Underworld

There's a common allegation that electronic music isn't as valid an art form as rock music, mainly because it doesn't require talent or even necessarily a sense of rhythm, leading many to see the 90's "techno" movement as a big waste of time. Now this isn't really much of an argument to begin with because it assumes that making electronic music requires no talent because anyone can do it. Well, anyone can get on a guitar and shred too, but it doesn't mean the good shredders don't have talent. I think the big complaint these guys have is that electronic music may not even require you to even play an instrument or sing, which goes against a pretty big principle of music making. In a way this is like calling baseball "not a real sport" because it's not very physical. Indeed electronic music making in the beginning did require talent, because hey, the synthesizers (or oscillators, or whatever hand-made invention the bands came up with) didn't play themselves. Bands like Kraftwerk or Silver Apples, in their early days, really did have to play every note, at least until the invention of the sequencer. The other big innovation at the time was the use of hip-hop sampling as envisioned by Grandmaster Flash, whose performances were entirely made out of prerecorded music.

Electronic music today is kind of a combination of the two - you don't really have to play anything anymore, but you do have to be good with arrangements and sound, otherwise your work doesn't add up to much. Now Underworld do have some 'pure' musical talent - after all, they did form two short-lived New Wave groups and released four albums already. But they, along with many of the other electronic groups that came out around this time - The Orb, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Chemical Brothers, you name it, helped usher in a style of music that wasn't confined by the limitations of a guitar or a traditional rock band (now the gears for this were set in motion nearly 20 years prior, but it didn't start to really come to fruition until about 1991). This led to some really crazy things (see Aphex Twin), a number of artists who were able to create a slick new form of dance music, some of which demonstrated the same principles in composition that were being used in all kinds of music all along.

That brings us to Underworld, who were able to pretty damn well bridge the gap between music that was synthesized and music that had soul. While most relied on samples or guest spots for vocals, they had a vocalist in Karl Hyde, and he was about as good as they come. The main 'instrumental' guy was Rick Smith who proved himself a master time and time again at not only creating amazing new sounds but properly layering and building them. They wanted to make you dance, but at the same time their music exerts a certain resonance that few could pull off. And unlike many of the more popular acts of the day (Moby) you never got the idea that it was a put-on. Now combine this with the sheer amount of great material they've come up with over the years and it's no wonder they've been my favorite band since I rediscovered them in 2002.

Reviewing Underworld is tough, and not just because I have problems being objective about them (I can name at least a dozen tracks that basically pinpoint a certain period of my life), but also because their discography is humongous. I've collected most of the singles they've done and will mention them here (which will probably make this page very convoluted), but there's also a bunch of EPs (some with running times bigger than the LPs!), live albums, internet-only releases, and other assorted things to go through. That they've only released 5 "official" studio albums is misleading - there's at least as much good material outside the studio albums than there is within them, and none of their three most popular tracks ("Born Slippy NUXX", "Rez", "Dark Train") appeared on one. The frustrating thing for a new fan is that a lot of this stuff is ESSENTIAL. Hopefully this article can pinpoint which releases and tracks they are. The fortunate thing is that besides releases that are mostly remixes you really can't go wrong with these guys - nothing they've done is terrible, so any new fan is going to have a lot to choose from.

Lemon Interupt - Bigmouth/Eclipse (1992)
Lemon Interupt was the name of Rick and Karl's band after they got DJ Darren Emerson (who was 18 at the time) to join up. They released 2 12" singles under the name. They are nearly impossible to find but luckily both A-sides appear on the 1992-2002 collection. One thing you see a lot in Underworld tracks how some early, non-album tracks are a precursor to the stuff that actually makes the albums. Case in point, "Bigmouth", which is sort of a precursor to "Dark and Long", except the main hook in this one is played by Karl honking away into a harmonica. "Eclipse" is a more subdued and freeform track that using female vocal samples. Both these tracks are fairly uncharacteristic of the band.

Lemon Interupt - Dirty/Minneapolis (1992)
The first time I heard "Dirty" I assumed it was a remix of "Dirty Epic", until I checked the dates on them. Indeed this one was first. Both these are dense and evolving, and "Minneapolis" is one of their better really-hard-to-find tracks, featuring funk guitar and a spacey synth line.

Mother Earth/The Hump (1992)
Karl and Rick decided to take back the Underworld name at this point, considering everyone already forgot about the mk1 stuff at this point. Doing this did give the group a chance to revisit some pieces of a botched 3rd album though. I know that a faster-paced "Mother Earth" was indeed an mk1 track, and it sounds like "The Hump" was too - but they've both been remixed into 90's dance music. This has the same version of "Mother Earth" that appeared on their debut album, and the mix here isn't much different. That makes the 2 mixes of "The Hump" the chase tracks, but it's really just a generic dance tune with a funky bass line and vocal that seems like it was ripped straight from Change the Weather. Only 500 copies pressed.

