curry" goes hard techno all of a sudden

FIVE official remixes of “Dinosaur Adventure 3D”

there's no way i'm listening to any of these, and i like that song. Forget anything that is just gonna feel like homework to you and join in!

imo the only vital "remixes" are the Dark and Long ones (most of these aren't remixes and were labelled like they were for chart considerations?) and the ones for Cups.

and Jumbo Jedi Future Shock something something

i prefer "cherry pie" but when i'm listening to "rowla" and i start to feel like it's slowwwing... dowwwwn.... it's great

q: is "pearl's girl" the greatest song ever recorded by anyone

q: is "big mouth" the greatest harmonica song ever recorded by anyone?

None of the remixes by outside artists are relevant to this poll anyway, so Dinosaur Adventure only had one remix

second toughest was my favorite underworld record for a very long time and when i hear "air towel" i remember why

after all this you're putting something above Second Toughest?

"stagger" too, jeez xp

yeah oblivion with bells is my fave, i arrived at this opinion after a very long period of acceptance and deep reflection

perhaps I've been naive to think Second Toughest could place first

it has a pretty solid chance imo

"Holding the Moth" from OWB is the one that always surprises me with how good it is

conversely dubno may (deservedly) be very difficult to dethrone xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vewj8NR08nE

i'm not going to make youtube embedding a thing and it's not like you can vote for this specific version of "air towel" anyway but it is sooo awesome and i am having a great time listening to it right now

the thing with dubnobass is I discovered it in high school (about a decade after its release) and it quickly became the most important album in the world to me. it also functions as a cross between electro, New Wave, and prog which happen to be my favorite genres

"air towel" is one i've never gotten at all, that repetitive synth loop gets on my nerves without there being much else to hold my attention. that version brad linked is so much better i can't believe it

the thing about second toughest for me is there's about an hour that's absolutely perfect and then there's "rowla" which is a little grating and far inferior to "cherry pie", and "air towel", so it's strange to listen to as a whole.

sorry for liveblogging my way through the catalog by oh my fucking goddd "cups"

Pearl's Girl (Carp Dreams... Koi) • [1996 b-side] 10:09

yo wtf i've never heard this before

the thing with dubnobass is I discovered it in high school (about a decade after its release) and it quickly became the most important album in the world to me. it also functions as a cross between electro, New Wave, and prog which happen to be my favorite genres

*listens to underworld all day* wow i really spent 24 hours with the king of snake

Underworld: Beaucoup Fish

think this was my very first poll

SNAKE

my favorite part of "king of snake":

that stuff enough
snake!

oh-h-hh-h-h-hh-hhh

king of snake great!

the version on Everything Everything though

jeez, “kittens”

underworld mk 2 is like... every few tracks there’s a peerless masterwork

Forgot how great Everything Everything is as a kind of snapshot of their 90s live performances.

Really wish it had this version of Rez/Cowgirl on though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jst8yoqPTmo

I listened to the whole of the Danish Dark And Long 'EP' last night and it rules from start to finish. If I was voting in this Spoon Deep would.figure very highly, absolute peak trance techno and such clean yet hedonic energy. That and Thing In A Book (which appears in the same piece of wax) both seem like perfect unedited live in studio jams, the peaks and troughs just all fall right.

I've also been listening to and enjoying STITI which I mostly skipped over when it came out. I can appreciate now that they are trying for something a bit different, and also what everyone gets out of it but still can't entirely shake the impression I had of the breakbeat stuff as enthusiastic but kind of cringworthy attempt at jungle. Of which embarrassing 'fungle' lameness there was quite a bit about. Snooker sample!

Reminded that .Nuxx is still brilliant, though. Another memorable occasion hearing Underworld's music loud in a public space at 4am was Laurent Garnier playing that (pre Trainspotting ubiquity) and one or both of the Leave Home remixes (intercut with Green Velvet - Flash IIRC) in a Wandsworth shopping centre.

Leave Home is nuts. There does need to be a follow up remixes poll.

Are remixes *of* Underworld by other acts eligible? Because I want to vote for the Pig & Dan Mix 2 of Play Pig if so

Don't think they are and neither are UW's own remixes (unfortunately)

Oh shit really? Was gonna vote for the Shakespears Sister dub extravaganza too :(

That one isn't credited to Underworld anyway, is it?

I know you all have been touting some of the dubnobass-era material that was not on the album, but I'm floored at the embarrassment of riches on the dubnobass deluxe version. I don't understand how they produced so much amazing music during that time period, and I'm also annoyed at myself for never checking it out before. "Thing in a Book" mix will certainly make my ballot, and at least a couple more but it'll be tough to decide which ones and how they rank

That one isn't credited to Underworld anyway, is it?

― ceci n'est pas un ppe (Noel Emits), Tuesday, 12 May 2020 11:40 (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's credited to Emerson and Smith on the vinyl

my recs for stuff that didn't make the deluxe version are "Mother Earth (FM Mix)", "Why Why Why", and "Dark Hard". there's really so much great non-album stuff from that period though, "Thing in a Book", "Most 'ospitable", "Spikee", "Dark Train"...

I got the double CD which has a pretty good selection but it's the other Skyscraper mixes that currently tempt me towards the Super Deluxe if I find one for a reasonable price.

