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

Forty years of music by Smith / Hyde. Twenty years of posts about it on I Love Music. Twenty-five ballots received before we closed the polls. Several hundred songs, tracks, remixes, albums, projects, demos and B-sides voted for, by bands with half a dozen names.

Two people helping each other, forever.

https://i.imgur.com/Z5FaeTL.jpg

Please report to the dancefloor.

― an, uh, razor of love (sic), Thursday, June 4, 2020 4:07 PM (nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

o7

change the weather too low

The voting thread was here.

Most people ranked their albums, from an eligible 16. And one person who voted too late had their album points counted anyway.

The top 77 tracks will roll out next week, in which any work by either Karl Hyde or Rick Smith was eligible, but let's run through ILM's top 13 Albums Credited To Underworld now.

13. UNDERNEATH THE RADAR
12 points, 2 votes
1988 Sire LP, 48:06
Top chart position: #32, Australia

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

theres like 5 songs I legitimately like from this

listened to it once and said "life's too short for me not to listen to everything else 500 more times" and moved on. maybe i'll give it another try but it wasn't my thing!

oh I haven't heard it in years but it was definitely a guilty pleasure when I was 18

the songs are all too long though

I guess I should get around to checking out the stuff from their big hair days.

I taped it off my sister and Walkmanned it over and over and over, but tbf there weren't any other Underworld albums to listen to at the time

Title track is really excellent ripoff Depeche Mode.

12. BREAKING and ENTERING
21 points, 3 votes
2006 V2 OST by Underworld & Gabriel Yared, 57 minutes
Underworld and Gabriel Yard - "Breaking and Entering"

https://i.imgur.com/pe1gEx2.jpg

Title track is good, a few other tracks not that bad, the rest can be safely deleted

Also I just want to express my joy and gratitude that the rollout has begun.

that's about underneath the radar of course

oh I haven't heard it in years but it was definitely a guilty pleasure when I was 18

the songs are all too long though

― frogbs, Thursday, June 4, 2020 5:47 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

aha. Same here til I gave it a spin for voting. Could not get into it, but did like a big chunk of "Change the Weather". Ah well, they are pretty similar!

i think it was brotherlovesdub talked up a couple of tracks from Breaking and Entering, which I hadn't bothered with before. They were great and I voted for both. I even watched the movie---that part is not recommended

Yeah, those tracks in the campaigning thread were great (but I still didn't get time to listen to the album :( )

Only two people bothered to list Underneath the Radar? including me at #15 or whatever? Or is there some maximum ballot length there?

my logic was that, as I can't vote for freur LPs, I'm not voting for any LPs which are worse than freur LPs.

still voted for 10 LPs though

I'm glad we're having these conversations. Respect.

B&E soundtrack is pretty good but I didn't vote for it sadly

11. MANCHESTER STREET POEM
26 points, 3 votes
2017* digital album, 64:50

it's short...but! there is apparently an entire album of this stuff.

https://i.imgur.com/Q4ZiKm3.jpg

I just didn't have time to listen to collaborative LPs, sadly.

Did nobody vote for Change The Weather then?

* played in situ 2017, released as purchase for charity 2019

Did nobody vote for Change The Weather then?

whoa we're really asking for spoilers this early?

Surprise #1?

I listed it. and got piled on really bad in the voting thread for mentioning it

but I will continue to

https://youtu.be/nxdNS8WNSOY

Stand Up isn't bad exactly, but that video! Just because you've had a hit in Australia doesn't mean you need to turn into Midnight Oil.

btw nice writeup at top, sic. That "two people..." business that was in the Listen To Their No copy is too sweet.

10. RIVERRUN
77 points, 8 votes
2005-2006 digital EP and physical singles project, approx 90 minutes in most common form

New Underworld EP Release: 'Pizza For Eggs'

https://i.imgur.com/f6KFBcF.jpg

Only 8 votes? Did some people decide to go tracks or movements only since it's not really an "album"? Whatever. Love it all together but didn't come up with much from it in my track ballot at the end.

My #10. Ending of Pizza For Eggs is the best bit.

#6 here

i voted for it pretty high

it's alright sober too

I didn't cross-reference the ballots, but I assume most people chose to either vote per "song," per EP-as-track, or in albums for Riverrun*... but also it's just way less known, and was one of their least-visible projects to begin with.

*though I did one of each

9. BARKING
142 points, 6 votes
2010 Cooking Vinyl 2xLP, 54 minutes
Top chart position: #26, UK

Underworld - Barking (Sept 13 2010)

https://i.imgur.com/jnO5oC8.jpg

(slightly) too low!

Too many songs with the same palette and purpose was this album's undoing for me. Hamburg Hotel possibly my favourite thing on it as a result.

Not meaning to undersell the evident variety of at least 50% of it.

Rediscovered "Between Stars" here. I loved "Scribble" at the time but now I get the fan love for "You Do Scribble" over the single/vocal version. Massive track. I had the album at an even lower rank, but still so much to love. Crazy.

Crazy.

― maffew12, Thursday, June 4, 2020 2:21 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy

hey my internet is back! guess my hacking the results joke led to some bad webkarma

huge points jump from 11 to 9!* (*i don't pretend to know how points work)

love Barking and I agree 9 is too low but idk what I'd bump for it

i had it at 4 but i think i was being challopsy putting it above 2 stone cold classics

the version of Barking that exists only in my head is definitely one of their best albums though

so, who's been to Barking?

I voted for Riverrun, I hadn't heard any of it prior to this poll but as a whole thing I like it more than any of the proper post-'90s albums.

i've been to barking for years WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP

What's the version in your head like?

8. A HUNDRED DAYS OFF
160 points, 7 votes
2002 JBO/V2 2xLP, 62 mins
Top chart position: #6, Belgium

Underworld: a hundred days off, leftism part II

https://i.imgur.com/n6DthPk.jpg

ooh now that's really too low. my #4

rated PG for some pretty sinister beats

underrated record that i've personally underrated in the past that remains underrated

Cruel, cruel math

this is one of the ones that just gets lost in the shuffle for me (aside from the incredible sort-of title track) but thats prob on me

fun fact: this album cover makes a cameo in, of all movies, EUROTRIP

https://i.imgur.com/HSbh6Rx.png

I guess scotty doesn't know......... ABOUT ALL THE OTHER GREAT RECORDS IN THEIR CATALOGUE

It was just the newest at the time. The math works.

What's the version in your head like?

ALAF with the groovy bassline, You Do Scribble with vocals, Diamond Jigsaw with the synth, and the original Moon in Water

Barking (Mad Version)

nice!

7. EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING
162 points, 13 votes
2000 live DVD, 101 minutes
Top chart position: #12, Netherlands

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boar did=41&threadid=19530

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

& Strumpet instead of Bird 1. Bird 1 is good, but it's not as good as Strumpet live was.

everything everything too low

agreed

Don't blame me it was my number 1!!! Probably the reason I got as into underworld as I did

6. BARBARA, BARBARA, WE FACE A SHINING FUTURE
174 points, 16 votes
2016 Caroline LP, 45 mins
Top chart position: #7, Belgium

Underworld - Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future (Coming March 18, 2016)

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

Aren't # of #1's usually indicated? You got hacked, Will!

It's fantastic but it's still a live album... I couldn't put it ahead of much of any original material.

from here it gets really interesting!

expected but too low!!!!

practically a reunion album, the start of this phase. The joy of it. Love all of it.

LOVE Barbara Barbara, I exhale is humongous

practically a reunion album, the start of this phase. The joy of it.

Yes, I've noticed that they talked about it like that - though they'd been working on lots of projects that came out of the Underworld office, and played live still*, this was the first time they'd either made music together or been good friends in six years. And the floodgates opened!

