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Rating:
The title of this work is difficult to remember, but impossible to forget, just as it is impossible to forget the sounds, the ideas, and the skill of these three brilliant musicians. Finding an enthusiast or even a knower of this group in Italy, especially among the young modern-age generation, is like finding the tip of a miniaturized needle in a 5000 square meter haystack! So, you might do an experiment: take any young person or a new millennium electronic music listener, put on a pair of powerful headphones and blast "Dubnobasswithmyheadman" at full volume, the phrase you will hear is "wow whose NEW album is this? These guys totally rock!" "NEW ALBUM"! That's what you think when listening to the record, then you turn the cover and read "1993" and at that point, one can't help but exclaim the word "DAMN!!!!"
The name of the group that gave birth to this incredibly avant-garde album is called Underworld, a name that today more often recalls a certain film released a few years ago, rather than a music group. What a pity! Even now, hearing a track like "Mmm Skyscraper I Love You" is a sensational experience. You are left bewildered by those avant-garde sounds, that hypnotic Techno rhythm that suddenly leaves you hanging in desolate phrasing and suave rhythms. A perfect blend of post-rave sensibility and rock moods. Not to mention an electronic masterpiece like "Cowgirl" an incredible track filled with a robotic shuffle that makes a splash! Let's be honest.. the 90s sounds are there... but they don't remain stuck in time, it's not a revival record, the tracks are surrounded by soundscapes and instrumentations that sound at least 10 years ahead! At the very least, it gives the idea of listening to a 2001 record.
From an insipid 80s techno-pop band to representatives and pioneers of one of the most successful syntheses between electronics and song. All this thanks to the new formation of the group after the disbandment of the 80s. The entrance of DJ Darren Emerson, Karl Hyde, and Richard Smith into the group gave birth to something truly explosive, a sonic dynamite that remained unchanged over time, an exceptional idea still unmatched even by the group itself. (Despite the excellent "Beaucoup Fish" of 1998).
The opening track "Dark & Long" can initially deceive us... indeed, at the first beats we hear that "Tunz Tunz" in the background that makes us believe for a moment that we are facing yet another Techno music album... and yet.. 25 seconds are enough to change our minds... the track enriches itself with echoing sounds, futuristic pop/rock arrangements, wrapped in a club atmosphere from the 2000s, the voice, not sampled, but directly from the vocal cords of Karl Hyde, gives a dark yet suave atmosphere... everything is hypnotizing, the play of timing, the sounds that overlap in the right place at the right time... you are dealing with an amazing sense of rhythm and so much musical knowledge. What surprises the listener are the ideas.. there is one every 25 seconds! A phrasing, a sound, a special effect, a particularly elaborate instrument... everything creates rhythm, everything becomes music... everything manages to enchant you! You dance, you dance a lot... But if you sit down, because you're tired.. you realize that you can also listen to it without dancing.. because it is good music, because there is a track like "Tongue" that mixes blues phrasings and ambient airs, because there's the ending of "Mmm Skyscraper I Love You" that leaves you stunned! Nine tracks in total that make this album a masterpiece in the field of modern electronics, an album that makes you forget the date it was made. The group's subsequent works no longer reached such levels, despite their mighty sound architectures having improved over the years. (I must admit that I haven't listened to their latest album yet).
After Primal Scream's "Screamadelica," before Leftfield's "Leftism" and before the Chemical Brothers' "Exit Planet Dust," this is one of the albums that most effectively brought Rock closer to the world of electronics.
Hypnotic masterpiece.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Mmm Skyscraper I Love You (13:08)
Thirty thousand feet above
Beautiful thing
Beautiful thing
Mmm skyscraper I love you
Thirty thousand feet above the earth...its a beautiful thing
Youre a beautiful thing
Thirty thousand feet above the earth...its a beautiful thing
Everybodys a beautiful thing
Mmm skyscraper I love you
Mmm skyscraper I love you
And I see elvis
Elvis
I see porn dogs sniffing the wind
Sniffing the wind for something new
Porn dogs sniffing the wind for something violent they can do
Porn dogs sniffing the wind
Sniffing the wind for something new
Porn dogs sniffing the wind for something violent for me and you
Will you be my big plaything
My total big disorientator
Will you be my big plaything
My ninja power
My number cruncher
Yes yes yes no yes yes
Yes yes yes yes no no
And I see elvis
And I hear God on the phone
Mmm skyscraper I love you
I see porn dogs sniffing the wind
Sniffing the wind for something new
Porn dogs sniffing the wind for something violent that they could do
Porn dogs sniffing the wind
Sniffing the wind for something new
Porn dogs sniffing the wind for something violent for me and you
The city is a whore tonight
And I see God talking
Elvis
God talking
Pornfest pork fat jesus christ night light
Elvis fresh meat and a little whipped cream
Pornfast cornfat jesus christ night ride
Elvis fresh meat and a little whipped cream
Thirty thousand feet above the earth
Thirty thousand feet above the earth
Beautiful thing
Youre a beautiful thing
Thirty thousand feet above
The beautiful earth
Mmm skyscraper I love you
Like I feel you
04 Spoonman (07:41)
World. tuesday.
Watched you cry. watched you fly. watched you die.
Im the spoonman. talks to god. transfusion. penetration.
Im the spoonman.
Im the spoonman. she's a wound. nice bikini. steppin razor.
