I'm a big fan of Underworld. Their 1993 third album dubnobasswithmyheadman... was on the stereo constantly during that year and rarely been less than interesting or great ever since. They changed following the departure of Darren Emerson in 2001 and occasionally dipped off my radar but 2016's Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future album and then especially the year long Drift project, a track a week for a year during 2018- 2019, brought me back on board. The Drift Series 1 Sampler Edition album is as good an Underworld album as any they've released since their 90s heyday of dubnobass, Second Toughest In The Infants and Beaucoup Fish. Their remixes are a story in themselves, thundering, ten minute techno/ dance reworks of Bjork, One Dove, Shakespeare's Sister, Saint Etienne, Orbital, William Orbit, Spooky, Dreadzone and Massive Attack.
In 2000 they had a track on the soundtrack to the Leonardo di Caprio film The Beach, a film based on Alex Garland's novel about trouble in paradise. Alongside an All Saints/ William Orbit classic, a new one from the then recently reformed New Order (the song, Brutal, is nothing much to get excited about if truth be told), a Leftfield track that led to an expensive lawsuit over an OMD sample and an original score by Angelo Badalamenti (who sadly died last year). Underworld's 8 Ball is a minor classic, one of the last Underworld songs to be written and recorded with Darren Emerson still part of the group. It's a step away from the banging techno of Born Slippy NUXX that brought them international fame on the soundtrack of Trainspotting.
8 Ball has some chilled out guitar, a niggling Geiger counter rhythm, a warm bassline and Karl Hyde singing about people he's seen on the street- a man using a whiskey flask as a walkie talkie, a man with a flaming 8 ball tattoo. Karl's guitar solo at just under five minutes is a moment of gorgeousness. The rhythm comes back in, there's some piano, and then a man throws his arms around him and they laugh, happy while waiting for a train into the city.
This live version was made available through the Underworld website at the start of the year, from a gig at Tokyo Garden Theatre.
6 comments:
There's 35 track Limiñanas "best of" on Bandcamp. I'm tempted.
Heard 8-Ball outside the context of the Beach soundtrack recently and was surprised how great it was. There was a period Underworld could do little wrong for me, but they lost something vital when Emerson left.
Dubnobasswithmyheadman is one of my favorite albums of the 90s. It's a record that, when I played if for the uninitiated, would receive reactions of both wonder and discussion. At the same time, it was a House Party favorite, whenever a track came on the dansette.
After dub..., Underworld's popularity and musical direction made them more of a track band for me. None of the follow up albums had the same impact as the directional shift that dubnobasswithmyheadman created.
But the Drift project was another attempt at something overreaching and potentially disastrous that Smith and Hyde took on and accomplished with aplomb.
8 Ball is an urban and urbane classic where the beat propels the song, but with a gentle insistence rather than a crushing intensity. The emotions are muted until Karl seems to blossom in the last 1/3 of the track. It's a track that way beyond chill out, yet so engaging.
George- go for it, you can't go wrong with them, they've made no below par records.
Tom- agree, definitely changed after Darren left. He took his DJing experience and understanding of dancefloors and rhythms with him and I think they took a while to work out how to be a 2 piece band
Echorich- in a discussion elsewhere about dubnobass I opined it was the best album of the 90s and I see no reason not to stand by that.
Adam,
Thank you for 8 ball. I'd never heard it before and it's a beauty, reminding me of some of the most enduring and surprising aspects of Underworld: their humane observational lyrics and their complete wilfulness. Drift is pure wilfulness, more will than a German philosopher.
Aditya- nothing makes me happier than you than things like you finding 8 Ball now, all these years later and it making so much sense here now. Love the German philosopher comparison too.
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