* though in Karl's new preferred festival-format shows

Any speculation about what's going to place in the top five?

well no

I don't like guessing out loud, to me it's like ppl saying "he's the killer" halfway thru a whodunit movie. Like cool you're clever but just let it ~unfold~

Also I have no idea how they'll land lol

5. OBLIVION WITH BELLS
192 points, 18 votes
2007 PIAS 2xLP, 58 minutes
Top chart position: #6, Japan

new Underworld album: Oblivion with Bells (October 2007) + tour dates

https://i.imgur.com/T7sf8bJ.jpg

what order they will place in, then? oh yes very much so.

wow big board fave here

Almost yelled to low when I saw the album cover. Not sure why they made it so similar it really messeswithmyheadman

(too high)

really though no doubt at dubnobass #1. some of you might know I'm boosting its successor

my no. 1!!!!

next must be the fishes

4. DRIFT Series 1
200 points, 18 votes
2018-2019 52-week digital release project including over 420 minutes of new music, plus over 340 minutes of unreleased older recordings
also 6xCD++ box set
Top chart position: #26, UK

Underworld - Drift

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

guessing beaucoup fish then.... dubnobass then second toughest

guessing beaucoup fish then.... dubnobass then second toughest

oh lol whoops

3. BEAUCOUP FISH
279 points, 23 votes
1999 JBO/V2 2xLP, 74 mins
Top chart position: #3, UK

Underworld: Beaucoup Fish

https://i.imgur.com/nexVAp1.jpg

mymymymymymy

Drift too low and, for some here, too long. but do take time, sometime, people

really Brad. I feel like dubnobass by a good margin. Hope you are right!

2. SECOND TOUGHEST IN THE INFANTS
295 points, 22 votes
1996 JBO 2xLP, 73 minutes
Top chart position: #9, UK

Second Toughest Poll Ever!

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

1. DUBNOBASSWITHMYHEADMAN
302 points, 23 votes
1994 JBO 2xLP, 73 minutes
Top chart position: #12, UK

Underworld Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Classic or Dud?
"Decksanddrumsandrockandroll" Vs. "Dubnobasswithmyheadman"
Underworld - dubnobasswithmyheadman POLL

https://i.imgur.com/vB48Uhx.jpg

CLOSE

very close!

someone didn't vote for second toughest.. is that really allowed?

we need to check the machines

I thought Beaucoup would beat Second Toughest In The Albums

Everything,Everything also my #1. I mean they're just not an albums band you know...

mods?

lol. thanks a lot sic!

I mean they're just not an albums band you know...

― nashwan, Thursday, June 4, 2020 4:37 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

unfortunately this is highly untrue

Liner notes from Beaucoup Fish sampler

Trevor Morais: All the hitting things done in a live, loose and sexy way not dissimilar to drumming but better.

finally some weird controps

I had to google the quote to figure out how it was meant to back up your point. So that's Trevor's credit on the album. I found an old article saying he played with Underworld live and in studio. News to me. Anyway not sure I'm following here. They're great at all of it

https://i.ibb.co/QrWZkhN/Underworld-big-day-out-Australia-2003-04throwshapes.gif

i surrender

my albums ballot:
Dubnobasswithmyheadman
Everything Everything
Barbara Barbara We Face a Shining Future
Second Toughest in the Infants
Beaucoup Fish
A Hundred Days Off
Drift Series 1
Riverrun
Oblivion with Bells

Holy shit it WAS close wowowow

(sorry I'm not more active. Internet now fully down tech coming tmrw truly I am not a Hackers (1995))

(if ppl wanna share ballots already would someone mind starting a quarantine thread [mb on 77?]? I’m on Zing here, at the rallies for the next few hours, but will create a safe zone afterward if nobody else has)

I wasn't really sure what to count as an album so I only ranked the main ones. Maybe regret that now but I think all their studio albums are basically excellent so not much point splitting hairs.

xp I'm not sure what half that meant, but you stay safe yourself sic! Cheers

& Strumpet instead of Bird 1. Bird 1 is good, but it's not as good as Strumpet live was.

that's tough, I think Bird 1 is one of those tracks where the outside remix really works

but yeah I'm jammin Barking now and man ALAF really would be so much cooler if they'd kept that groovy bassline

Well the top 3 are right anyway.

If not in the right order.

I will never listen to Drift in its entirety but the only album whose present ticks me off here is Everything Everything. Every version of every song (almost all of them classics) is consistently worse.

Presence, not present

this is, again, the wrongest opinion you've ever had xp

And the one I’m most proud of.

funny first time I heard EE I thought the exact opposite (minus "Cups", I guess)

I love the crowd noise on it. it sounds so good with banging house music like this. I mean, that whole idea has sustained Scooter for 25 years

frogbs, there's one recurring noise in the album version that annoys me and distracts me the whole song. It first occurs on the downbeat at 1:40 and it just annoys the f outta me.

hope Will's internet gets fixed in time to post his planned excerpts from TOO LOW: A Commemorative Monograph


here is a "my ballots, let me show you them" thread that exhibitionists can bookmark and reuse. (anyone who doesn't know: 77 is a search-engine-proof board, just ask to be let in.

Barking & BBWFASF way too low.

Didn't vote for OWB as a couple of tracks aside it's just not very good.

Was also surprised to discover BF is nowhere near as good as I remembered it being. (It would have been my #3 before relistening)

Apologies to maffew but I kept changing my #1 album between dubno & STITI and in the end went with dubno. There's nothing in it really and they're both incredible albums

i ended up finding OWB to be their weakest apart from Barking. the highs are still wonderful but it's a little patchier than most of their albums. i think Drift is a bit overrated too, there are certainly a few incredible all-time great tracks on it, but largely the quality is a little below their average.

what's the reason to post ballots in a 77 thread? it's not unusual for people to post ballots for a part of the poll after it's rolled out?

I see Underworld's shop is currently closed, the Drift box seems to be unavailable generally.

xpost - In this especial instance, it might clutter the conversation somewhat to have 23 near-identical lists of the same five albums posted over and over again, somewhere in the first 20% of the thread. :) And generally speaking, it makes poll threads really really really difficult to navigate after the fact, and absolutely trashes searchability sitewide for the titles or artists or films or whatnot - as I said over there, I've already made things extremely annoying and difficult for myself with two passes of the eligibility lists.

xp Wonder what they're up to with that store refresh. The whole Drift box is on streaming, and download stores like iTunes.

you’re all being ridiculous about owb, it’s all great

glam bucket, faxed invitation, AND best mamgu ever

to heal, crocodile, beautiful burnout. others!

it’s their jazziest and lowest key this side of second toughest and that is precisely the mode in which i love them the most

there was talk in the voting thread about how they ruined the studio version of “holding the moth” but the og hard techno disco “holding the moth” while amazing does not fit the texture of owb or the rest of riverrun really. i think they successfully made it more noirish and ominous for the album

xps... All of Drift had original videos on YouTube. Here's a link to a playlist that has them in order (the official one has them in reverse, and Dexter's Chalk not available strangely)

you’re all being ridiculous about owb, it’s all great

they all voted it the sixth best Underworld album tbf


RIP this afternoon to Rupert Hine, musician, director of songwriters' rights agency The Ivors Academy, and producer of the Underneath The Radar album

(also of Jon Pertwee's 1972 single I Am The Doctor, I just learned)

i was talking to the few ppl in this thread who were like “aside from a few tracks it’s not very good.” v hyped about its placement!

og hard techno disco “holding the moth”

tell me more...

its not like owb is bad or anything, i just ended up finding most of their other albums are even better after having previously thought it was one of the stronger post-beaucoup albums. really the only thing i don't like on it is "ring road". it spends more time than most on ambient interludes which ends up meaning there aren't quite as many standout moments though

kinda wish more of the album was in the vein of "holding the moth" idk

og holding the moth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYm03yOWd1s

album version is way better

I would say that having spent the last few weeks listening almost exclusively to UW, Barbara Barbara is now easily my third favourite album of theirs. So many great tunes.

barbara barbara is in contention for their best front-to-back

it's an amazing record

Only 2 votes for Oblivion With Bells is surprising. I'd think a lot of ILXors would dig that one.

― frogbs, Thursday, November 7, 2013 1:06 AM (six years ago)

ten years ago an Underworld albums poll could get 86 voters on ILM

Barking is way too low, wtf

I actually considered not including dubnobass on my ballot just to give Second Toughest an edge.

But that would've been senseless.

> ten years ago an Underworld albums poll could get 86 voters on ILM

Never noticed that poll. Cool. You could get that many again on a simple pick-one poll?

Second Toughest came a long way. Let's do this again in 2030.

Thinking about the two or three ballots that didn't have dubno or Second Toughest on them

it's all good. Some surprisingly strong feelings for Barking going on. A long career!

