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

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