Thanks for more recs but aaagh I may have to cut it at the super deluxe version for now, as there is still STITI and Beaucoup super deluxe and Riverrun to listen to. (I've given up trying to listen to Drift.) And then to put it into a ballot!

main issues with it are A) "Twist" doesn't have the awesome guitar bit that the live version does

so glad they eventually put out "Twist (Music Bank Jam Take 7)", the studio version is fine but the live version is really something else

there's really nothing much on the Beaucoup super deluxe of note since the era had only a single b-side and they didn't put any of the remixes they did themselves on the boxset for some reason.

i'm not as into Drift as a lot of other people here but "Custard Speedtalk" and "Appleshine Continuum" at the very least are absolutely essential listening. maybe "Dune" too

oh and if you listen to "Appleshine Continuum" make sure to listen to the full-length single version (https://youtu.be/LhcgUodizro) rather than the version they put on the boxset which cuts like 13 minutes off it.

Oh yes, I see Beaucoup is mostly outside remixes. I've heard the Drift sampler and liked it and "Custard" will def make my ballot. If I have time I'll listen to some Drift cuts that y'all recommend

it's a proper new mix/edit, but yeah it's pointless when the 47-minute version is so great.

if people are going to listen to just one Drift song, it should be the video for Custard Speedtalk. If they're only going to listen to two, the other should be Appleshine Continuum.

Are remixes *of* Underworld by other acts eligible?

no, in-house Underworld production only. we have to make the options manageable somehow!

a remixes poll can totally follow as a sequel, once ppl recover from the results-thread-inspired listening.


i'm not going to make youtube embedding a thing and it's not like you can vote for this specific version of "air towel" anyway

yes you can!

but it is sooo awesome and i am having a great time listening to it right now

here's another completely different 2008 live Air Towel, in an audience recording

If I was voting in this Spoon Deep would figure very highly,

voooote

Appleshine (8:37, Drift Series 1 Sampler Edition)
This Must Be Drum Street (4:26, Drift Series 1 Sampler Edition)
Schiphol Test (4:43, Drift Series 1 Sampler Edition)

went through your Drift alt versions list sic and you missed these three versions exclusive to the Sampler album. also i think it's the same version of "S T A R" on the Drift boxset and Game EP (you didn't mention if it was the version on the boxset)

also the video version of "Doris" is 3:26 so that's another unique version

i'm not going to make youtube embedding a thing and it's not like you can vote for this specific version of "air towel" anyway

yes you can!

Would there be different point totals for these or would you merge them? I've been taking the non-bolded stuff in your lists as things you would fold into the thing above.

Pearl's Girl (Carp Dreams... Koi) • [1996 b-side] 10:09

yo wtf i've never heard this before

I don't think the Second Toughest left out anything crucial. If you love "Born Slippy" (not NUXX) it is worth hearing the "Telematic" version.

Second Toughest *box

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5qIqg9x4lKvq1DR4BKFXdX

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

playlists of non-album material updated and should be very comprehensive now, the only thing that isn't on spotify or youtube from Drift is the Manchester Street Poem Installation Score version of "Doris". for Drift i was counting 'album version' as anything that's on the Drift Series 1 boxset or the Sampler edition album, so i've compiled all the versions that aren't on those.

not that i've noticed the difference with most of the Drift alternate mixes though lol

going through the AHDO b-sides tonight and "Like a Swimmer" and "Ansum" are really nice, very much in line with the best parts of Riverrun

xxxxxxpost

:D :D

[anyone except ufo almost certainly wants to skip this post]


I noticed that S T A R error reading back over the thread today and am extremely amused that anyone else has! Pretty sure it's the EP version again, yeah (on my original Drift spreadsheet I have the boxset version tagged as SAME, which is not as entirely clear as it might be.)


loads of the Drift videos have different running times, but it's usually just because there's a little more video than audio, so I didn't bother logging the details in this thread. for real trainspottery though, this 2017 trailer for the Manchester installation includes a minute of an early mix of Doris as bed.


I skipped the Sampler versions* because there aren't full versions of them, and the variations are probably done just for the sake of / in the process of mixing the tracks together. Appleshine is just crossfaded into Drum Street, I think, and the mix / edit variations on the other two seem to be for flow and timing.

* except Rebel Tech, which is basically a different recording of the song

I could not be more delighted that these monstrously finicky lists, which are mainly intended to make collating the votes easier & more accurate, and that I feared would be offputting or overwhelming to home listeners, are being called out for being insufficently anal.

Would there be different point totals for these or would you merge them? I've been taking the non-bolded stuff in your lists as things you would fold into the thing above.

I'll figure out how to represent them in the tally depending on whether anything gets enough votes to stand out separately

yeah "Doris" seems to be the only one i noticed where it's a notably shorter edit for the video. those lists have been very useful in navigating their sometimes endearingly confusing discography, i really appreciate the effort

xpost

eg hypotheticals: if lots of ppl vote for the Airtowel A2778 Live Jam and nobody votes for Air Towel, then A2778 Live Jam can place and I'll note that nobody voted for the parent version. If five people vote for Air Towel and two vote for A2778, then I might combine, or just add a note and link for A2778, or list separately, depending on how much the points would change the final placings. Basically I'll weight/structure the rollout based on how the voters seem to be valuing candidates and the parties they represent, but every vote will be counted!