I've been to Barking. Had a pal who lived there. Convenient overground connection from Gospel Oak. I won't say it's an idyll but I do find the odd quiet emptiness and wide residential roads of the 'burbs strangely pleasant and novel.

I don't recall ever being in Romford but damp, foresty parts of Essex with lots of cars with spoilers used to make me think of Underworld.

Ring Road is entirely freestyled isn't it

Ring Road is a lot of fun. Not an album highlight but it makes me smile. My favourite of their rappier tracks. Dunno whether it was off the dome (⌒‿⌒)

none of their tracks in that mode have ever worked for me unfortunately

All of their tracks like that are terrible. It's only this year that I've been able to sit through the entirety of "Bruce Lee".

xp I've had very little time in the UK... handful of days walking around (oh look it's Trottenham Court Rd!) and happened to be around for Badly Drawn Boy playing the Barking Folk Fest, free show, grand day, nice area. Old fave.

xp Lol. Bruce Lee just kind of boring compared to Ring Road. It's funny how much they've wanted to make that vein work, yknow? Like Bruce Lee as a single?? People lump in "Hundred Weight Hammer" as well but I find that's some totally new direction... the rare one I can't follow them on!

burning from the inside

I remember an interview at the time where Karl compared Barking to Worcester and said the people were much more friendly in Barking. My stepmother is from Romford and I went to high school in Worcester and I have to assume there is a chasm between Romford and Barking.

There was also a Jonathan Meades thing on Essex which I always associate with this.

Bruce Lee is great

Ring Road is terrible xps

This is reminding me to watch the "Edgelands" documentary DVD that was bundled with Karl's album. I just recently picked that up. For all they've said about almost splitting in the early part of the '10s, it was cute to read in the booklet's thanks, "For friendship, inspiration & being Welsh: RICK SMITH"

I did not vote for "Bruce Lee" but I did vote for "Bruce Lee (Dobropet)."

oh yeah! i don't think i've heard this since the single release. How the hell is it not on the Beaucoup box?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN51V4_gm8w

"bruce lee" and "ring road" are such a bizarre glimpse into a non-existent genre

they'd be a grime act now if BL took off

I think Karl rhyming "shirts" with "shirts" a bunch kinda confirms it's freestyled. plus that bit where he's like "I gotta stop..."

frogbs, there's one recurring noise in the album version that annoys me and distracts me the whole song. It first occurs on the downbeat at 1:40 and it just annoys the f outta me.

you're talkin about that little "pew pew pew" sound right? yeah that is a bit unusual

"Ring Road" is a fixed "Bruce Lee"

they're both great, weird and silly but so catchy and funky

I love Ring Road. The beat and delivery was awkward at first, but i adjusted to it. I often find myself repeating the 'people are squinting to block out the sun, complaining or soaking it up' lyrics.

one interesting thing about it is that apparently the backbeat is part of some sample pack, which afaik UW never really used before. someone pointed out that the same bit was used in a Family Guy ad.

Rick Smith, reluctant hiphop producer?

My internet might be back! (they didn't fix anything, but it's online now i guess?)

i copy

the awkward spacing of seh-cuu-rity on Ring Road sounds like a Mike Skinner influence

but what if Bruce Lee / Ring Road / Hundred Weight is what all of Karl's lyrics sound like before Rick cuts them up?

Imagine what he must have thought when he heard the first Streets record (like 3 years after Bruce Lee).

"secuuuruhty", definitely

If we're hanging out in here talking about tracks anyway, is a top 77 really enough?

Nope

I once put on King of Snake at a spontaneous dance party in my kitchen where there was a guest named Bruce Lee. Real shame I didn't think of it then.

Would folks be up for a little extra countdown, even if we don't have full-on fancy nashwan graphics?

YES

ahundredtracksoff

^ VERY GOOD PREAMBLE NAME

The lowest-scoring track received just one point, and was released in 2019.

The lowest-scoring track to get multiple votes scored two points, and was released in 1979.

I was one of the voters for that then

and was released in 2019.

(in studio form: it had been performed live from the early C21st, and included in part on a live album.)

Go for 100! Just start now!

I was one of the voters for that then

I love that both of the voters for I Just Can't Stand Cars by The Screen Gemz wanted to rep it exactly the same amount :)

ahundredtracksoff

Go for 100! Just start now!

look, I dunno if we can start from 100

101. I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess, and This Is My Horse
150 points, 4 votes
2006 digital EP (Riverrun 3) mixing excerpts of five uncompleted songs

audio

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
― ufo, Wednesday, May 6, 2020 10:16 AM

https://i.imgur.com/fU4NpJ9.jpg

the whole EP is great but "Wedge"/"Showlder" is really some of the most gorgeous music I've ever heard in my life
― frogbs, Wednesday, May 6, 2020 11:03 AM

I like the "11 Hundred Hz" tag.

I voted for I Just Can't Stand Cars as I do quite like it, especially the harmonies towards the end, and wanted to give it some recognition. it probably isn't in their best 77 tracks tbh.

oh look, maybe we do have some graphics lying around after all

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u100-884652.png

100. Bigmouth
154 points, 3 votes
1992 12" by Lemon Interupt

audio

lowest scoring.....I dunno, did someone put in Mile Bush Pride? Interesting little thing.

oh whoops. uhh. I'll come back.

The kickass house/blues romp "Big Mouth" (with some guy named Philadelphia Slim whom I've never heard of on harmonica!!) is another awesome underrated early Underworld song. Underworld kicks ass.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, January 8, 2004 4:32 AM

audience video 2015
audience audio 2003

(on a Country Techno thread:)

lemon interrupt/underworld's 'bigmouth' possible precursor. (is a harmonica country?)

― special guest stars mark bronson, Tuesday, January 27, 2009 10:55 PM

The title was standardised to "Bigmouth" when re-released by Underworld.

https://i.imgur.com/6k2aQW7.jpg

(Philadelphia Slim does not exist. Patrick Hernandez did not write this song.)

hmm. I didn't vote for any of the Riverrun EPs as a whole but I did put on a lot of the individual tracks. Big Sister is really great, everyone should hear it

I love that both of the voters for I Just Can't Stand Cars by The Screen Gemz wanted to rep it exactly the same amount :)

― an, uh, razor of love (sic)

I was the other, something about its scrappy charm made it seem perfect for #77!

Re-listening now. This song makes me smile. na na na na

side-note, the Youtube version I listened to had it listed as "I Just Can't Stand The Cars" and I briefly wondered if I had somehow missed the period of MK.5 Underworld where they made diss tracks

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u099-573079.png

99. Louisiana
156 points, 4 votes
2010 album track from Barking
video by Danielle Short & Toby Vogel

holy crap these visuals are great. this is my favorite track on Barking and in my top 10, this list is gonna be crazy.

wish I had voted in this. for albums Beaucoup Fish would have been #1 for me

Love Bigmouth. Harmonica techno ftw

Louisiana is a great song! It's uncool to not like it. See also the UW remix of William's Last Words by Manic Street Preachers, which for me captures a similarly reflective / somber tone.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, May 31, 2018 4:38 AM

demo as Jumping The Cran

https://i.imgur.com/jlvSM8s.jpg

Reminded me of Talk Talk.....

reminds me of mark hollis,and that aint no bad thing.love it.

yeah love the visuals

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u098-750093.png

98. Universe Of Can When Back
157 points, 3 votes
2018 youtube video as part of Drift
video by Simon Taylor
extended EP audio

I got a bit carried away and put this at #10, maybe a bit high, glad I got it in though.

Featuring Lewis Taylor on saxophone.

love the new EP by the way. Universe of Can When Back/Dexter's Chalk/Another Silent Way is the hardest they've gone in a long time....feels like a certain stretch on Beacoup Fish.

― frogbs, Saturday, December 15, 2018 5:04 PM

album remix audio

It's like the riverrun and keeps running, love where this is flowing

https://i.imgur.com/zuY5AOI.jpg

aw. Louisiana is beautiful. I feel bad not voting for it. That's going to be happening a lot here. It doesn't make me uncool. it doesn't.

