Oblivion with a Hundred RiverRuns Off

[khouri]

Since the release of Barking I've been thinking a lot about the post-Emerson era, especially as I encounter more and more people who tuned out of Underworld after Beaucoup Fish, even when they may have loved that album quite a lot. (I chalk this up to the gap between records and the press surrounding Emerson's departure, but that's not the point of this post).

I've been remiss in maintaing my Underworld studies with the Dirties so this may be very obvious to everyone else here, but it seems to me that there is an incredibly beautiful and distinctive style that permeates basically everything Underworld did from A Hundred Days Off, the RiverRuns, Oblivion With Bells -- everything up until Barking (when the style changes dramatically), including all the film scores, demos heard on the website and on the internet broadcasts, etc. I think this period has a more developed sonic continuity than the Dubno-STITI-BF era, despite the fact that those albums are often grouped together as an era or movement. Indeed, I've found myself listening to more UW from the post-BF time frame than any other, and I'm keen to turn some of my lapsed UW fan chums onto it.

Because the very atmospheric/ambient/film score quality of a lot of this music, I've been enjoying mixing it together kind of like one of UW's radio shows. What I'd like to know is what you people think are the crucial tracks of this period. I want to get a good sense of that so I can make a killer mix that celebrates what is unfortunately regarded by many non-hardcores as a lost period in the band's history.

Here's what I've got so far, in the order I'm mixing (trying to do more or less chronological). I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, especially from the RiverRuns, so please chime in.

- Ansum
- Mo Move Jam
- Luetin
- Trim Jam
- Twist (Live)
- Two Months Off
- Monkey Wink
- Always Loved A Film (one of the radio ones we heard)
- Small Conker and a Twix (aka Trey's Fate)
- You Do Scribble
- Billy Goat
- Peach Tree
- Play Pig
- Crocodile
- Beautiful Burnout
- Mercury
- Faxed Invitation
- To Heal (and to Restore)
- Glam Bucket (Live)

I've also thrown in bits of vocals and atmospherics from the radio broadcasts here and there as connective tissue.

[the mongoose]

Toobee
Back in the Fears
Moon in Water (original)
Food A Ready
JAL to Tokyo

[stimpee]

So this is essentially anything post-Emerson (probably beginning with Two Months Off in September 2002) through to before the release of Scribble (probably with Holding The Moth in December 2008). So we are looking at a six year+ period with 2 albums and 3 EPs. Pretty much the same amount of content as the UW mk II period. I think youre right to draw a line at that point. It feels as if something changed after that.

[Sappys Curry]

Parc
Sola Sistim
Ballet Lane
Puppies (from a radio show)
Are you Rockstar?
Simple Peal
Best Mamgu Ever

I think those are some of the best songs from that era, easily. Especially Best Mamgu Ever and Parc.

[ultradave]

Originally Posted by Sappys Curry

Especially Best Mamgu Ever and Parc.

I concur. You can't forget Bamboo from the Tokyo Oblivion Ball gig either.

I'm not sure if we'll see and end to this phase of UW's sound. Right now they may just be exploring because they can. Several Cinematic compositions and a boatload of collaborations. You definitely are not getting the pure essence of UW in this latest material, however, it is a part of UW nonetheless.

[Andrea]

The best songs are listed already so I would like to add:

-Faery Folk and Nightingale from Frankenstein
-You Do Scribble (Abbey Road Version)
-Louisiana
-Boy, Boy, Boy
-Good Morning Cockerel
* -Born Slippy Jam
* -Oich Oich
(* is it pre- or post-Emerson?)

I also like Downpipe and Beebop Hurry but I don't know if they are reckoned as U/W songs

[markreed]

2 LP's and 3 EP's

Me thinks you forget "Sunshine", "Breaking And Entering", "The Bells! The Bells!" and the several singles that were also released around this time.

[khouri]

I'm not discounting the film scores, I just couldn't work them into a snappy thread title!

[Champiness]

Originally Posted by stimpee

So this is essentially anything post-Emerson (probably beginning with Two Months Off in September 2002) through to before the release of Scribble (probably with Holding The Moth in December 2008). So we are looking at a six year+ period with 2 albums and 3 EPs. Pretty much the same amount of content as the UW mk II period. I think youre right to draw a line at that point. It feels as if something changed after that.

I think I'd put the cutoff date a little later - somewhere around the void in activity (as much as you can call it with Underworld) following the 2008 radio show? Quite a few of the tracks that made it on to Barking (ie "Moon In Water") were very much a part of this era prior to the involvement of the... *shudder*... guest producers.
Anyway I'm glad to see this period in Underworld's history getting some acknowledgment! Everything they did from AHDO onward has a unique sort of emotional intensity to it - as much as their first three albums were moving, tracks like Mo Move and Showlder have a much more "personal" quality to them. Actually that's how I'd describe much of their 2002-2008 output... personal. For me, anyway.
I'd say another signifying factor of this era would be their heavy use of internet distribution! Even ignoring the Riverruns, a sizable chunk of their output was in the form of random doodles they'd give away on their website, play on radio shows, or tease in their live sets. It gave it this brilliant offhand quality to work that was characteristically stunning.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Feel like the entirety of the "Big Sister" release should be on here. That one's so gorgeous (especially the last say, 15 minutes) and maybe one of their greatest things ever.