Barking -- Some general thoughts

[taoyoyo]

I'm with Caprice... to me this is a fantastic album.

Yup, I can hear touches of the collaborators in there but it's undoubtably *** Underworld **** at their most glorious... the leap from 'TMO' to ' Crocodile' to 'ALAF' is not a big one surely?

'Scibble' + 'ALAF' + 'Diamond Jigsaw' = big fucking grins all round. 'Louisiana' tears of joy.

Only one slight let down... 'Between Stars' is a great track but it doesn't sound finished to me.

Nice to hear the Alternative CD... all interesting versions and I'm glad they're there but to me 'Barking' stands out fine on it's own.

The videos on the DVD are great... love the Levi guy plot in 'Diamond Jigsaw'.

[baddy2shoos]

Scribble is the album highlight for me because of High Contrast. He nails it everytime.

I think there's too much going on on the album in general...Karl's vocals just get drowned out by the predictable peaktime house/generic beats.

There's no space to let tracks evolve like on the previous albums and is it me or does Juanita's vocals (I'm guessing it's still her...) sound very laboured and pretentious or is that the point??

I think they were going in the right direction with OWB...they showed they could manage without Darren Emerson. They certainly didn't pick the most interesting, experimental producers/djs that are around (apart from Appleblim maybe). What about people like Matthew Dear or Richie Hawtin...much more relevant and fresh, surely?

I'm all for upfront singalong UW tracks...but they really do sound very generic and brash in places.

It's a grower hopefully.

[baddy2shoos]

Originally Posted by stimpee

OWB an atrocity? huh. get new ears. srsly. OWB is underrated. Its better than the new album anyway. And I dont think my opinion on that will change with repeated listens.

OWB is a masterpiece. Plain and simple.

I am regularly baffled by the slating it gets.

I just don't get it.

Go and listen again to Holding The Moth and tell me that it isn't a masterpiece...straight up minimal acidy techno number that evolves into a little jazzy number and you don't even notice it. mmm...skyscraper. Only with Underworld.

People!!!! Arghhhhh :-) (j/k)

[eturnol]

Originally Posted by jose m

the band need to move on.
it may not be in a direction that everyone like's but they will never be the 90's underworld, the version many people still want them to be,again.
they're musicians and have changed their style and out put many times over the years and i'm sure they will do it again.
i'm interested 'cause i like to watch the "journey" they're on and i really enjoy it when they change course either in a commercial way (like this album) or delve deep (like river runs).
maybe for every fan they gain with the new stuff they'll lose one as well but thats the way it is if you don't sit still.

They can move on, yes, but we can complain, goddamn it. =)

I'm sure the new songs will be great live though. I didn't like hot chip's new album either, but the songs were fantastic when woven into a performance. I guess barking will just be one of those albums I don't listen to very often...

[baddy2shoos]

And now I love it. This is what Underworld do to me!!! Damn you, you creative talented awe-inspiring bastards :-)

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I really, really want to do a mash-up of "Scribble" and Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Pure Jam". When they said "YMO meets Grooverider", I think I understand. For some reason "Pure Jam" (written nearly 30 years ago!) gives me the same kind of vibes.

[Strawman]

Ok I finally got to listen to the whole album (Barking).....and yes it's poppy and 'commercial' but I like it and have to say that to me it's their best album since BF.

The stand-out tracks are Bird 1 and Diamond Jigsaw. but ALAF and Scribble up there as well. The only tracks I don't 'get' yet are Grace and Moon in Water....

I'm a fan from way back and am familiar with UW Mk1 and I can see what some of the reviews are saying that some of the vocals sound like pre-Dubno...





The stand-

[King of Snake]

Originally Posted by baddy2shoos

OWB is a masterpiece. Plain and simple.

I am regularly baffled by the slating it gets.

I just don't get it.

Go and listen again to Holding The Moth and tell me that it isn't a masterpiece...straight up minimal acidy techno number that evolves into a little jazzy number and you don't even notice it. mmm...skyscraper. Only with Underworld.

People!!!! Arghhhhh :-) (j/k)

ha, I always felt that the album version of HtM turned what was originally a nice acidy tech-tune into ridiculous noodly elevator musik your dad might listen to.

[bryantm3]

you think beautiful burnout is a wow moment and between stars isn't????

to me it's by far their best in 10 years. i actively want to listen to it. bird 1 is chilling when the synth comes in, and the synth plops, as someone else mentioned do sound like kraftwerk and that actually made me enjoy them. grace is very proggy and dark and i love it. to me the only track i really don't care for is moon in water. i feel like a couple of others *could've* been better like louisiana and ALAF, but overall it's very good.


the one thing i miss from ALAF is that bass riff. boopy-do, boopy-do, bah bah doo doo...

[//\/\/]

i'm finding it totally underwhelming.

still totally into 'downpipe', however.

give it 2 years and i don't think there'll be much barking in the live set