Rez (1992)
This track's beeping, endlessly melodic hook made it an instant classic. The B-side is either "Cowgirl", a variation on the theme that adds vocals and is one of the most well-rounded house tracks ever, or "Why Why Why", a longer track that exemplifies their laid-back yet complex style of electronic music well. Limited to 1000 copies, but "Rez" is featured on a number of comps, and "Cowgirl" made the first album.

Spikee/Dogman Go Woof (1993)
The A-side is another funky, pounding dance track, this time featuring some clever vocal manipulation and a monster guitar riff in the end (so make sure you stick around for it). Didn't think much of the B-side. Neither track appeared on any album, but "Spikee" eventually landed on the 1992-2002 comp.

Mmmm...Skyscraper I Love You (1993)
Underworld was gaining steam at this point. This was another lengthy (10+ minutes) single exploring Karl's fascination with urban life. Contains a memorable vocal performance and a wonderful chill atmosphere. This one also made the album. Contains a couple of remixes.

dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994) *****
Exactly the brilliant full-length album that their early singles were hinting at all along. Each one of these 9 tracks are multi-layered, well-thought out, and compliment each other very well. Underworld took a different route from their contemporaries and made an album that sounded decidedly human - Karl Hyde's vocal performances anchor the tracks nicely, as his voice projects a range from confident and smooth ("Dark and Long") to worried and broken ("Dirty Epic"). The mood is mostly chill, as only really one of the tracks has an in-your-face dance beat that punctuated most mid-90's electronic music - but that one is "Cowgirl", and it's still one of the very best house tracks ever created. Amazing how much progress these guys have made in just five years. But there is a decidedly 80's vibe to this (especially in the closer, "M.E.", which was taken from their original incarnation), as they still have the same funky sense of rhythm they did in the mk1 days - but that actually is a credit to the album, as this makes it both groovy and deep (especially in "Dark and Long", one of their more infectious tracks). Even the ambient tracks develop a sense of rhythm - "River of Bass" is true to its title, and the astonishing "Tongue" features a bluesy guitar riff. The kicker is that there's such a genuine emotion behind this that it transcends the fun-but-deposable vibe that many other 90's electronic releases had, making it enjoyable to those who don't really like electronic music. Essential; this is one of the best albums of the 90's.

Recently an early DAT version of this hit the web with 3 previously unreleased tracks - it's interesting, but many of the elements were reworked into other dubnobass tracks, and besides that they do sound an awful lot like the mk1 band (which affirms my theory that they hadn't quite shaken the 80's yet).

Dark and Long (JBO 19 CDS) (1994)
There were about a dozen different versions of this single release, but the two main ones were this and the more famous 6-track release. Contains an edit of the title track, the famous "Dark Train" mix, the 20+ minute atmospheric "215 Miles", and an incredibly moving ambient track, "Most 'Ospitable". That one alone is worth tracking it down - it's not just the melody that's beautiful, but the atmospherics and shimmering synth tones that really give it a stunning resonance.

Dark and Long (APR OO2CD) (1994) ***1/2
This is the more common release of the single, EP, whatever - it's hard to really know what to call it given it's even lengthier than the studio album was, clocking in at nearly 73 minutes. This is exactly the kind of remix collection you like to see from an artist - the remixes include, at most, a passing resemblance to the original, and one is based on a different track ("Spoon Deep", which is a jam remix of "Surfboy"). It's mostly chill and freeform, with two of the tracks clocking in around 20 minutes, but it's worth checking out - the grooves don't really wear out, and there's enough density to keep things moving. Most of all, there's a pair of really, really great tracks here. "Dark Train" is the one you've probably heard before - based on a hypnotic vocal sample and a pair of simple, trance-like hooks (one on what sounds like a synthesized version of a string section - it's unique and hugely effective), it's breathtaking and catchy at once, and it's no surprise it turned out to be a dance floor smash as well. The other great one is "Thing in a Book", which is trance, more or less - it's a slowly evolving track that's as captivating as it is long (20+ minutes, and believe me it ain't enough). Likely cut from the LP for being too long, but trust me, it's essential listening - if there's a better example of how to properly build a track, I couldn't imagine it, and there's enough going on to make it justify its length nicely - a couple of great hooks, smooth production, and an awful lot bubbling underneath the surface (including a few snippets of vocals, but like many Underworld tracks it just uses the sound of his voice rather than actual words). So it's worth it for that alone ("Dark Train" too, but that one's available in so many other places), but otherwise can be somewhat repetitive, and like most EP's, it doesn't really flow too well, since besides the leadoff edit of the title track everything here's an extended cut.