(And again, people are welcome to add notes and caveats to their ballots, or argue in the thread that I've broken the titles up unfairly. Surprised there's been consensus that none of us really know what to do with the Dark & Long b-sides, instead of a debate, tbh)

Sounds good. I'm going to rank the Dark and Longs as unique songs and let you figure it out :)

Couldn't care less about minor edits of songs. I hope that stuff doesn't scare off lurkers. I think there is more than enough on any streaming platform to dive in and make a great ballot.

my view re: the dark & longs is they're all unique enough to count separately except "spoon deep" which i'd be fine about lumping in with "surfboy" and "hall's" which is just a single edit. even i haven't been bothering with listening to the minor edits much (but i've tracked them all down for the sake of curiosity and completeness)

agree on those ones

beaucoup fish box set is a little like... why is it like this???
but it does include “please help me,” one of their best b-sides, and “ramajama,” a track, at least according to youtube comments, that had been played live as a long intro to “king of snake”

That Reading Festival live version of “Rez/Cowgirl” posted upthread is straight fire.

Hall’s I only listed out of perverse completeness, yeah - as an edit AND an outside mix it doesn’t even count here

Dark Hard I think of as a remix of Dark Train, but once you get eight minutes deep in 215 Miles or Most Ospitable or w/e, I’m too inside the groove to clock which other tracks a bit of drum programming or a sequence of chord changes is shared with

For listeners coming new to Drift: most of the different versions are just tweaked, Rick fiddling with the original mix here & there between releases. Any given version of a piece will give you enough of an idea to vote, and the videos for the originals outweigh any improvement to the later audio.

Orange Bed on the BF box set is super good, kind of a jam on the ending of Cups

you bring light in
you bring light in
you bring light in

time to dig into underworld mk 3 baby!!!!!

"Twist" and "Luetin" are the secret killers from that album IMO

Luetin's gonna be pretty high up my ballot

Currently have about 15 tracks that feel they should be top 3 tho

wow i sure do underrate a hundred days off

yes! see my post on same upthread, first half in particular

"mo move" is so good, atmosphere thick

it will not be my no. 1 but i feel like there's some version of my personality inside of me that would totally make "two months off" their no. 1

if the second half were up to the standard of the first half it would be my #1

i also love that the ending is just like... surprise, bonus cowbell!!!!

oh sorry two months off, not a hundred days off. yeah, the ending is amazing, wouldn't lose that for the world, they've got this weird groove and they're just going to keep on with it because it's such a joy.

yeah that ending is just so killer. maybe my favorite part of the record even

I remember at the time how out of character that track sounded, they rarely did anything uplifting like that. to me that + "Scribble" + "Listen To Their No" form a trilogy of sorts

i found this in some youtube comments, a fanmade extended version of a hundred days off that includes longer mixes of "mo move" and "twist" + b-sides. haven't listened yet but assume it's worthwhile https://www.mixcloud.com/KapteinFlint/underworld-a-hundred-days-off-extended-ansum-edition/

"twist" in all of its versions is one of my absolute favorite underworld songs

Leutin is excellent... I'd have a really hard time in an MK2/3 proper album closers poll, like for real look at this lineup:

M.E.
Stagger
Moaner
Leutin
Best Mamgu Ever
Louisiana
Nylon Strung

"little speaker" is fucking sick, i always forget

The only weak patch is Trim / Ess Gee / DA 3D

That longer version isn't a fan made compilation. There was a DAT / Cassette copy of the Ansum Edition of the album that got circulated. At least that's my recollection of it.

Trim and Ess Gee are at least short, and honestly I kinda dig Trim, I love when UW just goes way out of their comfort zone. then again I'm like the only person who actually liked "100 Weight Hammer"

DA 3D as I've mentioned is kinda weak for an UW banger but the album absolutely needed one. and I think Karl's performance rules on that track.

this is even better than the prefab sprout poll in terms of just encountering overwhelmingly amazing material constantly. losing my mind to "twist (music bank jam take 7)" ALL over again

"trim" is cute imo, i agree with frogbs about their out-of-character moments + the one they've done enough times for it to be a part of their character at this point ("bruce lee," "ring road," etc.)

Trim lyrics are hilarious, worth it for that

"dinosaur adventure 3d" is like... how pointless is a less good "king of snake." and it's not even bad! frogbs is right that hyde's singing is great

The Peel version of Trim was great, imo.

the 13 minute version of "mo move" jesus christ

every time i see dinosaur adventure 3d written down i just imagine that ride from the movie clifford

going through the AHDO b-sides tonight and "Like a Swimmer" and "Ansum" are really nice, very much in line with the best parts of Riverrun

― ufo, Tuesday, May 12, 2020 5:07 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm especially about "ansum," bring on the 100 days off box

I remember at the time how out of character that track sounded, they rarely did anything uplifting like that. to me that + "Scribble" + "Listen To Their No" form a trilogy of sorts

yes! hadn't thought about Listen To as a third, but the joy and brightness of Scribble totally read as a sibling song to Two Months when it came out. especially Karl's sunny li'l face in the video!

the 13 minute version of "mo move" jesus christ

the second half became the b-side Ansum when they finalised the album btw. weirdly the album itself was called Ansum when the early version existed

lol xpost from over an hour ago, when I opened the tab

It's not uncommon for ilx0rs to enthuse that they don't know what's going to rank highly in artist polls, but I really really can't imagine how this one is gonna go. (Apart from an assumption of what the #1 album will be, and that the track which would rank highest in a general audience poll won't be #1 here.)