... quietly violent (ಥ﹏ಥ)

The start of drift! So hard! Too low! 30something for me

whoops I thought Another Silent Way was up, with that graphic. I enjoy this song also. Goodnight :D

"i'm a big sister" way too low!!! i voted for it as a whole because figuring out how to rank the split-up parts was too much work

yeah, Universe never got a "sleeve" of its own, as it didn't come out for download until the EP.

might drop the sleeve / label images if they're distracting, especially before discussion really ramps up

they're fine imo

Listening to the first of the 1990 demo tapes while I prep more weekend posts and: loooooool at "Sex Lies"

Louisiana was #77 on my ballot so must have placed fairly high with those other three voters

Lovely tune though and totally get the Mark Hollis/Talk Talk comparisons

Also thought Big Sister would be higher but then vote splitting I guess if people have voted for individual tracks rather than than the piece as a whole

images always fun

xp Yeah I did a few Riverrun specific tracks only (plus Riverrun on album ballot), as if I had to consider the three as full movements they'd crowd up my top 10 "tracks" I guess. anyway I appreciate this choose-your-own-adventure style!

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u097-450041.png

97. Underneath The Radar
157 points, 4 votes
titular single from 1988 LP
video
full-length audio

I gave that a vote. Said all I had to say about it upthread.

ah wow these track rollout images weren't showing on my phone earlier (using Flagging app) - great job!

that's Underneath The Radar from Underneath The Radar, the first release under "Underworld"

'live' on children's TV 1988
soundboard audio 1988

Hahaha yes so glad to see at least one mk1 tune place. Such a great earworm.

Since it probably won’t place can I just say the thumbnail YouTube uses for “Stand Up” always makes me laugh.

lot of great gif material in Stand Up... too bad it's really rough and in 240p

is there "underneath the radar "? hip a noo now now ...

― retroboy, Sunday, January 8, 2006 5:03 PM

https://i.imgur.com/PT4tsO2.jpg

As their biggest hit single, the song is well-remembered, and often revived.

Here's KYA reinvigorating it in November 2019

2006 Big Brother contestant Danielle And who can forget when Big Brother contestant Danielle launched her singing career by performing it on the 2006 season finale special?
It went well, as one can see from this live date on her tour a few weeks later.

She was the youngest housemate of Big Brother 2006. Danielle became romantically involved with Dino after Katie's 20th birthday party.

First minute of Underneath The Radar is easily the beat thing MkI did, love the perfectly timed mix in / mix out as the first guitar note hits, was just thinking about how Blockbuster by The Sweet pulls off exactly the same trick.

Don't think I've ever listened to the two MkI albums but that song's actually pretty good and the chorus is already stuck in my head

what's astonishing to me is that MkI had one good song and padded it out to two not-very-good albums over three years, then MkII put out enough amazing material to fill four CDs over their first two years.

Is that their one good song then?

(so not worth listening to anything else from that phase?)

I liked the whole album (and not the second) as a kid, as noted upthread, but that's the best one. It's probably interesting to hear them mixing woinging electronic sounds, and Karl making weirdish vocalisations and inflections, in a rock band context, when you're coming from the other direction.

I don't care how much everybody hates it, I think "Underneath the Radar" is a fucking GREAT 80s pop song.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, January 8, 2004 4:32 AM

You know who likes the way Snrub thinks? Melbourne, Australia covers band Radio 80s.
The song could stand up in many other eras, too, as Melbourne jazz band Vintage Roots ably prove.
Of course, it wasn't that much of a stretch for Melbourne's Gotcha Funk'n Covered.
Fewer of us might have predicted middle-aged ska punk by The Blessed Eddies, though.

But it's not only Melbourne, Australia that knows Underworld are a classic floor-filling band whose material everyone loves.


For instance, here's an Adelaide, South Australia covers band called This Way Up at the Arkaba Hotel in 2009.
And here's an Adelaide, South Australia covers band called Clearway on a booze cruise in 2017.
Not to mention an Adelaide, South Australia covers band called The Buzz in a 115-year old pub sometime in the '10s.
Also back in 2009, the market had room for this Adelaide, South Australia covers band called The Exmen to bust it out too.

Is that their one good song then?
(so not worth listening to anything else from that phase?)

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u096-919895.png

96. Ramajama
162 points, 5 votes
1999 track, released on the 2017 Beaucoup Fish Super Deluxe box set
audio
live audio 1999 (link at 09:40)

I was at that Glasto 99 set tho have just never remembered Ramajama from it but cool they finally released it.

It's very Dave Angel

nice one. I've really enjoyed the new old things from the three boxes, but I'm not expecting any of it to place higher than Ramajama. Thots?!

"Ramajama" on the deluxe edition is revving me up lately.

― Eric H., Tuesday, August 29, 2017 6:12 AM

https://i.imgur.com/7XF6frb.jpg

Such an underrated record. Gem!

This is SO awesome. They played this at several live concerts, usually before "King of Snake" (hence its former title before we knew the real name, "King of Snake Part 1")

Oh shit I just remembered the insane 20 minute KoS they did in 99, fucking awesome

Btw one song I always kinda liked from UtR is “I Need a Doctor” which has the hilarious line “in the city...life is shitty...that’s a fact!!!”

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u095-013095.png

95. S T A R
165 points, 5 votes inc one for (Rebel Tech)
2019 digital single as part of Drift

video

The Rebel Tech remake is the only track exclusive to the one-CD Drift Sampler.
Rebel Tech audio

Ramajama first of mine to show up and maybe the only completely new thing to me listening as part of the ballot process. It's a hit!

S T A R was quite entertaining the first time I heard it but has no replay value

Preview of the last track sounds awesome, I believe that’s the Lenny Penne beat

― frogbs, Thursday, September 12, 2019 9:33 AM

early form as Lenny Penne, here in a different recording from the one on Pizza For Eggs

I like how they list the decibels for each track :-)

― StanM, Saturday, November 23, 2019 6:39 PM

lol

assuming they're BPMs which means STAR is in happy hardcore territory

― groovypanda, Saturday, November 23, 2019 6:41 PM

Oh I love S T A R - hard and subtle and sounds like nothing else

https://i.imgur.com/NcuV7f0.jpg

Who is your S T A R ? London video
Who is your S T A R ? Mexico City video

Yet again Underworld gift us One big waaaaaaave of hyperconsciousness gargantua from there hideout far faaaaaar beyond our oort cloud 🤴👌

the lyrics get pretty goofy but i think this one grows on me more every time i hear it. It's really Lenne Penne with its priorities straight.

kind of a victory lap but I love it

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u094-218271.png

94. Doscientos
166 points, 7 votes
2019 album track from the Drift Series 1 box set

audio

love the sax on this one

this is my fav new track from the drift box

7 votes? damn

Story checks out.

..."doscientos " which is prob my favorite of the new new tracks

― BradNelson, Thursday, November 7, 2019 11:08 AM

Wonderfully hypnotic. I'd say this is like part of the soundtrack to a mesmerising movie, except it's more like the soundtrack and the movie in one.

LOVING this poll so far. Great job. The live "Underneath the Radar" video linked above with all those letters on Karl's guitar is an absolute scream.

I voted for this one. I put one box/non-single track ahead of it, i wonder if we'll see that one. 7 voters is probably not far from the number who have listened to the entire box?

https://i.ibb.co/MsdM2cM/laser-girldance.gif

just looking at my ballot and most of my highest placing Drift tracks are non Sampler ones xp

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

Votes for different versions of Mmm... Skyscraper I Love You have been combined in this poll. However, if every title voted on were tallied separately, then Jam Scraper would have appeared at #102. With 167 points from 4 votes, though, lets acknowledge it here.

audio

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u093-101614.png

93. Puppies
170 points, 5 votes
1996 b-side to Pearl's Girl CD2
audio
demo audio

If we are acknowledging Jam Scraper, does that mean that it got more votes than Telegraph 6.11.92? In which case humpfh.

Puppies is one of those tracks that sounds like nothing else they’ve ever done, it’s floaty underwater magic

jam scraper rules i voted for it

I can actually remember the first time I heard it. I think I downloaded it from Kazaa and thought it was like a sequel to Kittens. Still can recall how weird it made me feel the first time I heard it

Love that the first 3 seconds has a hard kick drum that's immediately abandoned.

Let's acknowledge the adorable aptness of nashwan's image for Puppies, too.

