Ask any Underworld fan and they'll tell you that the group's best work came in the '90s. 1994 saw the release of "dubnobasswithmyheadman," which transitioned the band from synthpop to trance/electronica. The album was well received and Underworld gained some popularity. The release of the b-side "Born Slippy NUXX" was when the group really took off. It helped the next album - 1996's "Second Toughest in the Infants" - become their most commercially popular release yet. That album contains one of my favorite Underworld songs, the 16 minute "Juanita : Kiteless : To Dream of Love." Here is an abbreviated version of the song:
"Beaucoup Fish" came in 1999 and contains another one of my favorites, "Jumbo." However, it was with this album and the DVD "Everything, Everything" that my interest in Underworld diminished slightly. The heavier, harder hitting songs just weren't doing it for me so I lost interest for awhile. 2002's "A Hundred Days Off" is very forgettable and contains too many overly long songs. At this point I thought this was the end for Underworld; I couldn't see them making anything worthwhile after that dud of an album. I was proven wrong with 2007's "Oblivion With Bells," my favorite Underworld album. It's cohesive and doesn't contain any of those unfavorable heavy songs I mentioned. Thanks to Danny Boyle's movie "Sunshine" (recommended), the album has been a fairly major success worldwide. The opening two tracks compliment each other perfectly and I have posted a video of the second song "Beautiful Burnout":
My faith restored I now look forward to Underworld's next album.
Check back soon for more.
1 comment:
Underworld is legendary, and I love that they've never been afraid to experiment and reinvent themselves from one album to the next. I regrettably missed an opportunity to see Underworld recently, I guess their live shows of late are pretty epic too.
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