Customer Reviews

Pearl's Girl

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

i'm a big fan of underworld-- i bought this randomly at virgin one day... when i popped it in i started flipping through the tracks and i fell in love with track 5-cherry pie. i haven't heard anything like this before, the song builds up so well and there is such a strong bass line. i especially love the middle of the song (around 4'15") when the drawn-out synth tones come in. if i ever heard this in a club i'd go out of control! it's my favorite underworld song of all time. underworld rocks!

This song "Pearl's Girl" is one of the strangest and greatest of Underworld's songs. If they had put out a record with just this song on it, it would be worth buying. I hear that word, "Crazy" being repeated in my head all day long after listening to it. What a song! Thank you Underworld for your amazing music.

This song alone makes the CD worth purchasing. As someone else reviewing the CD said, Underworld is producing the most love-infused music in any genre of music today - if you ever just once open yourself to listen to one of their songs and hear the subtleties, the fade-ins, the gradual melodic changes, and the climaxing, its a spiritual moment not to be believed. If you like Underworld, you will absolutely LOVE this CD, and especially CHERRY, a song so touchingly-crafted, you really have to wonder how they are SO consistently successful at creating the music they do.

Underworld never ceases to amaze me just how incredible their trance/techno is. Thick seductive vibes that ingulf your senses and put you in a relaxed state of mind. this cd has an excellent mix of modest yet very bright techno; especially tracks like "cherry pie" as well as the unforgettable "pearlsgirl". this was the first song I fell in love with while listening to it in the record store, the first song that got me involved in this whole techno thing! every song here sounds really futuristic! I guarantee once you by this cd you wont get anything less than what you've expected!

I doubt that any review could do any justice to the greatness that is "Pearl's Girl". Though it is often viewed as an EP rather than a full-length album, Underworld's 1997 release entitled "Pearls Girl" is a spectacular hidden gem that has had the misfortune of being sandwiched between "Second Toughest in the Infants" and "Beaucoup Fish", both of which are marvelous. Yet inspite of their greatness, "Pearl's Girl" is a standout all of its own. The EP is mostly a remix EP of the band's hit single "Pearl's Girl" but with the exception of the "Radio Edit" and "Album Version", many of the other remixes almost are like different tracks altogether.

"Puppies" is a very pleasant track with a nice jazzy atmosphere with electronic keyboard effects like that of viewing the outside through a rainy windshield at night. "Oich Oich" is a dreamy track very much like that of "Tongue" with some haunting chime effects throughout the song giving it a haunting post-thunderstormy mood. The guitar parts could easily make this track fit onto "Dubnobasswithmyhead".

However my absolute favorite track hands down is the fifth track entitled "Cherry Pie". Now for those who are familiar with "Second Toughest" you'll immediately realize that the bizarre electroshock ambience that introduced "Rowla" is present. However a minute into the track, a totally different DJ echoes build up generating a whole different track. The track eventually evolves into a high speed track that could easily make the adrenaline of the movie "Speed" pale before the warp-speed nature of "Cherry Pie". The track evolves into a haunting and intense track with an atmosphere like no other track by this group. In many ways, it reminds me of the haunting ambience of "Dirty Epic" from their 1993 masterpiece "Dubnobasswithmyheadman" with a much louder and faster tempo. Many may agree with me that "Cherry Pie" improves upon the original track that was "Rowla" but I disagree that it should've been on the album. I think this track feels too distinct to fit with the "Second Toughest" album. In many respects, I consider this to be a supplementary track rather than a replacement. By an large my favorite cut in this entire EP. Though Underworld would go on to make really good tracks in subsequent releases, they have yet to generate songs that rival "Cherry Pie". This track alone makes this album worth purchasing.

The final track "Deep Arch" is another haunting track that starts with a trippy ambient intro and has a very slow build up into a beautiful yet trippy cut with an atmosphere like that of viewing traffic on a stormy night.

Even if you already have "Second Toughest", you still need to acquire a copy of "Pearl's Girl" because while it is mostly a remix album of the single of the same name, many of the tracks that aren't remixes are astounding in their own way. I could even argue that much of the music that made it onto STITI pales before some of what's on PG.

As any Underworld fan might attest, "Pearl's Girl" is their signature title- absolutely awesome. So, I was quite pleased when this EP came out; the "EDIT" version is nice when I just need the quick, to-the-point "Pearl's Girl" fix. However, the 'diamond' I'm refering to is "Cherry Pie." I mean... Wow. At first, I was a bit thrown off thinking it was a remix of the none-too-impressive "Rowla" From "Second Toughest in the Infants," but it wasn't long before I was unexpectedly thrown into the spacy, throbbing, hard-hittin' loops and passionate intensity of "Cherry Pie." I never thought I'd find a track on an EP that would make it among my list of "must-hears" for any band. I've always thought of EPs as sort of after-thoughts from a successful band; "Cherry Pie" alone is fresh, new and a worthy exercise of Underworld's talents.

Unfortunately, the "Pearl's Girl" remixes aren't much to rave about; I'd just as soon stick to the original. "Puppies" is a nice, ambient track ala their "Beaucoup Fish" release. "Mosaic" and "Deep Arch" are relatively uninspired, but not necessarily bad tunes; good for when you just wanna soundtrack for veggin' out.

All in all, "Cherry Pie" and the original and edited "Pearl's Girl" versions make this EP worth the purchase; the other tracks are decent filler's though not the epitome of Underworld's efforts. I highly recommend this title.

The PEARL'S GIRL EP features four versions of the title song along with five previously-unreleased tracks. The "Tin There" version of "Pearl's Girl" is a keyboard-heavy, trance remix. The "14996" remix is lighter, featuring a paced ambience and subtle effects. All the versions retain the song's pulsing, thud-like beats and tightly ringing cymbals, and its trippy ambient feel. Underworld likes to start songs slowly and gradually build them into fast-paced, synth-heavy grooves. The aptly-titled "Mosaic" starts with a tribal beat and steadily gains texture with the addition of cymbals, keyboard and guitar. The droning synths, scratching effects and deeply overlaid vocals on "Puppies" evoke early-'80s goth-rock. Undoubtedly, some of Underworld's finest moments.