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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great Underworld dessert..., March 22, 2001
This EP feels like an extension of the Underworld LP that preceeded it, "Second Toughest In The Infants". If you scrap the album version of "Pearl's Girl" and it's edit, which are really the only downpoint. Don't get me wrong, but the edit isn't needed and the album mix feels like it's at the wrong place in the CD. If you get beyond that, this release feels like it should be another album instead of a single release. The first mix of "Pearl's Girl" bears no likeness to the original, and relies on just a hard thump to drive it through to your skull. The second mix only bears a slight likeness, but otherwise resembles a car chase leading to deadly results. "Puppies" feels rather pointless, and leans towards disturbing in places. "Oich Oich" bears no resemblance to Underworld of yore. Music this lush and deep doesn't even seem humanly possible. "Cherry Pie" is simply awe-inspiring. Even though it steals the introduction to one of Underworld's other songs, "Rowla", it's an entity to it's own. Starting from a seemingly simple techno riff, "Cherry Pie" starts tearing to a heavy snare and effects workout, never relenting in it's pace. It feels divinely constructed, gliding from point to point without a hitch. "Moasic" feels like you might have taken too much yage or peyote, whatever your poison may be. The tribal drums and feel of this track makes you look to the side, just so you can be sure there really isn't a shamen sitting next to you. "Deep Arch" expands lightly on the ending of the classic anthem "Born Slippy .NUXX", winding it's way into pure childish delight. If familiar with Underworld, I suggest buying this EP as a companion to "Second Toughest In The Infants". It gives the album a whole new dimension. If starting out with Underworld, view this release as more of a dessert: to be eaten after the main course. Buy "Second Toughest In The Infants" or "Dubnobasswithmyheadman" first. If this ditched the edit of "Pearl's Girl", it could work as another Underworld album.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
don't miss this, May 20, 2001
It may be an EP, but what you get for your money is actually a whole album's worth of UW material. And not just any material, this EP contains some of the best techno to come from the british trio (now reduced to duo). It starts out with a mix of Pearls girl, called Tin There, but as is often the case with UW mixes of thier own work, it sounds nothing at all like the original track. It's a very fast paced, breakbeat laden techno frenzy that just builds and builds in the distortion, into an incredible climax. One of the most energetic techno tracks I've ever heard. The 14996 mix is a more subdued version with little vocal samples of the original thrown in, not the best track of this ep. Puppies is a whole other world again, deep reverbed synths and a really cool vocoder effect on Karl's voice make this a very dreamy and emotional track. Oich Oich is absolutely one of my favourite tracks of all time. Very ambient and very carefully built and layered with synths, voice samples, lyrics and a laid back housebeat mix into a dreamlike world of sound and emotion. Cherrie Pie starts with the intro from Rowla (from Second Toughest...) but quickly transforms into another wonderful techno epic with a very dark and hypnotising sound. Then there's the actual Pearl's Girl (and a shorter edit version) which still remains one of UW's best and most popular tracks, hard breakbeats, great lyrics, great atmosphere. The last two tracks, Mosiac and Deep arch are wonderfully ambient instrumental tracks, with again the careful buildup that is so reminiscent of UW's style. All in all, this ep has both incredible power, and incredible atmosphere and makes me think wether some people who call UW "watered down music" have actually listened to any of it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More Than A Single, July 13, 2005
I love any band where buying the singles is like getting a whole new album. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what Underworld is all about; if you're looking up a single, you're familiar with the band. Trust me, you won't regret buying this. In addition to the album version of "Pearl's Girl," it contains eight tracks that bear no resemblance to the single, even the remixes. I think the standouts are "Puppies," which is an odd, almost Godspeed-You-Black-Emperorish kind of thing (though more upbeat), and "Deep Arch," which doesn't change much over its eight minutes of running time but, like most Underworld, has a great, ambient, city-at-night feel; a soundtrack for driving on just the right kind of evening.
This ain't gonna convert the unconverted, but for fans it's a solid buy.
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