Dirty Epic/Cowgirl (1994)
Another really long EP release, but there isn't really anything new here. Contains two extra mixes of each title track - the "Dirty Epic" mixes are just the original, Lemon Interupt version and one that reconciles the two, and the "Cowgirl" mixes are serviceable if uninteresting. "River of Bass" and "Rez" fill it out. This is a hell of a deal if you can get it for $5.99, like I did, but if you already have the studio album and "Rez" there's not much here.

Born Slippy (1995)
A three-track single. It would appear to be one 'main' track and two remixes of it, but besides title they don't have anything to do with each other. The pounding "NUXX" version would appear on the soundtrack to Trainspotting and, well, the rest is history. I would say all three tracks here are worth listening to - I won't rate it but it's one of their best single releases. The original mix combines a rolling and high-rising synth melody with frantic beats and is one of their most exciting tracks, and the "Telematic" jam to finish it out is satisfying. This marks a shift in sound for the guys away from their New Wave roots and towards the dance floor; two of the tracks are instrumental, and the BPMs are higher than they've ever been.

Second Toughest in the Infants (1996) ****1/2
A move towards the more electronic sound the preceding EPs hinted at, ditching the New Wave elements and reliance on Karl as frontman in favor of lush keyboard sounds, trance-like melodies and more aggressive beats. Whereas the last album was a trip through the big city and an examination of raw human emotion, this one is a more cerebral journey, which may be alluded to by the inkblot on the cover. It's a big success, mostly due to Underworld's nearly unparalleled ability to build and evolve their tracks – the two opening tracks take up over 33 minutes combined, but they hardly seem long enough. Opener “Juanita/Kiteless/To Dream Of Love” is a now-classic house track that builds on a mechanical beat up to a fantastic two-chord guitar riff – Underworld could have easily built a career on the ideas found in this track alone. The similarly multi-part “Banstyle/Sappy’s Curry” transforms from a nervous yet lush keyboard jam to mesmerizing trance reminiscent of the superb “Thing in a Book” (based on an acoustic guitar, of all things!) There’s nothing as epic as that on the rest of the album, but it still goes strong – the climax lies in the simple and aggressive techno rave-up of “Rowla”, and the helicopter beats of the frantic “Pearls Girl”, which was the single. Even with tracks seemingly solely aimed for the dancefloor, don’t count this as just another mid-‘90s electronic album – even if Karl’s role is downplayed in comparison to the last album, he’s still an essential part of this recording, with his versatile vocals becoming a highlight of every track they’re used on (which is all but the two shortest ones), and unlike much of the music that came out at the time from hot electronic acts such as the Chemical Brothers or Prodigy, this still sounds innovative and ultra-modern even 10 years later. And this one sounds great when you’re in a pensive mood, too – save for “Rowla” there’s chill elements everywhere, and the last three tracks represent a progressive come-down, finalizing in the astonishing and nearly bare closer “Stagger”. Like the debut this has “future classic” written all over it – this ought to be required listening for any newer electronic acts.

Born Slippy .NUXX (1996)
Underworld’s one big break into the mainstream came thanks to director Danny Boyle, who was such a huge fan of the band that he wanted them to score the entire soundtrack to his new movie Trainspotting; unfortunately the studio said no, so he settled for using “Dark Train” and this, which combined with the movie to create such a memorable scene that the song itself became a hit and was nearly inescapable for a time. The pounding beats interspersed with Karl’s steam-of-consciousness rap combined to make a hell of an exciting rave track, but it’s not really representative of the rest of their work and unsurprisingly the band never came close to that level of fame again – but for a time they were the flag-bearers of the then-exciting movement of big-beat electronic music.
As for the single itself – this marks the first time Underworld allowed contribution from outside remixers, and they don’t really do a good job; the track is based on few fundamentals and unfortunately lends itself to dross and repetitive remixing. The good news is that the 12 minute mix of the title track is my favorite version yet.

Pearl's Girl EP (1997) ****
Another EP release, but this one tacks on over 50 minutes of previously unheard material. It would seem that this would be just a compilation of remixes and B-sides, but it really isn’t – although the tracklisting shows four remixes of the title track, only the “14996 version” bears any similarity through sampling of the vocals, and the only actual remix is “Cherry Pie”, which takes the music from “Rowla” and turns it from house thrash into an epic and sometimes beautiful track by way of a few extra synth lines and a couple changes in key. If nothing else, this shows that Underworld could have made another album similar to Second Toughest in the Infants if they wanted to – the harsh and pounding “Tin There” is one of their busiest and harshest tracks yet, and “Oich Oich” pins gorgeous synth melodies on top of a funky, driving bass line and a nice vocal section – both are top-notch cuts that could have easily made the album. Otherwise, there’s a lot of the same good stuff you’d expect – there’s a slowly building cut that intertwines a number of themes into a mesmerizing whole the same way “Thing in a Book” and “Banstyle/Sappy’s Curry” did (“Deep Arch”), an echoey, bluesy jam that recalls “Airtowel” (“Mosaic”), and a minimal and deep sounding groove track like “Confusion the Waitress” (“Pearls Girl (14996 Version)”). The only real curveball is the short but lush “Puppies” which incorporates a heavily-modified vocal over an ethereal three-note melody – it’s also essential. If you liked Second Toughest you owe it to yourself to get this; maybe it’s not really a “follow-up”, and you may want to program out the original and edit version of the title track, but it shows that even their B-sides were brilliant and carefully done, and in some cases even better than the A-sides (wouldn’t Second Toughest have been better with “Oich Oich” on it and “Cherry Pie” instead of “Rowla”?). Don’t overlook it.