Dinosaur Adventure 3D (R.C.M. Version)

^^ dramatic improvement imo

the second half became the b-side Ansum when they finalised the album btw. weirdly the album itself was called Ansum when the early version existed

― Elon's musk (sic), Tuesday, May 12, 2020 9:28 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wasn't the early version leaked at one point? Or is my memory playing tricks on me here?

yes it's all on youtube

it's largely the same except for "twist" and "mo move"

whoa how had I never heard the 13 minute Mo Move before

as i said upthread "ess gee" is my favourite of their many many relatively pointless guitar interludes.

here's the 13 minute "mo move" for reference: https://youtu.be/NfxoHRyTnRA

https://youtu.be/Gt6bm3bswYE early version of twist with crazy percussion outro is cool too but has nothing on the "music bank jam take 7" version

teatime dub encounters is weird because the music is all fine if unspectacular but iggy's vocal approach doesn't really work at all except on "i'll see big".

would've helped had he not gobbled down a bag of concrete beforehand

fwiw "I'll See Big" is the one I really wish there was an instrumental version of, he's basically fine on the rest

xp omg i forgot that existed

...

speaking of less consequential releases... how are people approaching Everything Everything in ranking the albums? If this were the only releases of these songs, this would absolutely be #1... but as a nice live album (even an Underworld live album with fun transitions and everything) it's going to be fighting it out with the soundtracks that aren't Manchester Street Poem, on my ballot.

i think it's pretty definitely my #2, pretty much everything you could want from a live album and a better listen as a whole than most of their studio albums

2! Wow. I collected bootlegs of their shows back then. Love that stuff. But I mean it's a live album from a band with ~10 great album albums.

This might be the time I finally track down all those OWB show releases.

yeah no clue how I'll rank Everything Everything, it is about as perfect as a live/electronica/live electronica album can be

I remember being 17, all I knew of Underworld was Beacoup Fish, Born Slippy, and a couple of songs from AHDO I downloaded from Kazaa (I actually thought they'd broken up). I downloaded Rez/Cowgirl from EE, listened to about a minute to it and was like "this is the greatest thing I've ever heard", quickly burned it to a CD and drove around to listen to it (as you do when you first get your drivers license). such a memorable experience, I still remember everything about it

i had the name of this band as #2 in my talking heads ballot too, sometimes a live album is really that good

Live albums are a hard sell for me even if I liked seeing the band live, which I did with UW. I know the EE mixes are different but I've given them enough listens to know I'm just gonna prefer the non-live mixes

EE is in my top 3 at the moment. Saw UW something like 10 or more times in the 90s and it's a perfect reminder for me what those shows were like.

"parc" feels kinda proto-"appleshine continuum" with that meditative organ loop. just needs the necks to show up and jam on it for an hour

no idea why the version of "parc" they released is only 3 minutes though, the full-length live versions are much better

checking out a couple of the OWB tour show releases and... oh man these are great. I was too spoiled from collecting shows when EE came out. The "problem" with it is that it's a 1 disc compilation and any quality full show is more fun. If I wasn't such a dork I'd probably be rating it super high too.

yeah I'm gonna be listening to those over the next few weeks. I think I got 2 of them but since the tracklistings all looked pretty similar I never got the rest. kind of a shame they haven't released more live stuff. iirc their live show got a little stale around the Barking era but I did hear a post-Barbara crowd recording and it sounded great, all the improv and jamming and cool segues were back

you might be thinking of the show that was live streamed from Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2017 (easy to listen to this if you google it), that was a beaut. I caught the stream and didn't pay attention to other shows around the time... I wonder if there were more like that. Most shows around Barking/Barbara/Drift have been straight-ahead studio versions of the songs, from what I've heard.

diving into the riverrun stuff today. "peach tree" >>>>>>>>>>>>

I better do that today. Too much extra circulars.

listening to every album and putting a nubmer beside each track on a spreadsheet where like, 2 is definiitely vote for, 0 is probably not, and 1 is yeah but not high. had a 0 beside cups until i remembered it's the song with that part 3/4 way through. ughhhh back quarter of that song so good

Cups may be my platonic ideal of an Underworld song

"ancient phat farm coat" is also >>>>>>>

all the underworld heads who believe this is the best underworld stuff are correct

of the 37 songs i have definitively decided i am putting on my ballot or not yet, there are 26 "yes" and 11 "no" so this is gonna get rough when i get thru like uhh 200 songs or whatever

also i know i heard jumbo first and i know jumbo came out first but now jumbo makes me think of mass effect which is a nice little association to have

speaking of here's a fun Yukihiro Takahashi track I love, see if you can guess what he was listening to at this point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4vBXABbsFE&feature=youtu.be&t=1523

it's weird how I'm A Big Sister... and Pizza For Eggs are so good but Lovely Broken Thing is one of the least essential things they've ever done

― ufo, Sunday, May 10, 2020 4:10 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

disagree based on "jal to tokyo" and "lenny penne" -> "monkey wink" -> "witness"

video link doesn't work for me frogbs, whats the title of the song?

