Customer Reviews

Dubnobasswithmyheadman

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Yea,why hasn't this been reveiwed? This is a very significant album of the Dance Music boom of the early 90's. I first heard it in the summer of 96 while at some music festival in Monterey Ca. I had just bought the cassette and spent much of that weekend zoned on brownies listening to this on my walkman. This is what opened my ears to electronic dance music and hence a few years later got a pair of decks and became a DJ. Underworld's music defies genre definition. It has elements of trance, breakbeat, techno, dub, soul, pop, ragga and house and even a touch of hip hop. And with these influences, the music becomes more than the sum of the parts. And even after being exposed to vast amounts of EDM, I listen to this and it doesn't sound at all dated and still leaves much of the EDM today standing. Throbbing basslines, hypnotic beats, and thoughtful melodic and lyrical content makes for compelling music that stimulates you body as well as your mind. Most contemporary trance can't touch this.

Why this hasn't been reviewed is beyond me. What's great about this album is that it's now over ten years old, and hasn't dated or lost any relevance at all. Dark & Long is a nice creeping song, and fits the semi-seedy lyrics. Mmm Skyscraper is much more upbeat and bumps along nicely. Surfboy is a weird little song, and as an almost instrumental, shows how well they can still make songs even without the trademark vocals. Spoonman (no relation to Soundgarden's song) has grown on me greatly over the years, and even shows them trying to rap a little. Tongue is mostly just vocals and relaxing guitar. Dirty Epic is a great long song with a more subdued tone than the others, and fades into Cowgirl. This is the reason I bought this album. I'd seen the video on Mtv's Amp (sort of a shame it went away so quickly) and had never heard anything like it before. Very energetic, showing how an economy of lyrics can be even more powerful than too many. River of Bass is aonther laid-back track. M.E. has an hopeful feeling to it, and makes a good ending track. While any album would make a great intro to Underworld (which is a great barometer of how good a band they are), this was their first, and shows how they were already fully formed.