Beacoup Fish (1998) ****
After two albums and EPs stuffed with densely layered and deep electro, finally Underworld emerge with the part of the group that “NUXX” hinted at – that is, a more stadium-house, big beat based sound. They do retain the chill vibe of Underworld past for one track – “Cups” begins as a smooth and jazzy keyboard groove, slowly building to about the 9-minute mark whereupon it suddenly and unexpectedly transforms into a brilliant and rousing synth anthem that sounds like it’s straight out of Jock Jams! Indeed, a number of these tracks are aimed straight for the dancefloor – “King of Snake”, with a great vocal line and a bassline ripped from “I Feel Love”, “Moaner”, a frantic and unsettling track with an exciting vocal climax, “Push Upstairs”, built off a simple piano riff and a driving chorus, and “Kittens”, which is simply beats, beats, beats, and a twirling synth line. The surprising thing is the amount of replay value much of this has – the idea behind “Kittens” is simple, but the execution is so great that it’s wonderfully addictive; I defy you to listen to this track and not smile immediately. The album’s major highlight is “Jumbo”, which gives you the best of both worlds – it’s danceable and upbeat, yet deep and resonant. Plus it features one of Karl’s best and most vulnerable vocal performances yet. It’s downright fantastic and has got to be one of their best tracks ever, and that’s really saying something. Yet as good as some of the individual tracks can be, as a whole this doesn’t stand as well as the last two albums, with a couple tracks that strike me as filler (“Push Downstairs”, “Something Like a Mama”), plus it’s not as immersive as it could have been – “Cups” and “Jumbo” aside, this album was really clamoring for a great downtempo track in the second half. But if you’re a big proponent of the late 90’s big beat ‘techno’ scene – that is, stuff like “Smack My Bitch Up”, “Block Rockin’ Beats”, “Praise You”, and “Battleflag”, this ought to be the first album you get from these guys.

Moaner (1999)
This was on the soundtrack to Batman and Robin (and the cover is a promo photo from the movie), but I don't remember it in the movie. Contains the title track in three different lengths and a "Relentless Legs Remix" which is a fast groove built on continuous funk guitar. Has the same feel of the original but all the hooks are different. At first I didn't even recognize that the vocal sample was from the same place. I paid $5 for this at a used CD place because of the big "import" tag - it's really not worth it.

Push Upstairs (1999)
From here on Underworld would go to a more conventional format for their singles - instead of the generous hour-plus EPs we got before, now we get the original, 2-3 outside remixes, and sometimes a B-side. To be honest I don't think the outside remixers have really treated Underworld's material well - they don't really capture the vibe well. This one contains the B-side "Please Help Me", which features a great vocal performance - I suspect it was the original version of "Skym". You can find all the Beacoup Fish singles (minus Moaner) on the often very-reasonably priced Singles Box Set.

Jumbo (1999)
I thought this track lended itself well to remixing, and many of the remixes capture the lush vibe of the original. This is my favorite of the Beacoup Fish singles.

King of Snake (1999)
Contains a remix by the band themselves as well as one by Fatboy Slim. This was another track that lended itself well to remixing. That said the single is pretty hit-or-miss.

Bruce Lee (1999)
The last single. This one was pretty decent - it has a Salt Lake City Orchestra mix of "Cups" which takes the first part and adds a more upbeat and funky rhythm to it - it's definitely one of my favorite Underworld remixes.