'00, it's track 6, starts at 25:26

hhahaha wow

love the ultimate underworld dub odyssey of "food a ready" -> "back in the fears"

i'm a big sister, and i'm a girl, and i'm a princess and this is my horse may be my favorite title of anything ever

excuse me there's a what

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42EVvYtuIuc

I'm really going to have to learn the track titles for the riverrun stuff for this poll, huh. FINE.

Your top artist last 7 days:

Underworld 381 plays

Mmm...Spikee I love you

both "faxed invitation" and "glam bucket" are perfect

faxed invitation is my most-played Underworld track by some margin

TS:

“The rhythm of keys swinging in your hand / The rhythm of light coming out of your fingers”

vs

“He caught a fleeting glimpse of a man / Moving uphill / Pursued by a bus”

— DJP (@djperry1973) May 13, 2020

i also feel like people don't talk about "boy, boy, boy" that often but it's really great. its approach sorta feels related to "trim" but way better. whole lot of cool moving parts and synth drones in it

77 song ballot means i will find a way to vote for most of oblivion with bells i guess

listening to an 11 minute version of "beautiful burnout," my god it's full of stars

you might be thinking of the show that was live streamed from Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2017 (easy to listen to this if you google it), that was a beaut. I caught the stream and didn't pay attention to other shows around the time... I wonder if there were more like that. Most shows around Barking/Barbara/Drift have been straight-ahead studio versions of the songs, from what I've heard.

yeah, Karl for whatever reason doesn't like to jam anymore, so their shows are standard festival setlists, with the same arrangement of the songs, and a big song title projected on the screen behind him.

They did one "underworld all night" event at Alexandra Palace in March 2017 with Rick playing solo from the mixing desk for an hour and a half to open, while Karl and Tomato art was projected around the room, and stilt walkers and carnival dancers moved through the crowd. (Review/interview from page 52 in this PDF.)

The Rijksmuseum show six months later was another special one-off - apart from that they've been playing standard setlists and versions for ten years.

Thanks for that!

Jamming energies transferred to drifting I guess

i propose the results thread title should be I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess, and This Is My POLL

Rezults

ha ha, I totally love it, but it's impractically long for casual browsers and Zing users

POWLLA

Dark and Long (poll results mix)

(Telematic POLL Mix)

idk if i'll vote for any of the riverrun tracks separately, i'll probably just vote for I'm A Big Sister and Pizza For Eggs as tracks

"peach tree" has its own life tho

here's a two-week link for the Rijksmuseum show - 1gb m4v

helllooooo

"push upstairs (the large unit)" is a pretty cool remix/alt version

Breaking and Entering is a weird movie. Great music though!

i doubt i'm going to vote for any tracks off it (simply because it's too much work to really think about solo stuff as well) but Edgeland is really quite nice, "Shadow Boy" especially

I might. it's a pretty album. I'm kind of glad it's not in the album running so that in not kicked out of here for putting it ahead of Oblivion.

*I'm not kicked

It's not even on my ballot at the moment

(I'm relistening to it in a bit for probably only the second or third time since it was released so that may change)

There's a bunch of stuff on the STITI super deluxe that isn't in the eligibility list (almost all of disc 3). I have no idea where those tracks come from or whether they qualify or why they don't, but "D+B Thing" and a couple others are cool and I may vote for some if I can

Overall, STITI super deluxe is not as strong as dubnobass super deluxe, but there's still some gems and it was cool to finally hear the original "Born Slippy"

Yeah, the Dubno SD is better than the STITI SD which is better than the BF SD.

The BF one is slightly underwhelming as apart from Disc 2, the only extra material is all the remixes by other artists (although some of those are essential like the Salt City Orchestra and Jedi Knight ones - plus I'm also quite partial to the Dave Clarke and Fatboy Slim KOS remixes)

xp Only "Underworld" albums on the album poll.

Vinne, given sic's ruling on "Ramajama" I don't think STITI extra songs are eligible.

Took an early morning walk in the park with ...

https://soundcloud.com/underworld/saved-from-the-cutting-room-floor-mix-underworld-vs-the-misterons-1

This was one of the best things from the dubnobass reissue time. Anyone know what became of the "fan commentary" they're on about in the description there? Ha. Dead link.

oh uh, found it. Gonna pass though. Whoops. hehe
https://soundcloud.com/underworld/sets/dubnobasswithmyheadman-fan

Thanks, gotcha. Spotify doesn't have any extra info about the discs but I just saw from googling that the whole disc was unreleased

yep. B-sides disc stuff all good of course. "Born Slippy" definitely high for me.

