Operation: Underworld Live

[holden]

So, i discovered Underworld (outside the rare comp. track) in earnest in 2002. And then i soon discovered the old RTSR FTP.
Like all obsessions, things (i.e downloading and buying) soon got out of hand. And now, 8 years later, i have about 130 bootleg recordings, not to mention all the LPs, most every single and a lot of rarities/imports.

By no means do i have every gig that Underworld has performed, but i do have the majority of those that have been recorded (in concert or via radio) from 1994-present.

Sure, i've listened to them all, usually as soon as i obtained them. Sure, i have my favorites. But recently we moved and i reorganized by CD collection (yes, i burn all the downloads i enjoy to CD), and it was pretty overwhelming. Why am i collecting these? There are only so many hours in the day to listen to music, and it's mostly taken up by whatever's on my mind /mood at present.

Sooo, in the interest of (1) enjoying again all those moments of magical discovery and (2) somewhat scientifically checking again how the band has evolved their live performances, road-tested songs, and build their repertoire of favorites, improvs, one-offs, and period pieces...

i resolve to play at least 2 and hopefully several Underworld boots per day and record a few impressions.

And while many/most on here don't really care about my impressions, i'll keep the posting to the high-points as i see them - e.g. when a new track made the live set for the first time, the first or few recorded versions of an improv or new track that never saw the studio light (as far as we know), the gradual shifting from long improv beat-driven jams to having a catalog capable of sustaining a new tracklist every night, the departure of Darren Emerson, the arrival of Darren Price to the live mix, etc.

I hope that you'll share in the memories and fill in the blanks.

Cheers,
Holden

Firsr up tomorrow: a few lo-fi recordings from 1994...

[khouri]

Brilliant! I thought I was sort of doing this recently by listening to all the Live Here Now albums in chronological order but your thing is tremendously better. Godspeed.

[unwound floors]

As someone who only relatively recently discovered the magic of Underworld, and in a short period of time, has collected a fairly decent collection of bootlegs and other rareties - definitely looking forward to hearing your thoughts and sharing in on the discussion! This should be fun - and only help to make me even more excited about seeing them for the first time in June!

[Champiness]

Somebody make a film about this interspersed with a film-within-a-film about the history of Underworld. Karl can be played by Meryl Streep.

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by unwound floors

This should be fun - and only help to make me even more excited about seeing them for the first time in June!

Lucky you!! Hope they will throw you kisses from the stage

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by holden

Firsr up tomorrow: a few lo-fi recordings from 1994...

Thanks, that sounds very nice. It's not easy to find U/W stuff in general.
You have many other interesting things on your site, I just had no time to listen to it yet.

[dubman]

one hundered and thirty?

joethelion sent me like 30 of them one day and that was p. much enough

[darktrain]

I firmly support and await this project!

[potatobroth]

awesome! ill let you be the one that weeds thru the mass of live shows I too have, for me!

[holden]

Thanks, all, for the support!

I might take this to a blog, so that i don't clutter the forums up too much, but i do hope you're inspired to maybe pull out some older Underworld gems from your collection and take another listen.

Sometimes my collections become so obsessive, i forget the joy of any one piece. And certainly the first shows i obtained were much more special for the newness. Still, there's great strength in being able to "Want what you already have".