Everything, Everything (2000) *****
The electronic boom of the late 90’s prompted many to ask a fairly pressing question of its proponents – how are these guys gonna play live? Let’s just say that the answer can be disappointing – through the 90’s (and certainly the 00’s), many groups preprogrammed their shows to the point where even the “moments of spontaneity” were exactly the same from show to show. Several groups such as The Orb did buck this trend – they hooked up the turntables and machines and performed shows that seemed like a live mixing session. Despite that, many will still claim that electronic groups do not really ‘perform’ which makes them less legitimate than their favorite rock groups, since essentially all they do is hit the ‘play’ button. That’s a somewhat legit complaint, but Underworld really did sound different every time out of the gate, and have admitted to not even writing out setlists beforehand. And with a vocalist in the group, there was a real spontaneity among their performances that rivals anything any jam band could do. Having travelled extensively on a now-legendary tour over the course of the two years since Beacoup Fish dropped, Rick holed himself in to splice together the band’s “grand statement”, a live album and DVD that would piece together some of their best all-around performances and replicate them in perfect sound quality. They definitely know how to put on a great live show - the crowd noise elevates these tracks to new heights, and above everything there’s a certain freshness that you don’t get in the studio recordings. Every track here is really already a “classic” on the UW-scale, and I honestly cannot say that anything, sans “Cups” (which is merely the 3 1/2 minute outro, used mostly as a segue) is any worse for the wear – in fact, you’ll most likely end up preferring these versions, as “Push Upstairs” and “King of Snake” get noticeable punch-ups, and the slimmer “Juanita/Kiteless” is downright definitive. Oh, and the closing mash-up of “Rez” and “Cowgirl” does work as magnificently as you’d think it would, rounding out the set in a way that’ll leave you sitting in awe. Perhaps it’s not the perfect representation of Underworld’s live show – there’s not much of the improvisation they’re known for, and only really one chill moment (“Jumbo”), but as a single disc of house music that puts a lid on the whole genre, this is pretty much perfect, and if you were a fan of these tunes before, this is their pinnacle. Any doubters of the legitimacy of live electronic music simply must listen to this.

Bootleg Babies (2001) ****
Not an official release. But a great one regardless – anyone with more than a passing interest in the band ought to pick it up (it’s not for sale, but there are lots of sources on the web, as it was originally distributed through the unofficial Underworld mailing list, RTSR). Basically what they do is piece together bits of RTSR’s favorite bootlegs and edit them together to give them the feel of a single concert, similar to what Rick did for the official live release. Which means for any given track, you’re getting one of the best or most interesting performances on tape. I guess for the RTSR guys that generally means whichever one lasts the longest, but that’s not really a bad thing – most of these lengthy renditions really do add something to the studio versions, and the epic feel most of the tracks take on give the album the sound of Underworld bringing the house down over and over again. And many of these performances have that “one-night-only” feel – “Dark Train” sounds surprisingly fresh with reggae guitar, “Confusion the Waitress” and “Skyscraper” take on new light, the original “Born Slippy” will make your heart race, and the epic, 17-minute closing “Rez/Cowgirl” somehow manages to be more captivating than the one on Everything, Everything. There's downsides though - being made from bootlegs, the sound quality can be dodgy at times ("Born Slippy .NUXX", "Juanita/Kiteless") - this could really benefit from some professional treatment. Plus, for a comp aimed squarely at the hardcore UW fans, it's a little disappointing to see all the same tracks that appear on every bootleg anyway instead of some of their better improvs or jam sessions that made some of the original boots noteworthy. Still, this is way more fun than any 2 1/2 hour bootleg compilation has the right to be, and a lasting testament to just how adventurous and downright amazing these guys could be live. For the agreeable cost of free, this is a must-have.

A Hundred Days Off (2002) ***1/2
Darren Emerson left the band before the beginning of the sessions for this album, leaving Rick and Karl to work as a duo for the first time in their history. It doesn’t seem to be a huge change, as Rick was always the musical mastermind behind the group and Karl the visionary, but don’t forget that Emerson was the one who came in and absolved the group of “Underneath the Radar” in the beginning. Can they cope without their DJ? I suppose Rick and Karl probably wanted to find that out too, and when they dropped the brilliant and uplifting “Two Months Off” as the first single, the answer was a resounding ‘yes’. But besides that amazing single, the album turned out a little weaker than we’ve come to expect from these guys, although that’s really not much of a complaint – most electronic groups would have been happy to release something of this quality in a year when electronic music was facing something of a crisis (it was out of the public eye, not being played in nightclubs, acquiring almost zero new talent while the old stars burned out – in retrospect, Emerson really did leave at the right time). There’s a few definite keepers here – opening “Mo Move” is one of their deepest and most cerebral yet, rolling out a confident and hypnotic groove in a hurry. The closing “Luetin” brings it full circle, establishing a simple bass line over sputtering drum fills with a slowly building atmosphere – it’s not as frantic and exciting as “Moaner”, but somehow they’re able to fill it with just as much tension, which is rare in a downtempo track such as this one. Prior to that there’s the smooth instrumental “Ballet Lane”, which ranks as one of their best shorter (under 4 minutes) tracks, in which a gorgeous and fully realized keyboard melody underpins a chill rhythm.
So there are four truly great tracks here as a sign that they’ve still got it – but it’s in the middle section that the album runs into problems. Okay, so the second single, the thrilling “Dinosaur Adventure 3D” does nearly carry itself on an exciting vocal performance (as he has been from the start, Karl is downright amazing on this album), but it’s “Moaner”-like atmosphere and copping of one of the “Dark Train” hooks marks the first time this group has ever seemed to be reaching for ideas. And though “Twist” and “Little Speaker” are lush-sounding pieces of electronica, the minimal approach covers up some of the things these guys do so well. That’s the flaw here – for example, there are good ideas lurking in the trip-hop slow jam of “Sola Sistim” or the country-flavored twang of “Trim”, but they seem more concerned with the production rather than fleshing out the material, resulting in a great-sounding but ultimately underdeveloped album. It’s worth it for the two opening and two closing tracks alone, and the rest does grow on you, but you can hear the signs of a group going through a transitional phase, a great band suddenly saddled with the unexpected loss of one of its members.