Relistening to some of the (one hour and 50 minutes of!) new tracks on the Drift box set, and thinking 77 tracks on a ballot might not have been enough

been going back and forth in time a bit, but saving Drift for last. I thought I might have recency bias towards it, but... after immersing myself in all the classics, yknow, nah, Drift is dope

what i'm most curious about is what people are going to have around song slot 77. What the threshold sort of material is. lol

this could change at any point but i'm already really surprised by what my no. 1 turned out to be

wait so I can't vote for Orange Bed & Conchord?

I've made a compilation / mix of the best of their 1980s stuff for anyone who can't face going through all of it. Apologies for anything you'd prefer was / wasn't included.

https://www.mixcloud.com/centuries_of_sound/underworld-1980s/

0:00:00 The Screen Gemz - I Just Can't Stand Cars
0:03:15 Freur - Doot Doot
0:07:05 Freur - Steam Machine
0:10:00 Freur - The Devil and Darkness
0:15:25 Freur - You're a Hoover (Dun Difrunt)
0:20:56 Freur - The Piano Song
0:24:56 Freur - Bella Donna
0:29:41 Freur - This is the Way I'd Like To Live My Life (Snippet)
0:31:06 Freur - Hey Ho Away We Go
0:34:58 Freur - Alabaster White Thing
0:45:07 Underworld - Underneath The Radar
0:51:03 Underworld - Bright White Flame
0:56:10 Underworld - The God Song
1:00:48 Underworld - Stand Up
1:04:36 Underworld - Mercy
1:08:03 Underworld - Sole Survivor

Runaway, Whispering, My Room, Look in the Back for Answers, Emeralds & Pearls, AOKO, & Endless Groove all great Freur songs

if Get Us Out of Here had a proper remaster it would def be considered a hidden gem

It's definitely the better Freur LP

#1 track is easy for me, it's one of my all-time favorite songs. But for albums, surprisingly hard to order the top 3! Still no final decision

given sic's ruling on "Ramajama" I don't think STITI extra songs are eligible.

wait so I can't vote for Orange Bed & Conchord?

What was the ruling (as at least two of those are currently on my ballot)?

this has been my favorite band for basically my whole life and I have no clue what my #1 will be. could be "Rez/Cowgirl" from EE if you could vote for it. I've narrowed it down to like 5 tracks. maybe I'll just say fuck it and make NUXX my #1

this could change at any point but i'm already really surprised by what my no. 1 turned out to be

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, May 14, 2020 7:01 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

totally unrelated, but anyone itt who does not rate oblivion with bells, i encourage you to spend some time with "beautiful burnout," maybe this live version even

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efUwy3SMcns

lmao i embedded the wrong thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CdvOJ756HY

listen to THIS ok i promise i'll never embed another youtube

i rate it, somewhere in the middle :) Crocodile -> Beautiful Burnout head and shoulders over the rest of it. Love that section. Ranking Crocodile higher from listening to the album tracks, but yeah BB live is beautiful. When this thing is done I'm gonna gradually go through all those Oblivion live sets.

I was just reminded of how great "Another Silent Way" is

lol Brad xp

I've also got a Top 5 or 6 and any of them could be #1 tbh xps

the 15 minute Another Silent Way is so good

i sure do love to listen to live in tokyo 2005

the performance of "nuxx" on it is so good. that added house piano, exquisite

"it was just silly crap, but it hit the spot"

i am not voting for the very ooc underworld track "peggy sussed" but i think it rules

Is Peggy Sussed the one about architecture for the blind? If so, that's a great song with some decent remixes too.

The Riverrun 12" series was the last decent Underworld artwork too.

^ the Drift videos though

wait so I can't vote for Orange Bed & Conchord?

let's skip Rick's notated versions like (3 comp75 id9 a1771 aug 93a) and (a1558 nov 92b.1) from the archival box sets.

is there a version of Concord that isn't notated something approximately, more or less, top of my head, like (3 comp75 id9 a1771 aug 93a)?

Ah, assumed the notation omissions were for existing songs from the albums, eg Mmm...Skyscraper I Love You (A1765 Sky Version Id4. Harmone6 Comp43).

So no Birdstar or Can You Feel Me? then either

Yeah, I meant that to be a shortcut for covering "let's skip anything that was never finished or never properly titled or never released except as an archival artifact of something unfinished." But mainly because I wanted to remove at least a few hours of extra homework listening for people that weren't familiar, and save ultranerds from wasting votes on stuff that was wildly unlikely to have any other support! So what the heck, if folks are that keen, throw your votes away shoot your sincere shot.

dying to see every single ballot

just found about this cover they did of David Lynch's "Good Day Today" -- pretty great! more or less interpolates the main riff from "Two Months Off"!

it's listed as a remix, so probably not eligible, but worth a listen.

I did regret not listing the Lynch cover / remix or Manics covers / remixes on relistening this week.

omg I missed the boat on the Manics one as well, this is amazing.

ah what the heck, since 3/4 of these are absolutely covers

Feed Your Mind (Underworld Remix) • [Paul Oakenfold and Spitfire, Nobel Son OST exclusive 2008] 7:02
William's Last Words (Underworld Remix) • [Manic Street Preachers, remix EP 2009] 6:17
William's Last Words (Underworld R37BR11 Mix) • [Manic Street Preachers, probably 2009, rel. charity comp exclusive 2015] 10:41
Good Day Today (Underworld Classic Remix) • [David Lynch, b-side 2011] 8:40

Emerson-era remixes still wait for a sequel poll.

woohoo! gotta spend some time with the Oakenfold one but the other two will definitely place highly for me.

