Underworld's Second Toughest in the Infants -

[Brickman]

A beauiful album , it has an "openess" that makes it very easy on the ear , just had a listen to Pearl's Girl , Banstyle & Stagger , class . Stands up very well after 15 years or so , thanks for bringing it up

[GeorgeHayduke]

Originally Posted by Brickman

thanks for bringing it up

No problem, e

I can still remember first time I heard Pearl's Girl. My friend had just bought the Cd and came over and he put that one on first. I can remember how I was just blown away from first listen. Literally mouth open and salivating style

[Brickman]

Originally Posted by GeorgeHayduke

No problem, e

I can still remember first time I heard Pearl's Girl. My friend had just bought the Cd and came over and he put that one on first. I can remember how I was just blown away from first listen. Literally mouth open and salivating style

Same for me , a buddy of mine put that cd on while we were playing Warcraft 2 , blew my mind , or what was left of it after playing video games for 8 hrs . Pearl's Girl is still one of my favourite tracks . Joy .

[plaid_emu]

LOVE that album. I was pretty young when that came out. Bought it new when I was about 16 around this time of year actually. I remember listening to it on a portable CD player, riding my bike to the forest to chill by the creek and get stoned. Every spring I pull it out and listen.

Later that summer I was with a friend at the reservoir and we found a little kitten that had been abandoned. She asked me what name to give it and I said "Rowla".

[GYang]

One of really greatest albums in genre.
Later albums failed though

[Brickman]

Originally Posted by GYang

One of really greatest albums in genre.
Later albums failed though

Aye , later albums are very hit & miss , although there are some good tunes to be found sprinkled around....Push Upstairs , Good Morning Cockrerel , Crocodile etc . Underworld's Everything Everything is a great album as well , all the Underworld classics , live .

[RobJB06]

I liked the "A Hundred Days Off" album too

[Electrocrisis]

I think Underworld took New Order's sound and made it into what's interesting to me. Not in a rip off type way but an evolution type way.

Pearl's Girl rocks, they make you wait for it.

[Derp]

Good lord, I haven't listened to this album in years. I have to bust it out when I get home tonight!

[Derp]

Originally Posted by Electrocrisis

I think Underworld took New Order's sound and made it into what's interesting to me. Not in a rip off type way but an evolution type way.

Pearl's Girl rocks, they make you wait for it.

That's an interesting statement because their first couple albums pretty much were New Order rip offs.

[jsi.miles]

I'd rather it be "Un-Crushed"
I'd rather almost all albums be "Un-Crushed"
You can always add more compression/limiting, but never really take it away.

Underworld seem to operate outside of the where most of the dance community resides.
It makes them somehow more accessible to a wider range of listeners.
It is also over 10 years old now... and the loudness war's always leave earlier mastering jobs sounding quieter.

I've never compared directly, but I wonder if there is an audible difference in mastering on the album vs. cd-single vs. 12" single. ?

[GeorgeHayduke]

Originally Posted by plaid_emu

LOVE that album. ...

Great story Emu, love it man.

Originally Posted by jsi.miles

I'd rather it be "Un-Crushed"

I agree!

Originally Posted by jsi.miles

It makes them somehow more accessible to a wider range of listeners.

Well, I wouldn't say accesible, but rather interesting for a wide range of listeners. While I don't listen to their very earliest rock albums, I think its obvious that their songwriting is part of the reason why Underworld made such an impact.

Originally Posted by jsi.miles

It is also over 10 years old now... and the loudness war's always leave earlier mastering jobs sounding quieter.

Right, and in this instance it really hits home what it has done to music.

[cane creek]

Yes bought the album the day it was released , Pearl's Girl was the stand out track for me

[Led]

Love it to death. One of my first electronic albums. I too like A hundred days off.

[Hossegor]

that album is a masterpiece indeed.

but my alltime favorite underworld album of all times remains

"beaucoup fish"

i was blown away by King of Snake, that really got me into producing my own stuff.

[GeorgeHayduke]

Yea beaucoup fish is one of my favorites, too.

[rids]

That's a good one, but my favorite was Kittens off that album.

The first time I heard Underworld was on MTV's AMP show, which was Cowgirl. MTV pretty much abandoned this type of music because they only jump on bandwagons, i.e. AMP ala early Rave music.

[plaid_emu]

Originally Posted by plaid_emu

LOVE that album. I was pretty young when that came out. Bought it new when I was about 16 around this time of year actually. I remember listening to it on a portable CD player, riding my bike to the forest to chill by the creek and get stoned. Every spring I pull it out and listen.

Later that summer I was with a friend at the reservoir and we found a little kitten that had been abandoned. She asked me what name to give it and I said "Rowla".