Two Months Off (2002)
It seems like we're not getting the huge double LP-sized releases 'on the side' anymore, as Underworld decides to release their singles in a slim, 20-minute-max format to take advantage of the new UK chart rules. The atmospheric and worldly "Headset" recalls their earlier B-sides (which is a good thing), and the remixes keep a general high quality.

Dinosaur Adventure 3D (2003)
Here a couple more interesting B-sides start to emerge; the 16-minute "Ansum" is their longest piece in quite a while, although it's more of an Eno-esque ambient number than an epic like "Thing in a Book". "Like a Swimmer" was the other one. The remixes on here are pretty interesting too. Like many UW singles, there's a billion different versions out there, none of which (as far as I know) collect all the remixes/B-sides.

1992-2002 (2003)
The ten-year anthology - seems like a good time to do it. Normally I don't mention comps, but this one really gets it all right - none of the tracks are edits, and in fact some are even extended (notably "Push Upstairs", which gains a new verse), there's a more-than-trivial amount of rare material, and it's uniformly excellent. Out of 16 tracks, only 9 have been represented on albums, with the obvious non-album singles "Rez", "Born Slippy .NUXX", and "Dark Train" making an appearance too. Also contains both A-sides of the Lemon Interupt singles, "Spikee", and a newer track done for a soundtrack, "8 Ball". Let me just say that this track, written in the same sessions as A Hundred Days Off, was my real clue that this band was still going to go strong - it's a bass-led slow groove with vocoder that transforms into an uplifting and stunning conclusion thanks to the reemergence of a soft and catchy guitar melody, making it a great chill companion to "Two Months Off".

Born Slippy 2003 (2003)
Yep, here comes another half-dozen remixes of UW's one recognizable tune, thanks to Rick's 'brilliant' (?) idea to add a piano line to the track. From this moment on they'd segue into it when playing the track live.

Lovely Broken Thing (2005) **1/2
One thing Underworld is known for, especially post-Everything, Everything, is letting their fans know what they’re up to by way of dropping unreleased and unfinished tracks into live sets and their bimonthly-or-so radio broadcasts. It’s clear that in the absence of 70-minute EP releases the band has accumulated a number of extra tracks, and in a burst of “why-didn’t-my-favorite-band-do-this?” inspiration, decided to polish them up, mix them together, and sell them online through a series of short, sub 30-minute releases which they dubbed “the RiverRun project”. That’s good news for the fans who had been patiently waiting for three years, but this one unfortunately sounds like a collection of unfinished B-material at times. There is one amazing standout in the opening punched-up electrofunk of “JAL to Tokyo” which takes a heavily vocodered rant and runs it among a sputtering and tense bass line. But the rest is hit-and-miss – “Lenny Penne” takes a quick version of Kraftwerk’s “Numbers” beat and adds a sloppily-assembled vocal mantra on top, unfortunately sounding like a badly-encoded MP3 – it’s definitely missing something, which they found a couple years later when it surfaced as the far superior “Bamboo”. But there’s still interesting material here; “Peggy Sussed” seems nothing more than an interlude, but the interplay between the guitar and harsh synthtones is fascinating, and “Billy Goat” shows there’s little wrong with just having a good beat. It’s very listenable and the good parts give this some replay potential, but besides “JAL to Tokyo” (which could have been a big single and doesn't sound too at home on this release), it really does sound like you’re digging through Underworld’s garbage can at times, and much of the material seems like it’s only here because it wouldn’t fit elsewhere.