Dont put your hand where you wouldnt put your face
She said a dollar rubber rat utah plates
Brilliant green substance unknown
With a face like a peeled onion
Sheep in drag horseback automatic
To make your home clean make it sani-flush
She said now I'm a new skin-free crispy
With this urge to phone into the
Nosmoking zone of stainless steel
Tokyo me and big white dog got
To hijack pecan tarts for babylon
Bambi out of mercer street where
The crackheads catwalk charity
Where teenage sex rides a stoned rhythm
Trading it's chiliskins to the screamers
Come to hunt their meat to the gold
Diggers in kissboots and the recycled blondes
In their stack heeled snatches the monster trucks
The rolling rocks the poodle boys
With their little bone diggers and dark stuff comes
Oozing out the apple core tonight like
A beggars dog tasting the wind.
Into the blood.
05 Tongue (04:50)
Thank you for the time.
Like a razor kiss my wound.
Cut me to open.
Im ready to use.
Bring the newer ending sense.
I need the comfort of a stranger.
Eighteen years all the wait.
Like a razor kiss my wound.
Thank you for the touch.
Like a razor kiss my wound.
Cut me to open.
06 Dirty Epic (09:55)
...dead alive...
...auto...
...dental mint drug...
sweet in winter
sweet in the rain
shake well before use
she said,
"you never touch me anymore this way"
connector-in
receiver-out
you let me in through the backdoor
...loosen up...
...it's like i'm vomiting...
...all night dancing...
...let him start...
...drip...
ride the sainted rythms on the midnight train to romford
ride the sainted rythms
sweet in winter
sweet in the rain
shake well before use
she said,
"you never touch me anymore this way"
(oh no)
connector...
(you're a)
connector...
i'm so dirty
and the light it blinds my eyes
you're oh so dirty
and the light it blinds my eyes
here comes christ on crutches
...ten cents to boot...
...check him undercover...
...huh? who else-
"call me wet trampoline,"
she said today
but i was too busy with my head
shake well before use
she said,
"but you never touch me anymore"
i was busy listening for phonesex
coming through the back door
in her skin tight trunks
and we all went
mental
and dancing
...ah yes, did you get in...
...tell the others did you get in...
...look in the dirty erotic fantasy...
...huh...
...hey...
...big thoughts...
i get my kicks on channel six...
to the off-peak electricity
and the light blinds my eyes
and i feel dirty
hey-ohhhoooooo-ohhh
and the light blinds my eyes
and i feel so
shaken in my faith
here comes christ on crutches
and here comes another god (here comes another god)
like a buffalo thunder with a smell of sugar
and a velvet tongue and designer voodoo
but i got phonesex to see me through
the emptiness in my 501s
freeze dried in my new religion
and my teeth stuffed back in my head
i get my kicks on channel six...
i get my kicks on channel six
the light it blinds my eyes
and i feel so dirty
(i feel so dirty)
here comes christ on crutches
(here comes christ on crutches)
i will not be confused (will not be confused)
you left me confused
i will not be confused (with another man)
...dirty dirty dirty...
...second fizzles...
...suck on cockroaches...
this pressure of opinions
lighten up
listen to your eyes you said
but all i could see was doris day
and a bigscreen satellite
disappearing down the tubehole in farringdon st.
with whiplash-willy the motor-psycho
and the light it blinds my eyes
and the light it burns my eyes
i get my kicks on channel six...
07 Cowgirl (08:29)
Everything everything
I'm invisible
I'm invisible
An eraser of love
An eraser of love
Why don't you call me I feel like flying in two?
Why don't you call me I feel like flying in two?
I'm invisible
I'm invisible
An eraser of love
An eraser of love
An eraser of love
An eraser of love
Why don't you call me I feel like flying in two?
Why don't you call me I feel like flying in two?
An eraser of love
An eraser of love
I scream I scream I scream so much
You know what I mean
This electric stream
And my tears and leave with wires and energy
its my machine this is my beautiful dream
I'm a hurtin' no one
Hurtin' no one
Hurtin' no one
Hurtin' no one
I wanna give you everything
I wanna give you energy
I wanna give a good thing
I wanna give you everything
Everything everything
Everything everything
One final scream of love
who could climb this high
She looks beautiful like a child
i feel tears and I wanna scream
You know what I mean
This is hurtin' no one
An eraser of love
Why don't you call me I feel like flying in two?
Why don't you call me I feel like flying in two?
An eraser of love
An eraser of love
08 River of Bass (06:26)
to touch to taste
she flows like a river of bass vibration
to touch to taste
she flows like a river of bass vibration
sweet water
sweet water
to touch to taste
you flow like a river of bass vibration
sunshine surrounds me
showering above their greed
sunshine surrounds me
showering above the greed
to touch to taste
you flow like river of bass vibration
to touch to taste
you flow like a river of bass vibration
take me down, down, down, down, down
to your river of sweet release
take me down, down, down, down, down
to your river of sweet relief
everyone is sleeping
this needle is release
sitting on a mountain
companies could see
listening to a whisper
to touch to taste
you flow like a river of bass vibration
what is in the thornbush
a thornbush in my head
im a snowstorm im a shaker
sometimes I regret the things I say
to touch to taste
she flows like a river of bass vibration
take me down, down, down, down, down
to your river of sweet release
take me down, down, down, down, down
to your river of sweet release
from chelsea to essex
every room in
every sweet cocoon
chelsea to essex
in every room
in every sweet cocoon
sometimes I feel her coming from the other side of the world
sometimes I feel her coming from the other side of the world
to touch to taste [x5]
she flows like a river of bass vibration [x5]
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Other reviews
By killgod
"Underworld... produced good music until the end of the millennium, their compositions are so simple that today anyone could make such techno with a simple Fruity Loops."
"A model of intelligent music that associated both dance floor and background entertainment."
