NEW ALBUM: Someday World (hyde+eno)

[jetpig]

Now includes this bolded correction at the top:

Correction April 28, 2014

An earlier version of this story referred to Karl Hyde as a "former" member of Underworld. He is still the frontman for that group.

[mickstafa]

Must have been edited since.

[Andrea]

The first thing I did was to start to sing when I heard To Us All.
Beautiful!

[holden]

Oh dear.

Well, not much else happening, so here's a track-by-track review, FWIW.

Opening track "Satellites" is interesting for all of 28 seconds, until the mess of Casio Brass heads in. Around 2 minutes, when Karl and Brian start singing, my thoughts are - first, their voices don't really compliment each other, and two, why does the bassline sound like farts?

Tried "Daddy's Car" again...managed to like the first 50 seconds into this one, thanks to the beat, though the synthbass line was pretty dated... and then, brass nonsense and "oooh" chorals again. Can't take Karl's vocals seriously with Wang Chung playing in the background.

"Man Wakes Up": Dated, phased keyboards with "oo" "oo" effects - reminds me of a Was (Not Was) outtake. Again, Karl's vocals (and presumably guitar) is diminished to a the least common denominator of what we know he's capable of.

"Witness" - melody's okay, but the repeated vocals and guitar/piano feature was a bit cloying to start Stick with it and it the female vocal recalls Lemon Interrupt/UW mkii "Eclipse" era. This one straddles the line between annoying and catchy.

"Strip it Down" - Starts with a simple one-note bass, two note guitar figure (with some flourishes), then layers on the (synth) piano and extra guitar riffs... has some potential till the vocal again. I'm not sure; "Edgeland" was pleasant enough, but i think i prefer when Karl's vocals are more monotonous/vocoded. I just don't love the more "traditional" melodies herein. Still, some interesting counterpoints.

"Mother of a Dog" - i have nothing nice to say, so i will say nothing more on this.

"Who Rings the Bell" - ok, i kind of like how the one note guitar evolves into three-note pattern and overlaps the growing effect. Maybe "Who barks like a dog?" reminds me of "Dogman Go Woof", but this almost evokes Dubno era mkii for me (though Mother of a Dog does not! Some dogs are just dogs). Anyway, fairly pleasant, minus the chorus near the end.

"When I Built This World" - err, dated sounds and single one-note patterns again. Really odd key shift in the second minute, and the effect on Karl's vocal is unusual.... then, ~1:40 in, it's time to lay on the brass again. This track is a mess. Is it for a Halloween Spooky Sound Effects album? Is it an Erasure out-take? Were the vocals stolen from Depeche Mode during a creative dry-spell? Oh, it's bizarre, and not in a good way.

Thank goodness, the album closer "To Us All" - kinda nice guitar figures, recalling the "Sunshine" soundtrack noodles (What were they called? "Mercury" or "Jelly Blue"?) - the vocals are forgettable, and one of the vocal tracks (can't tell if Karl or Brian) is screamed a bit out of tune with the other. Otherwise, it's uplifting, but ends very suddenly.

Overall, i stand by my prior assertion that these tracks are snippets that don't really constitute finished tracks, and the majority of them sound really dated. Eno revisiting Roxy Music, Karl remembering UW mki. Sure, vintage and retro is cool, sometimes, but a lot of the 80's music still sounds cheesy, and these synth-heavy tracks with uber-earnest vocals about nothing recall that forgettable musical era.

Again, i think both artists are extremely gifted, but these tracks sound incomplete or, overly-layered with really simple patterns in an attempt to disguise incompleteness. Not every idea needs recorded.

[testudo]

For anyone missing the VERY old days of Underworld (Mark 1). This album is sort of a "what if..." It is a time machine into a past that never was. As if Karl was under the direction of Mr. Eno in the early eighties.

[Andrea]

Oh come on, it is not so bad. But Eno should definitely not sing.
That short distorted guitar part in Mother of A Dog is really awesome.

[crank]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Oh come on, it is not so bad. But Eno should definitely not sing.
That short distorted guitar part in Mother of A Dog is really awesome.

"It's not that bad" should be applied to groups that don't have the cache that Underworld and Eno of built. This is merely okay and wouldn't have been released had Hyde's or Eno's name been attached.

I'm a fan, but there are just some things that should stay on the table as possible ideas then get fleshed out a bit better. Passengers is a great example of a a collaboration Eno did with u2. This one, not so much.

[Andrea]

"not that bad" or "merely okay" - Well, my english is not so good so I don't know the difference.
Anyway, I'm just judging what I hear today regardless of their background.

[holden]

I still don't think this album is "merely okay" or "not bad". It's actually pretty bad. Unless you yearn for the sounds of mid-eighties synthpop, this is very disappointing. Two great creative minds have collaborated before (Pure Scenious, and "beebop hurry") to fine results. Here, its just a mess...really simple melodies get layered with cheesy keys, obvious lyrics are stretched thin.
Sorry, I love UW and all prior side projects, but won't be buying this.

[Andrea]

You know, I think that was exactly their intention.
It sounds like they made it for themselves and their friends just for fun. So why take it so seriously? Everyone has the right to have fun, even those with famous names.
But Mother Of A Dog has a bridge (or whatever it is called right efter the verse) with a distorted guitar. That sound combination is outstanding and the only one similar to some U/W creation. Even though it´s very short it makes the whole track to No. 1 on the album for me.
There is some similar, less developed sound in Witness accompanying the female spoken words... but that´s it.
The intro in Strip It Down is also interseting but it´s fading very fast.
To Us All is sweet like Lousiana. I have some ideas for a verse before the vocals but it´s just for fun so I will most probably keep it for myself