Pizza For Eggs (2005) ***1/2
When the announcement for the Riverrun project was made, I was hoping that it meant Underworld would be creating something like “Tarkus” (ELP) or “Supper’s Ready” (Genesis) – that is, 20+ minute compositions that are really made up of around six individual songs with no real beginning or end, linked together with instrumental passages and references to earlier parts of the track. Or, at least something to justify the fact that they’re distributed as just one long MP3 (although I split them all up into their respective parts) and are obviously meant to be heard all at once. The last one had a few elements that suggested this, but this one actually has a little more than just fade out outros and fade in intros. Indeed, there seems to be a bit of a theme here – “Food a Ready” was obviously meant to segue into “Back in the Fears”, and this 7+ minutes of New Wave-inspired brilliance is some of Underworld’s best music in years. They bring back the vocal tricks as a backbone to “Food a Ready”, and “Fears” is based almost entirely on Karl’s multitracked vocals. It goes from here to a showcase of tribal drumming and pounding, with “Vanilla Monkey” being the weakest point due to overcompression on the bongos and vocals, but it still works as a transitional piece with a keen sense of rhythm. Better is “Ancient Phat Farm Coat”, which features what sounds like a small African percussion ensemble playing against a hypnotic and repetitive piano line. It ends with the somber “Play Pig” which features a vulnerable vocal among the same type of percussion, making this more of a coherent (and solid) release from beginning to end. Of course, I do wish it were longer, and that the tribal pieces could have developed into something epic, but for a small-scale MP3 release, this is surprisingly good. It does exactly what the series was set out to do – release a set of less commercial, somewhat unfinished and underproduced material strung together to create a coherent musical experience. Fans who lamented the loss of the hidden gems the band would often release in the days of dubnobass and Second Toughest should look here.

Live in Tokyo (2005) ****1/2
A triple (!) live set preserving Underworld’s performance at the 2005 Electraglide Festival. Originally released only to those who attended the concert, it then came out as a very limited release, with only 7000 copies made. It would have made perfect sense to put this in download form – after all, it’s very good sounding (and a clear improvement over the bootlegs, even the better sounding ones), contains a few new tracks, documents a great performance, and contains three hours of music…and yet they didn’t - given the amount of hardcore fans the band has, did they really not think it would sell? Luckily there are rips out there, since this set absolutely tears, and even if it’s not as frequently jaw-dropping as Everything, Everything was, it presents Underworld live in a way that represents what you’d get with an actual show – the band did not really just play one epic after another, instead usually deciding to bridge 4-6 minute interludes between them (which were usually jam versions of something in the band’s catalog, and in some cases new tracks). That’s really the great element at work here – it sounds like Rick really is mixing and in some cases playing the material on the fly (the small differences in the quick synth lines in tracks like “Kittens” make me wonder if he’s actually hammering it out on a keyboard). There are actually 3 people on stage (Darren Price has been joining the band live as of late) and you get the sense they’re all hard at work, mixing and experimenting between and often during tracks.
At 3 hours, there’s something to satisfy everyone – they do the classics (“Juanita”, “Dark Train”, “Rez”, “Born Slippy”), load the final hour of the concert with crowd pleasers (“Moaner”, “Jumbo”, “Push Upstairs”, “King of Snake”), drop some of the RiverRun material (“Jal to Tokyo”, “Peggy Sussed”, “Lenny Penne”), in one case dramatically expanded (“Back in the Fears/Flatz”), with a few improvisations along the way to give the fans something new (including Price’s “Yard Beat”), along with one amazing and epic new track that could be their next big single (“You Do Scribble”). What’s amazing is how the newer tracks work with the older ones, and are often even highlights of the set (okay, “Lenny Penne” is still pretty lame). What’s even more amazing is that it never seems overlong at 3 hours – they don’t seem to lose their energy or ambition towards the end, and after the final beat hits, my sentiment is always “let’s hear it again!” Perhaps not for the uninitiated, but for those who loved Everything, Everything and wished for more, this is the holy grail.

I’m a Big Sister, and I’m a Girl, and I’m a Princess, and This Is My Horse (2006) ****1/2
When Underworld announced the Riverrun project, a lot of us wondered what, exactly we were getting – would they be a bunch of B-sides and unfinished tracks blended together, or would they take the format to different heights by writing music specifically for it? Of course, having teased us with unfinished and unreleased tracks on radio shows for many years, the prospect of UW having an easy outlet for them is nice, but on the flip side, the opportunity to hear Rick & Karl experimenting again and coming out with something that just wouldn’t fly as a normal UW release is even more enticing. Well, that’s exactly what you get here – if any of this stuff was taken from the vaults, it must have been seriously retooled. This one takes advantage of the “30-minute track” format better than the other two – all the individual pieces flow together and do create a sonic journey. This just may be one of Underworld’s most ambitious pieces yet; thoroughly ambient, and mostly beatless, relying on atmosphere rather than melody – something I generally despise, but choosing soundscaping over melody does this one a great service. The release’s high point is “Showlder” and “Wedge”, which blend together to create an utterly transfixing 12 minutes of underwater ambient – Underworld has not created sounds this beautiful in over a decade! There’s a backbone in an otherwordly synth line, or something sounding like clanging bells, but there’s much more going on – chimes, vocal samples, and what sounds like Karl singing a hymn in the background - even after a dozen listens, there are still things to be discovered in the mix. It’s extremely calming, but characteristically dense, while absolving any sense of tension. I could definitely see using this in a nightly sleep routine (which I actually used to do). That’s definitely the best part, but all of it is good – opener “Peach Tree” intertwines a couple of synth pads, seeming to create random melodies out of the result, and “Mowed Path” is a beat-driven meditation on Karl’s vocals. And if you’re still awake by the end, there’s a pleasant and very uncharacteristic piano piece (“11 Hundred Hertz”) as an epilogue. I really did not think I’d give this high of a rating to a post-Everything, Everything Underworld release, especially one that was barely 30 minutes long, but it’s definitely resonated with me in the same way their best releases have, and has once again made Underworld a band to be excited about.