"bird 1" is just incredible my god

Then why isn’t there a Bird 2

lol i was so close to making a bird 2 joke

i really love barking idk, it's so fun. i listened to it all the time when it came out and i associate it really intensely with my first year in new york. i even like "hamburg hotel" a lot bc it was often played on a sirius xm chillout station that my bosses would leave on at my first job here

"grace" -> "between stars" is definitely my favorite part of the record though

There are two birds in my house

i also understand this is not normal but "diamond jigsaw" makes me cry

"premium tequila" makes me misplace my pants

jeez wtf "louisiana" made me cry too

how many albums can we rank #1?

rt

however much as i really love barking i am voting for "you do scribble" not "scribble"

Barking came out a couple days before my wedding, I had it preordered but grabbed a leak so I could hear it the day before. so I'll always associate it with that

damn that's a good record for that kind of day imo

yea played a number of songs at the reception too

even though my tracks ballot is starting to extend out infinitely my albums ballot feels way more chaotic. pretty sure barbara barbara is in my top three but also i think there are five underworld records in my top three

LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA

"low burn" is just ... how do they keep making songs like this

barbara barbara is such a pretty album

i was having such a rough time when it came out, it was one of the records that kept me going that year

literally every barbara track except for "santiago cuatro" is on my ballot lmao

"nylon strung"! i'm crying again!!!!

what the double heck, Bird 2 is also eligible

i've never heard the old live version of "diamond jigsaw" before, i'm flabbergasted that the album version is significantly less cheesy

What's the story of Freur's "Alabaster White Thing," which stands out like a sore thumb in the middle of the Underworld 1980s mix above?

It's from a CD of unreleased demos all I can find out about it is from an Underworld forum -

Apparantly Alabaster is just some experimental track they were
playing around with (!) and they supposedly recorded the phone bits
late at night / early morning where they phoned up one of their
management people and kept quiet ... just kept taping ... so if you
get a phone call in the middle of the night but its quiet on the
other end ... be polite!

https://www.discogs.com/Freur-Lost-Treasures/release/12059270

Rick & Karl made a tape of the Transmutations / Underworld film score for a huge Freur fan, and filled out the end with some unreleased demos. In 2003, he digitised the cassette and put it on the RTSR tracker.

forgot how good "another silent way / drift poem / better than diamonds" is but it also really misses the piano from the original "another silent way"... not sure which to vote for

lest we forget

https://i.imgur.com/R69SayJ.jpg

wot a larf

ah sweet I didn't know their film soundtrack was out there

i've got something to show you
it's a few days old
it's amazing

"threat of rain" is still so massive. i love how occasionally annoying and shrill the sounds smith drops in are, gives it a real motorik energy

drift track i don't think gets enough shine: "brussels"

yup.

Appleshine and the Continuum version both belong so high... but the latter has most of the former track in it soooo, I just vote Continuum and make room for another song. Makes sense???

Appleshine Continuum was my #1 vote in the 2019 poll so it'll be placing pretty high on my ballot but still not sure it'll crack my top 10

This band has a ridiculous number of amazing songs

"listen to their no" kinda feels like a sequel to the barking sound, even though it is definitely not "bird 2"

"schiphol test" is so fucking sick

also "custard speedtalk" is def in my top ten. only took karl 25 years to write some lyrics for "rez"!!! j/k

I think 15 Drift tracks might make my top 77, including "Molehill" which last I checked everyone hated

"molehill" is beautiful and also maybe their most out-of-character track ever

amazing, i have to vote for "toluca stars" too

like, that may be their most simultaneously tense and gorgeous track

the synths are kinda like stars winking through all the space in the track

kinda sad that oblivion with bells ends with Loads Of Birds but then Barknig starts with only one bird... wonder what happened to all of the other birds :(

lmao

loads of birds was in Japan though. its quite remarkable one made it over to East London, really

hmm you raise a valid point. i actually worry about this bird now, that is a pretty jacked migration pattern. and cell phone towers started getting really data-heavy around that time too. it was for sure that

did anyone manage to nab those frankenstein performances? they've since been turned to private :/

I nabbed the first one. Suggestions on where to share... or advisories that I shouldn't do such a thing here? Lemme know

I used Mediafire for my out-of-print uploads ITT because the links expire after two weeks. The NT are unlikely to be selling tickets to cinema screenings of Frankenstein in that timeframe, I'd reckon.

will give it a go soon. if you enjoy donate to your local frankenstein

the irony of using a site with fire in its name dang

Missing my ipod this week tbh, RIP.