EDIT: And how could I forget? I should also mention, later that year I painted my room exactly like the album artwork. Now that I think about it, I can't believe my mother even financed the whole excursion. It was quite fun. I took the CD to the paint store to match the color swatches and I painted the whole room light blue, then proceeded to smear and splatter navy blue paint all over my walls.

Good memories. Thanks for this thread GeorgeHayduke. thumbsup

[arb9]

I lurk on here occasionally, but I had to weight in on this one. I immediately got excited when I saw the thread title. Anyway, Underworld are one of the few acts in dance music whom I truly consider "art", even still. Pretty much everything they did from like 93-2001 was/is just absolutely perfect, IMO, from the music to the production to the album art/concepts to the live shows.

A quick word on their recent output (though I would much rather this thread continue to focus on how brilliant these gentlemen are and how many great times we've all had listening to their music over the years): they haven't "fallen off", they've gotten older! Emerson left the fold, and the result is two gentlemen well into their 40's making great synthesizer music, albeit on a more subtle level.

Back on subject, imagine making albums as complex and well conceived as the STITI when they were. On all hardware, nonetheless, which is an accomplishment in and of itself, considering you'd be lucky to get the same song sounding the same way twice between the midi sequences, patches, analog mix recall, etc.

Anyway, the Tin There remix of Pearl's Girl is one of my top 10 all-time favorite tracks, and possibly never have I seen a room of people lose their shit so completely than to this track when it first came out.

Goddamn, I could talk about Underworld for days. I guess it was just great to hear someone fulfill the promise that "rave" music had when it first really started taking shape, to go beyond just rave fodder and communicate the range of emotions of which music is capable. Plenty of people obviously did it before Underworld (Depeche Mode, NO, etc), but not IMO with the same level of depth, musicality and shear excitement. Exceptional.

[Shim]

First electronic album I ever bought... about the same age as Emu I believe, 15 or 16. It definitely changed everything for me. Before that I had only heard singles and mixes of electronic stuff, listening to an entire album gave me a totally different appreciation for it.
I hadn't seen it for ages and ages until it turned up in my buddies car about two months ago. He thought it was a wax trax compilation, but I was quick to correct him. I had all but forgotten about it, but I recognized the sound in an instant. It really was a unique thing they had going. I'm certain that it was my copy because we've hung out since we were young and I'm the only one he knows that would own something in that vein. It made it home, after all these years. Kittens is still my favourite track off that album.

[lord toranaga]

beautiful record indeed.

[GeorgeHayduke]

Originally Posted by plaid_emu

EDIT: And how could I forget? I should also mention, later that year I painted my room exactly like the album artwork. Now that I think about it, I can't believe my mother even financed the whole excursion. It was quite fun. I took the CD to the paint store to match the color swatches and I painted the whole room light blue, then proceeded to smear and splatter navy blue paint all over my walls.

Good memories. Thanks for this thread GeorgeHayduke. thumbsup

Well, thank you for the memories. You rock, mate! I want to paint my room just like that now, seriously, lol.

Originally Posted by arb9

Anyway, the Tin There remix of Pearl's Girl is one of my top 10 all-time favorite tracks, and possibly never have I seen a room of people lose their shit so completely than to this track when it first came out.

Not sure I ever heard that, I'll look for it.

Originally Posted by Shim

Before that I had only heard singles and mixes of electronic stuff, listening to an entire album gave me a totally different appreciation for it.

Yea, I hope we won't lose the album format down the road, because here's one of those examples of a musical vision clearly extending beyond the single track.

[Hossegor]

i used to love their live gigs, they were brilliant !!!


but then Emmerson left and they changed their live concept, using bloody Ableton on most of their stuff. on a recent gig they changed their tracks so much around in Ableton that it was hard to hear out the original tracks.

So i agree on that one, after Emmerson left i kind of quit listening to their new stuff as i find it much weaker than their earlier works...

[PeteJames]

Originally Posted by Hossegor

that album is a masterpiece indeed.

but my alltime favorite underworld album of all times remains

"beaucoup fish"

i was blown away by King of Snake, that really got me into producing my own stuff.

Love it! Their lastest stuff isn't ub to much though.

[OHM GHOST]

Rarely a poster,but...
After reading this thread and reminding me of my dormant love for this band,
I listened to beaucoup(sentimental reasons) and I'm amazed that the music holds up very well.
The usual critical dismissal of popular electronic music is that it's ephemera and lacks an ability to hold up well to the ravages of time.
Underworld for whatever reason is some quality shit and I'm glad this thread reminded me of that.

[lord toranaga]

my favorite is "dubnobasswithmyheadman"

[Selidor]

Underworld's Second Toughest in the Infants is a fantastic album, and while I'd agree Pearl's Girl was certainly the stand-out track on that album, I think Blueski was placed quite well on the album -- and it certainly stood apart from the rest.

The "un-crushed" sound you've all referenced is certainly a big part of the appeal, and I'd like to hear more music with that kind of "openess".