I honestly find it surprising that they went with the 1994 version instead of the later 1996 album version of this piece

https://i.imgur.com/czeG2zu.jpg

If we are acknowledging Jam Scraper, does that mean that it got more votes than Telegraph 6.11.92? In which case humpfh.

no spoilers!!¡!

but yes, twice as many votes, and nearly twice as many points

more than twice as many points

what's this about 94 and 96?

I dunno tbh, when there aren't any sourced quotes from ILX I've grabbed some comments from youtube or elsewhere, and I wondered if someone here would be prompted by that!

oh it's about Puppies? No idea.

Puppies into Mosaic = their most unsettling two track run

heebies & jeebies. Wonder if we'll see Mosaic here

Puppies is great, very interesting sounds. The Pearls Girl US CD was another release I really underrated

Love that the first 3 seconds has a hard kick drum that's immediately abandoned.

yeah I really think this is brilliant

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u092-068376.png

92. Ancient Phat Farm Coat
171 points, 3 votes
2005 b-side to JAL To Tokyo, a small excerpt also appears on Pizza For Eggs

audio

oh nice

another strange one-off. you'd never know it was Underworld. though maybe the piano underpinning gives it away.

Brad, discovering the existence of the 20-minute original:

excuse me there's a what

― BradNelson, Thursday, May 14, 2020 3:46 AM

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

― lukas, Thursday, May 14, 2020 3:56 AM

morning y'all

I'm sure I've posted this in at least one UW thread but every time this comes up on shuffle I'm always struck by how much it sounds like early 90s Underworld

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJa7v17kqqA

"ancient phat farm coat" ended up being really high on my ballot

prob my favorite ambient(???) underworld track ever at this point

also confirm or deny that they exported the piano from this track onto "best mamgu ever"

frogbs: Makes me think of 2002 b-side "Headset".

i somehow spaced on the long Farm Coat til this morning. Beauty. I'd only known the 8-minute "short excerpt" all this time :)

yeah sounds the same as the Mamgu piano to me

oh yeah I forgot about that one entirely

also reminds me of Freur's "Alabaster White Thing"

Yes. I'm now hearing that for the first time. Neat.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u091-643921.png

91. This Must Be Drum Street
174 points, 6 votes
2019 free-to-mailing-list mp3 as part of Drift

video
album remix audio

honestly "Do you wanna buy my car?" is one of my favorite Karl lyrics

one of the catchiest drift tracks

this kicks so much ass

― BradNelson, Monday, April 15, 2019 5:02 AM

this would be a nice one to stretch out to 12+ minutes

― frogbs, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 1:16 AM

https://i.imgur.com/B2k0l3h.jpg

Now they can also do techno pop music? Oh my God !!!

i quite like this, it's simple but catchy. Love hearing Rick's voice reciting random(?) words when we'd expect Karl. Speaking of, Karl's two lines are so dreamily produced, they become like a calming mantra...especially if one puts the track on repeat as i did yesterday and today for commutes!

everything starting to feel 'too low' already lol. Love this one. Had it at #49

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u090-140108.png

90. Minneapolis
178 points, 5 votes inc one for ...Airwaves
1992 12" AA1 and AA2 by Lemon Interupt

audio
Minneapolis Airwaves audio

I'm not sure why I hadn't heard this before

Omg that graphic.

i thought i listened to pretty much everything but apparently i missed sooo muuuuch!!!

audience video 2014

- First, just saying... But why the name Minneapolis

-- because the song is named after minneapolis.

- Chanhassen is not Minneapolis by any stretch of the imagination

-- they name a lot of songs after places. why not?

- Jesus this isn't an act of war I was just curious the back story.

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

Underworld have a handful of incredible tracks they've played live but not released. I'm not sure of other bands who still work on ideas while on stage in front of 10K-20K fans. They did a version of Ring Road on one of their live broadcasts where they used Minneapolis as the backing track. Worked out great.

― brotherlovesdub, Tuesday, October 20, 2009 3:59

audience video 2017 with Ring Road lyrics

things I've learned so far in this poll:

1. Underneath the Radar was way more popular than I ever imagined. wondering what the most covered Underworld song is now, and where that stands in the ranking.
2. I slept on the Drift videos, they're really well done. apparently I have hours of watching to do.
3. need more live mashups after watching Ring Road + Minneapolis.

Think there's a few obvious (and fairly horrible) trance covers of Born Slippy so at least this one tries something different

Ha, Born Slippy as Cornflake Girl. I don't hate it!

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u089-220311.png

89. Phonestrap 6 / Autotrader 4
182 points, 3 votes inc Will voting for one of each title
2008 track from digital EP Phonestrap

audio (8 min)
full EP audio (18 min)

So muß sich Musik anhören

nice trip! i love them

good sound )

that whole phonestrap series was such a lovely surprise! a nice little tune playing telephone with itself into weird spaceworld

if i'm following the telephone game going on in here, i think Karl sold his car to someone in Minneapolis using Autotrader?

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u088-284165.png

88. And I Will Kiss
186 points, 3 votes
2012 Olympics opening ceremony segment, feat. Dame Evelyn Glennie and The Pandemonium Drummers, released on Isles Of Wonder

Opening Ceremony "Pandemonium" video 2012

Opening Ceremony 'Pandemonium' video 2012

I cannot put into words how good this was. The actors were outstanding, the music was perfect and how creative you got to be to put this all together that only a absolute genius can do. Love this man front row with tears in his eyes and how proud he is 15:53. Will always remember this for the rest of my life.

I was lucky enough to be one of those on stage, hauling sections of turf in the industrial revolution - it was the best, most memorable and moving night ever! So very proud to have been (a very small) part of it

One of the greatest moments in the televised history of the world! A masterpiece.

This song simultaneously inspires me and makes me think I’m wasting my life.

I was lucky enough to be there that night and will take to my grave the pride to be British and the emotion this piece brought to the stadium. Seven years later I marched on Parliament, so ashamed am I of the mess made of this most divided country by those driven by self interest and introspection

I hit a big dislike because i had to watch this because of school

audience video 2018

tsk - audience video 2018

Forgot about that Ring Road/Minneapolis mash up, that's so good. is my mind playing tricks on me or did they do that during a radio broadcast once?

glad Phonestrap got a few votes, always been a fan of that one

It was bld's quoted reference to a broadcast version in the '00s that set me finding that 2017 one!

I can only assume that And I Will Kiss scored three votes because nearly everyone hadn't heard it, btw. Rick being hospitalised at the end of the ceremony was probably at least 50% just having written this, months earlier, catching up with him.

wow yeah I don't think I've heard this one

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u086a-617443.png

86= The First Note Is Silent
189 points, 3 votes
2011 12" by High Contrast featuring Tiësto & Underworld ‎

promo video (directed, shot and edited by High Contrast}
audience video (High Contrast dropping the acetate .wav a month before release)

Good to see Olympic music place. Loved the ceremony and played the soundtrack album a bunch at the time. But I findb the ceremony music hard to go back to now. It's some strange mental gymnastics trying to sort out where that belongs in relation to Dirty Epic... so I Did Not Finish.

First Note comments:

it's like a glimpse of a parallel universe where Underworld were a Chart EDM/D&B group of the early 2010s

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.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, May 10, 2020 7:02 AM

“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.

― cheek, Sunday, May 10, 2020 1:09 PM

https://i.imgur.com/v8l6bsL.jpg

This song is creating one of the best memories in my life, I was young, without responsibilities, on university and lived party life, thank you for that

- literally get a tingling sensation whenever I listen to this song. dunno if it was the chemical enjoyment of the first time I heard this song or what.

-- It will be exactly that reason of your first pill. I feel the same with 'two months off’ by underworld

My #5, too low!

One thing that mustn't be overlooked in 'And I Will Kiss' is the little nods to 'Rez' that waft in during the fourth minute.

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u086-337843.png

86= Skym 189 points, 4 votes
1999 album track Beaucoup Fish JBO1005431
VHS promo

Probably my favourite beatless thing by them (from not a big list I realise).