― Elon's musk (sic), Friday, May 8, 2020 10:31 AM (one week ago)

Playing things on desktop has revealed that itunes has been helpfully updated at some point to just not bother playing the last two minutes of long songs, which is really really helpful and fun when you're trying to listen to different versions of long songs to figure out which ones you like best. As well as just a practical feature that makes any sense at all under any circumstances!

hadn't heard (of) Loads of Birds until five minutes ago, this is good stuff

Cannot understand why anyone uses itunes tbh

i've made such a mess of files that i made a mouse shortcut to a very nice program called ...

c:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe

got a kick out of that

( https://www.voidtools.com/ )

(used to have an ipod until it died a few months ago. don't keep music in itunes at all, but all my non-album Underworld is extensively organised by ID3 tags, so tweaking those tags and navigating from compilation to compilation during this fortnight has seen me dump that stuff into the program I otherwise use to transfer podcasts & DJ mixes onto a portable device for one-time listening.)

Just remembered "8 Ball" and now my top 10 has 40 different tracks on it

8 ball was my no. 1 for quite a while

seriously should have done Drift as a third ballot poll

Yes, I am trying to listen to it, there is a lot of music.

the ballad of Dr Victor Sickboy https://www.transfernow.net/QnNnzu052020

drift ranked:

5 > 3 > 4 = 2 > 1

I might have enough time to listen through Drift Series 1 but I've also listened to "Thing in a Book" four times so far and don't plan to stop

2 3 4 5 1

"soniamode (aditya game version)" is so goofy lol "maker spaces!"

Let me tell you about 2019. So much optimism

i understand the sentiment but it was a really goofy expression of it even then

today's drift discovery is "do breakers trip" which is really sublime

"soniamode (aditya game version)" is so goofy lol "maker spaces!"

"procuring organic food!"

iirc I think they didn't actually write those lyrics, I think Karl asked some writer to do it because of some article he liked about socialism

which is not to say Karl couldn't write some goofy lyrics on his own but they're not quite like that

yeah those parts were written by adtiya chakrabortty (hence the 'aditya' in the title)

Ahhhh awesome

community land trusts! housing first!

"soniamode" rules

currently blown away at the 5 song stretch that is Soniamode through Custard Speedtalk.

Brilliant Yes That Would Be = brilliant, yes it is

duuuuuune

A man puts his hand behind his head, leans back, brooding
A woman remembers the name, face, taste and all the details
It's been a long time

Tree and Two Chairs is a jam

"hundred weight hammer" is some blur think tank shit and i love it

Tree and Two Chairs is a jam

― groovypanda, Saturday, May 16, 2020 9:30 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

song is a jazz fusion odyssey

AvangAmbient PlanetMusic
AvangAmbient PlanetMusic
8 months ago
Oh My God This Very High Level Music Quality Is The Matrix Of Electronic Music From Our Planet

weird: i've gotten through the entire catalog and i have exactly 77 tracks. submitting my ballot in a few mins

I dunno, better relisten to make sure you got it right

one thing i've noticed during this: almost every underworld song title is fuckin weird

i submitted my ballot so i'm watching the 2017 rijksmuseum show, as a treat

i remember when i caught this stream about halfway through on my facebook feed and it rocked my entire day

i keep forgetting i have a dvd copy of everything everything, that's next

lmao this show is so fucking brilliant

i can't belive they do "dark train" and "dark & long" that's fuckin radical

ok I think I just figured out what my #1 is and it's definitely not what I expected it would be

what is it!

I'm gonna be down to the wire. doing stuff all day that wasn't this omg

voted!

Also, just researching the name of a Freur b-side which is my #76 brought me to the single's sole review on RYM, this is from one of their top reviewers.

Freur were a band I was convinced were going to be huge and, as such, I decided every single would eventually be worth owning. Well I was wrong. They never really forged their own identity. They were definitely different but different for the sake of it.... I suppose I should have realised then that if they were having to repeat the use of old material as fillers they were destined for failure.

I really want to tell him

lol! no Underworld reviews on his profile?

He's reviewed 4580 releases and I am not going to scroll through however many pages

https://rateyourmusic.com/~Grampus

there's a search bar on the profiles. he's rated the first 2 mk2 albums (3.5 stars each). wonder if he made the connection

i submitted my ballot so i'm watching the 2017 rijksmuseum show, as a treat

i remember when i caught this stream about halfway through on my facebook feed and it rocked my entire day

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, May 16, 2020 12:26 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

man "low burn" live is such a fuckin trip

24 HOURS WITH THE KING OF SNAKE

lol i'll never forgive this stream for cutting out during king of snake

C'mon, snake

The dirties patched up various repaired versions of the show from Snake reposts and partial stereo broadcasts, but I’ve never had enough computer to bother faffing with private trackers

(apparently the OG stream missed a bit of Snake & most of Jumbo)

man

everything everything

what a total experience

drift: 3 > 2 > 4 > 1 > 5

5 has so many jams what

the only thing i really rate on 5 is "doscientos". "tree and two chairs" and "toluca stars" are like almost there but not quite?

I think mine is 3 > 5 > 2 > 1 > 4, but outside of 3 being the best I'm pretty flexible on the rest

4 is only at the bottom because I don't like "Altitude Dub" much. though it's grown on me

btw I think I'm done with my ballot. two of my top three are from the last 5 years

would be nuts to tell my 2003 self that

thinking of the Drifts in terms of what's on which CD in the box set is wild to me, but then I haven't figured out how I'm organising them either

i'm going by boxset CDs + considering the necks collabs part of where they were originally