Underworld Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Classic or Dud?

(as is just about everything else they've done, but I'm just a fanboy anyway! 8))

Their music changed my outlook on life in many (positive) ways which is more than I can say of any other band. And I know I'm not alone in that, so there must be something special.

But then again, my fav one is Beaucoup Fish, so what do I know (Jumbo sounds more like Wire than Elastica ever did)

1. Dark and Long- Really good!!!!
2. Mmmm Skyscraper, I Love You- Not bad, but it does get a bit better near the end!!!!
3. Surfboy- pretty good!!!!
4. Spoonman- ACE!!!, especially that Karl rant bit near the end!!!!!!!
5. Tongue- Actually, I like this one!!!!
6. Dirty Epic- pretty good, although I prefer the earlier "Lemon Interrupt" version!!!!!
7. Cowgirl- ACE!!!
8. River of bass- really good!!!!
9. M.E.- er, sounds like a bit like a track from their pre-Darren Emmerson days!!!!!

I don't understand all those comments above about it sounding a bit dated!!!! Er, how can I put this, it's a decade old dance music album, of course it's going to sound dated!!!!! And as for that "Awful, soulless, funk-free British knotted-hankie-on-yer-head techno shitness", that's a bit like saying The Eagles would have been decent if they shaved their beards off and didn't play guitars ie it's kind of missing the point in a massive way!!!! At the time most of the decent techno was soul-less, funk-free British knotted-hankie-on-yer-head, (or alternatively soul-less, funk-free and from Johnny Foreigner in Euroland!!!!!) and that's why it was bloody ace!!!! If you wanted "funky" and "soulful", you could go for progessive house, "garage", retreads of late-80s Detroit, "ambient dub" and millions of other dreary bollox that have dated so badly that they make "Dubnobass..." sounds like it was recorded in the year 3759!!!! (And before anyone mentions jungle, let remind you that at the time of the release "Dubnobass..." it was still underground and generally regarded as an extreme 'like gabber with breakbeats' offspring of hardcore rave- at least it was before some berks let go of their "progessive" records for long enough to put "jazz" chords over the beats, although the end results was usually about as "jazzy" as Val Doonican!!!!!)

http://www.underworldlive.com/?p=36050&preview=true

Dubnobasswithmyheadman is the first remastered work to be released, there are plans in place to remaster and reissue all of the Underworld’s studio albums in the next few years.

oh my god, what I wouldn't give to be at that show

also if ALL the studio albums are getting this treatment, who knows what awesome stuff could get unearthed. "Five Points"? "Cappe Ffuno" (or whatever that was?) A full length "Parc"? "You Do Scribble" with vocals? "Globe"?? This is going to be incredible.

psyched, been waiting for a second toughest remaster. one of my favorite albums, but the CD quality isn't really up to par. always gotta crank my speakers double to get the proper effect.

the remastered Cowgirl (single edit) you get when you preorder is pretty sweet

I'M INVISIBO

In January ‘94, Rick Smith, Darren Emerson & Karl Hyde released their debut album – Dubnobasswithmyheadman

uh wait

haha

Second Toughest sounds better than Dubno at least. Put on my minty mint copy of Dubno LP this morning to celebrate. Danced with my daughter to Spoonman. Wonder where Why Why Why is though? Seems like a pretty glaring omission.

had to double-check - that IS an odd one to leave out, since it was on the Japanese version and IMO fits in well with everything else. imagine how crazy all this would be if that '93 DAT had never been found?

im still boggling at that line from the press release, guess ill never get to hear "Rubber Ball (Space Kitchen)" in glorious HD mastered bluray quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxdNS8WNSOY

Has any other band buried their original incarnation as successfully as Underworld has?

man, i don't think so. if it hadn't been for EBM comps i would never have discovered those first 2 albums

It was the Sire "Just Say ______" comps, right? That's where I first heard "Crash" IIRC

Y kant tori read?
Japan?

there were TWO original incarnations - don't forget about Freur!