(oh my ballot suggests otherwise lol nm)

Is 'Skym' the "do you still feed the animals?" one? That song is absolute dogshit.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, July 6, 2011 11:45 PM

yeah, and Skym might also be Mark G's "slow ballady" one: beatless singing over contemplative piano chords, throbbing sci-fi engine room synths later, poor becoming moderate, Viking, Dogger

(Skym is definitely on my "non-amazing" list but I do like the synth sound. its presence after Winjer is probably why I thought I didn't like Winjer and was doubly surprised by Dan's post until I put it on and went "oh, yeah, this one is good actually")

― a passing spacecadet, Wednesday, July 6, 2011 11:48 PM

i (i...i...i...) like Skym

― blueski, Wednesday, July 13, 2011 10:19 AM

i too enjoy skym, and since i managed to not even vote in my own poll, maybe i should have gone with that

― BradNelson, Thursday, July 14, 2011 2:07 AM

My #5, too low!

― Anti-Cop Ponceortium (Camaraderie at Arms Length)

lol, this one almost cracked my top 10, we three voters did some heavy lifting on this one.

One person voted for Shudder, and a couple of people confirmed that they definitively intended votes for Shudder / King Of Snake to not be votes for King Of Snake per se. If those people had voted for both compositions with equal enthusiasm, then 192ish points would have seen it rank at 93 or so.

the underrated part of that album (besides "Winjer") is the ambient noodling of "Shudder" bursting into the intro to "King of Snake"; it's kind of cheap tension/release but it works SO WELL

― DJP, Saturday, February 19, 2011 2:59 AM

This 199 live audio link goes to Shudder; skip back to the start to catch Pens Git, Ramajama and Rowla beforehand.

*1999; cat bumped the laptop.

i thought i listened to pretty much everything but apparently i missed sooo muuuuch!!!

Yep. I really tried to listen to as much as I could in preparation of the poll and I've still only heard seven of the placing tracks so far!

I made a long list of albums + EP + custom playlists that totaled like 30 hours and even still I missed some stuff

new poll after this poll!

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u085-337843.png

85 Twenty Three Blue
193 points, 6 votes
2016 bonus track / 2018 7" b-side

audio

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u085-909369.png

I like Barbara except for the first two songs. Really love Twenty Three Blue, the Japanese bonus track:

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, May 7, 2020 11:14 AM

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

― ufo, Thursday, May 7, 2020 11:20 AM

https://i.imgur.com/IhU3QrG.jpg

i kinda get why it wasn't on Barbara Barbara now, it doesn't really fit with the vibe of the rest of it that well.

As with Please Help Me, the only clear B-side from the album being great makes people say "it should have been on the album!"

but they sit better in a playlist of noodly / ambienty Underworld tracks than they do closing the sequence of tracks on the ablum

I like Barbara except for the first two songs.

Fighting talk

I had Skym pretty high in my ballot, I've always found it really affecting as it comes across like a break up song. Hits me in the same place as early Red House Painters, as weird as that sounds!

https://i.ibb.co/4Jxw7yx/gg-rickhand.gif

also confirm or deny that they exported the piano from this track onto "best mamgu ever"

The way they'll rework and rearrange things over and over while developing them, or go back to elements of tracks and lift them to turn into new songs years later, and from how much he's able to do just playing their music onstage, let alone rearranging it on the fly, you imagine Rick has some kind of bonkers supercomputer brain - the amount he writes, too! - but he'll talk about how if he's not recording at the time it comes out, then it's usually gone forever.

The supercomputer just works to generate his demo-cataloguing filenames, I guess.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u084-452434.png

84. Pinetum
197 points, 4 votes
2019 free-to-mailing-list mp3 as part of Drift

video by Simon Taylor extended album version audio

oh damn crank it up this piece is killer

― frogbs, Friday, April 19, 2019 6:58 AM

always taken aback by the sound design of Underworld's drums, it's just constantly mesmerising. Album to album, project to project, it's just so captivating.

Drums by Otis Jordan.

zoned out while listening to this and thought I had discovered some excellent long lost dubnobass B-side

remembering the days when you could busk down in the underground stations... i miss those days.. thanks otis was fun to watch you..

today it's pretty much been "Pinetum" over and over

― frogbs, Saturday, June 15, 2019 1:16 PM

yep gonna be today too lol

Hypnotic. Love it. A Drift highlight.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u083-646290.png

83. Parc
198 points, 5 votes
2005 live track Darc, remixed for 2008 Japanese broadcast

audio
original live audio 2005

The real crime is that "Parc" wasn't included - that's probably one of their very best, so strange to see it essentially left unfinished and placed on a Japan-only remix compilation

― frogbs, Wednesday, November 11, 2015 6:51 AM

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

audience video 2009 (approx 70% Les Paul solo)

oh man way too low

PENSIONERS TRAPPED IN THEIR HOUSES

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u082-514221.png

81= Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
204 points, 5 votes inc one for OG
2019 free-to-mailing-list mp3 as part of Drift, rewritten for 2019 digital single

original video by Simon Taylor & Ibrahim Muasher for Tomato
Aditya Game video by Simon Taylor & Ibrahim Muasher for Tomato

THE SHADOW OF LEHMANN

CORPORATE WELFARE QUEENS

audience video 2019

ZOMBIE GOVERNMENT

ZOMBIE ECONOMICS

https://i.imgur.com/azvf0VZ.gif

THE BROKEN PROMISES OF AN ENTIRE POLITICAL CLASS

CAPITALISM'S DEFAULT SETTINGS

love the Soniamode story.

All credit to Ned T Rifle.

Born lippy: how I helped Underworld write a socialist banger

― Ned Trifle X, Tuesday, May 21, 2019 9:17 PM

Obviously not about me, I didn't help them.

― Ned Trifle X, Tuesday, May 21, 2019 9:18 PM

oh wait

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u081-625675.png

81= Threat Of Rain 
204 points, 7 votes
2019 free-to-mailing-list mp3 as part of Drift

video by Simon Taylor and Rick Smith for Tomato

others: i've gotta new boyfriend.. me: i've discovered new music

Holy shitballs, what an EPIC train ride through mental sound city. All aboard!!!

My interpretation of this track, for what its worth: A person trying to convince themselves they are ok (I'm good, I'm alright), but something dark is brewing deep within and gathers momentum until it literally erupts and takes over. When it finally subsides they are left with the aftermath. The threat of rain was actualised and boy did it pour and now everything is drenched.

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

- this is their longest track in a very long time isn't it?
-- If you don't count And I Will Kiss, then this is the longest since Ancient Phat Farm Coat.

epic... dark... brewing... drenched. Yes!

Parc is another one I spaced on til this poll. What a groove. Would've been higher if it was on an album for sure.

one thing about Parc...it feels like it should be longer. it fades out just as things are really starting to get good.

If you don't count And I Will Kiss, then this is the longest since Ancient Phat Farm Coat.

Two weeks later, the 47-minute Appleshine Continuum was accidentally uploaded early to youtube...

there is no way that is next!

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u080-283271.png

80. 215 Miles 206 points, 5 votes, 1 #1
1994 12" / B-side

audio

Aha. A #1, wow! First occurrence yet i think? Classic. I had it down my ballot somewhere. We'll yet see "Thing in a Book" if this is any indication :)

Forgot to vote for this as it's not on Spotify. Remember buying both 12 inches *and* the cd single at the time to get all the different versions of Dark & Long they released (and so many were absolutely killer)

I mean it's such an incredible collection of remixes from just one song. You obviously have the monsters that are Dark Train and Thing In A Book but then you also have this and Spoon Deep and also used to hear the Burts mix played out quite a lot in the clubs.

Trying to think of another electronic act that got so much excellent material out of just one song and drawing a blank.

https://i.imgur.com/1ewmljj.jpg

Bugs me they left tracks off the boxsets, such as Dark & Long (215 Miles)

at the early part of this poll, I made a playlist of the stuff "left off" the boxset... it would have added 3 discs. 4 if you you add the Misterons "cutting room floor" mix (and you should!). That's still not to speak of remixes for others

I might stick my early-days compilation tracklists in the ballots thread, for fun. You can see why they left recently-remastered stuff from the 2012 best-ofs off, to respect obsessive fan purchasers, but the 7" Dark & Long probably could have made way for another of the "versions..."

The cutting room floor mix is so good, it should be available in higher bitrate quality.

(Based on consensus, we're treating the majority of the Dark & Long B-mixes as separate tracks, but will provide combined point totals eventually.)