Oblivion With Bells (2007) ***1/2
While 85 minutes of internet-bound EP material and a triple-live set was certainly generous, the question still lingered – “when is the next album coming, and what’s going to be on it?” Through live sets and radio broadcasts, many fans were already privy to a handful of potential hits and other great tracks – “You Do Scribble”, “Always Loved a Film”, and “Darc” were three of the best tunes we’ve heard from them this decade – but we didn’t get any of them. However, the first four tracks have all been around in some form or another, and they do comprise the brunt of the album – the frantic, dark tunnel visions of the tribal “Beautiful Burnout” is the album’s epic, and the snappy bass growl and warm vocals of “Crocodile” are addictive enough to make it the album’s best track, standing along “JAL to Tokyo” and “Two Months Off” as their must-hear singles of the 00’s. Elsewhere, we get a more sparse and less beat-driven approach than we’ve seen on any of their albums thus far – there are no house stormers on the order of “NUXX” or “Moaner”, as the second single actually veers a lot closer to alt-rock (“Boy, Boy, Boy”). It’s Underworld’s attention to detail and lush production that keeps the train on the rails, serving as an anchor to some of their stranger ideas – “Glam Bucket” is glimmering trance, with the backing synths sounding like drops in a bucket, “Holding the Moth” overdrives a simple bass line into a sparse dance groove, and “Ring Road” builds a freestyle rap (!) into a rousing chorus. There’s one short ambient piece that seriously rivals the best parts of Another Green World (“To Heal”), which is certainly welcome despite being out of place, as well as a few shorter tracks that do nothing at all (8-10), and the ending, though satisfying, seems to hold up a “to be continued” sign as it trails off (“Best Mamgu Ever”). Considering the amount of time since their last full-length and the number of great tracks that have gone unreleased this is all perplexing – if you pooled together the best stuff they’ve done over the last five years there is definitely a masterpiece (or two) to be assembled. Instead, this feels kind of stopgap – it’s not up to the ridiculous standards they set for themselves in the 90’s, but it never really aims that high, as with the option of unlimited internet release, the band realizes that they can flesh out their B-grade ideas and release them along with the A-grade ones. But even the B-grade ideas work fine – this is much better than what you’d come to expect from an electronic group 10 years removed from their heyday, showing a group that still plays according to their whims and impulses rather than fruitlessly attempt to recapture the glory days in their past. After all, what are the odds that “Pearl’s Girl” could have become a hit in 2007?

The Bells The Bells (2008) **1/2
I’m pretty much convinced by now that Underworld is just another band that really does not know what their best material is – I remember Karl talking about how “Jumbo”, one of their most beloved tracks, almost got cut from Beacoup Fish! Case in point, “Parc” (or “Darc” as UW themselves titled it a couple years ago), one of their most lush, evocative, and creative tracks of the last decade, got relegated to this forgettable Japan-only remix collection! And it doesn’t even seem too worked up from their self-released-online Amsterdam performance – just overdubbed! But it’s well worth tracking down – like “Crocodile”, there’s a steady groove and a terrific vocal performance, but what separates “Parc” is that it’s more New Wave than electronic, with a significant amount of guitar jamming and Karl’s unfiltered vocal taking center stage – this almost sounds like a really good modern day Freur track! Maybe I’m getting carried away here, but it’s just bizarre that something so great be put here – the rest of the collection consists of seven overlong and unimaginative outside remixes of Oblivion tracks, with only the Innervisions Orchestra Mix of “Crocodile” holding my interest, and even that one can’t shake the impression of being a toss-off. It’s kind of typical of these remix albums – the remixers don’t really seem interested and just intersperse tired beats with a few elements of the original, throwing maybe half a good idea in there somewhere – not necessarily bad on their own, but definitely not good to listen to all at once. I really don’t know how to rate this – the remixes are easily forgettable, but “Parc” is an essential and really should have made the album.