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u079-724265.png

79. Dinosaur Adventure 3D
218 points, 7 votes
2002 single from album A Hundred Days Off

video
live audio 2002

xp Cool. Yeah my playlist didn't bother with edit versions and all that stuff, either

Dinosaur Adventure 3D is glorious, must be the next single.

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

Dinosaur Adventure 3D doesn't do anything King Of Snake didn't, but it's still a top choon...that's all it is, a top choon...

― blueski, Wednesday, September 25, 2002 2:20 AM

https://i.imgur.com/6PHsfH6.jpg

a lot of it feels uninspired for this band...particularly "Dinosaur Adventure" which seems like an analgam of past UW successes constructed just for single purposes ...

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

Chicken Lips remix of DA3D was a fave at the time with a kinda proto-Rex The Dog/electrohouse feel going on.

This is one of the songs I underrated when voting. The beat is nothing particularly new for them but Karl's vocal is really memorable, makes the whole thing come together

He's overwhelmed by your appreciation.

https://i.ibb.co/NYG4g1J/gg-karlface.gif

215 miles was my number 1, and it was a close choice between that and one of the other dark and long “mixes”. 20 minutes long and doesn’t get boring, chugging along but constantly changing. In the U.K. at the time there was an arbitrary time limit on singles, it could be 20 mins including b sides, or 40 mins if it was all mixes of the same track. getting an album length cd masquerading as remixes really endeared them to me. Then the import cd was another 70 minutes and didn’t even have this track on it. Will love this forever. And it isn’t even on Spotify or the deluxe box set! Crazy

things I've learned so far in this poll:

1. Underneath the Radar was way more popular than I ever imagined. wondering what the most covered Underworld song is now, and where that stands in the ranking.

well, better make sure you count

Sydney covers band HYJINX in March 2020, just before the world closed
and Perth covers band Black vinyl
plus New Zealand cover band leader Kezza, on acoustic guitar, by request of his wife
not to mention 60-something South African signpainter Raine Carosin, being given the run of her local

most covered is almost certainly "born slippy .nuxx"

lol at this from the wiki page for underneath the radar:

The album was recorded in one continuous single take and was promoted as such to underscore the technical expertise of the band members.[citation needed] Promotional appearances for the album's release featured the band playing the entire album live and in sequence.

weird that "underneath the radar" was a decent hit in australia, nz, and south africa, but nowhere else

well, better make sure you count

plus New Zealand cover band leader Kezza, on acoustic guitar, by request of his wife

Kez is my friend - he has tons of original prog-metal type stuff on BandCamp too - https://therocklords.bandcamp.com/

:D :D :D !!!

Promotional appearances for the album's release featured the band playing the entire album live and in sequence.

In Karl's memoir, he says they'd record every night on tour and pop the cassette out and hand it to the crowd at the end of the show.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u078-712894.png

78. Pizza For Eggs
224 points, 5 votes
2005 digital EP (Riverrun 2) mixing excerpts of six semi-completed songs

audio

the new net only ep's (2 so far, 3rd coming soon) have been so-so with moments of pure bliss and moments of "where's the skip button". they come bundled with tons of pics and have been played repeatedly at my place.

― biz, Saturday, May 20, 2006 8:01 AM

Too low!

pizza for eggs is cool but baffled it's higher than i'm a big sister

Thought the Riverruns would place higher tbh.

Will be a travesty if Lovely Broken Thing does as it is nowhere near as good as the other two.

Have been enjoying the 20 minute version of Ancient Phat Farm Coat as didn't realise it existed until it placed in this poll.

i hope "peach tree" at least is still to come

they probably placed too low because of people like me who split the tracks out, I voted "Food a Ready" and "Back in the Fears" pretty high

yeah their placement is relative to the variety of ways of representing them on one's ballot. i separated out tracks. i expect peach tree to make it (rightly, it's one of the riverrun tracks like "jal to tokyo" that seems extricable from the project)

https://media.giphy.com/media/M8uhY6Shu9NMzNe3ND/giphy.gif

gahhhh i missed a day! i was gonna respond to "i like all of barbara barbara excpet for the first two tracks" with a very sterm emoji or something but it was like 3am my time so i was like "ill do it tomorrow" and then work happened when i woke up and i kinda forgot.

i wanted to like soniamode more (i mean i liked it, and ranked it, i just wanted to like it MORE) when i read that it was a "socialist banger" lol. alas

parc was a late cut for me! a great tune but i somehow had 80 songs ahead of it.

dinosaur adventure 3d did make the tail end of my list, although i feel like it's one of those songs that could be top 30 if i had given it a little more time to breathe, if that makes sense.

i somehow didn't rate/listen to 215 miles?! even tho i tried to listen to everything (everything)?! also can't speak to the drift tracks i didn't rate, as i really just blasted thru drift listening to most songs once except the ones i remembered to mark as "come back to this"

"pizza for eggs" (the title, i mean) always reminds me of my favourite inscrutable pro wrestling t-shirt of all time, "hard on eggs." also it is my favourite chunk of riverrun for sure, although... ugh there's too much stuff that didn't fit into 77.

hey look what came in the mail today!

https://i.imgur.com/c0zyZDu.jpg

this did not come in the mail i just wanted ot show what i was talking about.

https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/image/e9c3970ab036de70892d86c6d221abfe/e/g/eggs_hot_pink.jpg

gahhhh i missed a day!

In other words, you missed 3 song placement reveals.

I'm listening to Barking again and everyone who isn't praising it is, well... barking

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u077-724265.png

77. Brussels
225 points, 5 votes
2019 free-to-mailing-list mp3 as part of Drift

original video by Simon Taylor for Tomato (song completed in hours to soundtrack video)
album remix audio

In other words, you missed 3 song placement reveals.

yeah but like... i missed... the conversation

also it was more than 3 no? i mentioned like 6 in my lil recap

xp NUMBER 77!!!!! ..but it's one of the drifty boys i didn't rank. i swear i will go back and listen to the ILX short version of it!

Funny, I was driving close to Brussels when this came on! First time I had come across this fantastic concept; I'm 60 and always have enjoyed Underworld ; to dance tog the , dream and deep listening. Loving the contrasts of tracks; Underworld magic, thank you

Nice beat, mixed melodies and the best speaking vocals in music period. Love it. Thursday bliss

In other words, you missed 3 song placement reveals.

yeah but like... i missed... the conversation

Also those three song reveals had a solid eight hours of listening time.

hahahaha true

75= Blueski 
226 points, 7 votes
1996 album track from Second Toughest In The Infants
audio

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u076-712894.png

Blueski made the lower reaches of my ballot. Lovely little tune and many fond memories associated with it

I don't think it quite made my ballot, but I do appreciate "Blueski" when it arrives.

There is nothing in the songs "Blueski", "Stagger" and "Juanita" (for example) that sounds anything like anything in the other two.

― roxymuzak, Tuesday, June 29, 2004 11:55 AM

https://i.imgur.com/Q1n3qoi.jpg

title is Japanese for, spirit of the blues

kidding. Reading the image here is somehow the first time i haven't read it like "blue ski". Urban dictionary says it means a bottle of Labbatt Blue. Nah.

I guess we'll be seeing every track from Dubno and Second Toughest in the top 77. Wonder if "Skym" was the lowest of the Fish tracks.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u075-126304.png

75= Bruce Lee
226 points, 8 votes
1999 single from Beaucoup Fish

VHS promo
live audio 1998

It's going to be hilarious if the Drift songs just stop ranking cold at the 77 mark.

Naaah. Expecting virtually everything from the "Sampler"... and Appleshine Continuum too if it isn't combined with Appleshine

maybe not "Imagine a Box" though

awwoooooooo

(I got it!)

The one I'm curious about is Shudder. I voted for it at #76 but it's barely even a song, think it should probably have been listed with King of Snake.

Aha. your vote was mentioned earlier I think. Ctrl-F "shudder" :)

anyway - Brussels is great, one of those tracks I like more every time I hear it. thought it should be longer. Blueski placing means everything from STITI will, fine by me but still it's just an interlude. Bruce Lee...hell yeah. When I bought BF I remember reading a lot of reviews that would complain about this track, which I never understood, how can you hate something like that?

if you don't like juiceboxes I guess

I totally can vibe with OWB up unti "Ring Road" pops up, at which point all of the good will I've built up over the preceding songs evaporates and I have to tap out

It really strikes me as if they said to themselves "what if we took the one or two redeeming qualities in 'Bruce Lee' away and stuck the result in the middle of the new album?"

― The Owls of Ja Rule (DJP), Wednesday, October 24, 2012 1:47 AM

the Bruce Lee single had something called the "Dobropet" mix that was just this wild, frightening sound collage. If "Jedis Sugar Hit Mix" of Jumbo merited an Abbey Road remaster then I can't see how those don't.

― Champiness, Saturday, July 29, 2017 5:28 AM

Yeah, as I said upthread, "Dobropet" was a terrifying headphones experience.

― Eric H., Saturday, July 29, 2017 5:40 AM

If votes were combined with remix / b-side / thing Bruce Lee (Dobropet), Bruce would have placed at 64

Dobropet audio

7.5 years later, I still stand by that post

never did get round to looking up the origin of the woman-spoken lyrics in Bruce Lee - always seemed like something from a dubbed anime film

Dobropet is wild, is that UW's own thing or an outside remix? it's unlike anything else they've ever done

It's just a Rick messing about thing I think

Aha. your vote was mentioned earlier I think. Ctrl-F "shudder" :)

It's going to be hilarious if the Drift songs just stop ranking cold at the 77 mark.

― Dirty Epic H. (Eric H.), Thursday, June 11, 2020 4:52 AM (five minutes ago)

https://i.imgur.com/JDXxS4L.jpg

I'm sorry, that's "dance soiree"

Dobropet audio

woooooooaaaaah

(read that in spoonman's voice)

Okay the Dobropet mix is far and away the best "Bruce Lee"-related thing I've ever heard

From a discogs review:

Dobropet, is one of the most understated and adventurous space of impressionistic evocation. After a short spoken introduction on head wounds, the track dips into a lengthy silence, suddenly transporting the listener back to a scene of fight, with gongs going off amidst glitchy, pulsating beats: the heart is thumping, the crowd is cheering, the glitch is disorienting like a concussion, and the gong is going off between rounds. The listener begins to feel like the wounded, dazed, confused yet resilient Bruce Lee. It's a marvel, it really is.

^ nice one

In the U.K. at the time there was an arbitrary time limit on singles, it could be 20 mins including b sides, or 40 mins if it was all mixes of the same track. getting an album length cd masquerading as remixes really endeared them to me.

The one Dark & Long "remix" that absolutely definitely was a remix was in fact a remix of a different song. Spoon Deep's votes have been counted toward Surfboy, but with 227 points from 5 voters, it would have placed at 81 if all titles were tallied separately.

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

audio
audience video 2011

"Dobropet" is their "Revolution 909" I guess.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u074-443938.png

74. Please Help Me
232 points, 5 votes
1999 CD5 b-side

audio
demo audio 1997
jam audio 1999

Spoon deep has always been one of my favourites and I’m embarrassed I hadn’t realised it was a remix of Surfboy until sic pointed it out. Seems weird it would be a remix of Surfboy rather than one of Spoonman but it’s obvious now I’ve listened to them back to back

Anyway that whole Dark and Long maxi is gold and would be my favourite “album” if it wasn’t an ep

Spoon Deep deserves both moar points and its own spot.

It was pretty high up on my ballot

When that acid line comes in *chef’s kiss*

yeah i voted for "spoon deep" pretty high. it was at one point my no. 1 lol

i also voted for "please help me"!!!!

xp It took the internet to point it out to me, all that mass is pretty opaque. It would take a double CD to fit everything even without Spoon Deep!

Please Help Me additional:

A legendary classic.
I used to sleep with this on repeat in my headphones.
#Nostalgia

comment on live a capella version from 1998:

I love Please Help Me with it's vocal samples etc and Hyde's buried opening voice, it's so clear here without the beats, i wished they riffed and did things like this now. The crowd chatter, 'I love you' 'I haven't seen you in 10 years' 'look at the butterflies' 'love the shirt, it looks good on you', feels like Hyde's poetry/snatched convos. Is this Underworld eating itself? Wonderful

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u073-194038.png

73. Motorhome
233 points, 7 votes
2016 album track from Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future

audio
fan cover

a beauty

I think "Motorhome" from their new album is prob in their top 15 or maybe even 10 tracks, it is so beautiful and impeccably-textured! It sounds like Eno or some shit ("High Life" must have really rubbed off on them)

― Stevie D, Wednesday, September 21, 2016 6:09 AM

Can't get into this on the whole, but Motorhome is lovely, and a bit... Beatlesy?

― chap, Wednesday, May 31, 2017 10:34 PM

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

With five votes, including one making sure to specify that they meant live versions, and 233 points, You Do Scribble would have placed at 79 on uncombined votes.

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

live video 2008
video from sounddesk 2009
Abbey Road version audio

I liked Freur back in the day and picked up the first Underworld album, only to be deeply disappointed. Never looked back.

But these songs - "Scribble" and especially the live version - wow! What else in their catalog sounds like that live version? The deep "bom bom bom" synths in the latter brings to mind one of my all-time favorite albums from Rain Tree Crow.

I must reassess my attitude towards this band entirely.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, May 18, 2010 12:54 AM

UW does this a lot - their studio stuff is awesome, but...I feel like going through all the live stuff, they just have a tendency to nail it from time to time and perfect these already great tunes (check some of the live versions of "You Do Scribble", they almost make me glad they never tried it in studio)

― frogbs, Tuesday, May 15, 2012 11:29 PM

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u071-963007.png

72. Downpipe (Original Club Mix)
236 points, 7 votes
2009 12" by Mark Knight & D.Ramirez V Underworld

full length audio
promo video

hell yeah this is a proper cranker

dammit, spoilers

nashwan!

uh oh image spoiler for next track

Since it’s been spoiled I’ll just give a heads up that if you haven’t heard it you should check The Question by Futueshock which is basically a remake of Why Why Why

i love "why why why," another one that started off at the top of my ballot

man is it me or is this a TOTAL BITE of 'downpipe,' the song he already did w/ underworld 2 years ago? is this a conceptual thing, or like, is he just lazy?

― deej, Monday, September 13, 2010 1:59 PM

This?

The new track's most distinctive bit is probably the big riff that starts around 3:30. It's only vaguely similar to the riff that starts around 4:15 in Downpipe. Far from "a total bite." Otherwise, Downpipe is a lot moodier, and down-tempo, and vocal-driven. Maybe you could be more specific about the similarities you're hearing. (Or do you have a much different mix of Downpipe in mind?)

― Paul in Santa Cruz, Monday, September 13, 2010 2:14 PM

yeah it adds the riff @ 3:30 but its the same basic "doom doom. doom. doom doom. doom" backgrounds w/ the bleepy part added as it goes on -- just didnt have the big epic wooshy part in the middle w/ the snare roll breakdown

'total bite' is overstatement but its clearly the same formula

― deej, Monday, September 13, 2010 2:23 PM

i guess an alternate post on teh similarities wd be "i guess we know what knight contributed to the underworld track"

― deej, Monday, September 13, 2010 2:24 PM

Okay, I'll buy that. I guess I think of those loops as being pretty commonplace in lots of techno tracks, but it's likely enough that he contributed that element.

GEEK ALERT
Technically the two background loops are different, although they both alternate single and double stabs:

https://sites.google.com/site/pnauert/riffs.png

― Paul in Santa Cruz, Monday, September 13, 2010 2:36 PM

The Downpipe pattern is the backbone of "Groove La Chord," among other tracks.

― Paul in Santa Cruz, Tuesday, September 14, 2010 5:23 PM

https://i.imgur.com/PU7t4Ez.jpg

live video 2010

Updated:

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u072-697745.png

it's amazing how much these images rules btw

True! And now:

71. Why, Why, Why
244 points, 8 votes
1993 12" b-side

audio
Volume Eight remix audio

Commentary from youtube:

- This is sick (btw I'm 69th like)

-- Nice

--- Nice

--- Good, good

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

- The joe biden theme

-- LOL

Futureshock's The Question credits Underworld outright.

agh sorry about that image botch - let it be the last one

70. Holding The Moth
250 points, 8 votes
2007 album track from Oblivion With Bells

audio
webcast live video 2006