No one forgot about Freur

oh wait maybe it was "Just Say Mao" w/thrash on it

a double disc Freur set would be awesome. Get Us Out Of Here desperately needs remastering and I believe there are a lot of interesting oddities from that period. In particular I always saw "Alabaster White Thing" as the bridge from their 80's period to Underworld mk2. Some of those mk1 songs are gold though ("Change the Weather", "Stand Up", "I Need a Doctor", and of course "Underneath the Radar", excellent songs all of 'em)

oh wait lol it was "Thrash", "Crash" was The Primitives

(def on Just Say Mao tho)

man, i don't think so. if it hadn't been for EBM comps i would never have discovered those first 2 albums

If it hadnt been for them having a #1 single I never would have discovered that first album

That line from the press release is very carefully accurate!

i have never really thought of this as an album on cd that needs remastering.

has that fat warm 90s techno sound that i love before the loudness wars kicked in.

i reckon the cd sounds perfectly fine, hope they dont push the sonics too hard.

This is one of the only albums I actively hoped would get remastered. It's so quiet compared to other albums.

i can see them boosting the levels a bit, both that and STITI are weirdly quiet, even by 90's CD standards. though in my opinion no UW release really needs remastering, they all sound great and I'd be curious if they touched the post-Second Toughest albums at all.

I suppose it was their debut with Emerson, but yeah, this band seems very intent on burying mk1. Alanis has done a pretty good job burying her first couple albums.

Pantera

I suppose it was their debut with Emerson, but yeah, this band seems very intent on burying mk1. Alanis has done a pretty good job burying her first couple albums.

is there any reason to assume they even have any control over their Warners catalogue?

damn it underworld, what if I want the remastered album on vinyl and then a download of all the extra material?!? I guess I want the five cd version or something now, idk

I had that same dilemma but since I already own Dubno on vinyl, I decided to get the 5CD thing. Not sure if the vinyl comes with the 50 page book either. May wait and see if the vinyl turns up locally and buy that later.

Well I meant more in the sense of the band pretending it didn't happen, not asking their former label to destroy copies or whatever

just compared the remastered Cowgirl single edit to the one I had on CD twice (cd single and anthology) and the album version (also on CD) : it's louder than the album version but not as loud as the single edit on the cd single and anthology which were both TOO loud for comfort.

I trust Rick Smith to not fuck up the remastering.

Ordered the 5CD one. Easily my favourite UW album and probably in my all time top 5. Agree that the original CD and vinyl were really quiet.

holy crap @ this rendition : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jst8yoqPTmo

Ha, was there!

Yes this is gonna be great and of course I'll buy it and it's gonna be totally awesome. THAT BEING SAID... not including "Why Why Why" in your 5CD monster reissue deluxe edition is indefensible.

It has been noted that Why, Why, Why and a couple other Dubno era omissions were actually remastered and included on the deluxe version of Anthology from a few years back. It sort of makes sense if you bought that collection to not repeat tracks but I wish it has been included.

even these offcuts sound bloody good ..

https://soundcloud.com/underworld/saved-from-the-cutting-room-floor-mix-underworld-vs-the-misterons-1

the 5CD box is beautiful on its own but I think I liked the Misterons DJ mix of the demos and versions that came out just prior to the reissue more than listening to the bonus material actually in the box.

the 2CD version has some great stuff on it that you prob. don't have on cd already, like Eclipse and the 3 demos at the end.

5cd version is on spotify iirc

some great moments on the 5cd

also i know i'd heard Thing In A Book before and liked it, but now i really _appreciate_ it

Finally tracked down the Dark & Long 2 12" with Thing In A Book Mix on Side 2. It is a thing of beauty. http://www.discogs.com/Underworld-Dark-Long-2/release/23459

been listening pretty much exclusively to this boxset this week, mostly discs 4 and 5 plus the Cutting Room Floor mix. put all together there are like four totally different 'alternate' versions of this album you could put together.

Cutting Room Floor Mix gets listened to way more than any of the bonus discs here.

25 years old today!

Thunder, thunder, lightning

I want to smash it up, I want to break it down
I want a wall of tears to wash away

still one of the greatest albums ever made

Absolutely fucking love it. They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Been listening to it in work this afternoon.

Despite hearing it probably hundreds of times over the last 25 years, I still get goosebumps when Cowgirl kicks off

always thought of this as the perfect example of how an album could be so much more than just a collection of songs, so it kinda blew my mind to find out that it really wasn't conceived as such, and that "M.E." and parts of "Skyscraper" actually date back to the Underneath the Radar band!

Not a let-down exactly but on release I didn't feel the album quite lived up to the releases (Dirty, Human Nature remix, Skyscraper, Rez) and particularly the live shows in the two years leading up to it. I like M.E. a lot but it's obviously a remnant of an earlier era.

The first disc of 1992-2002 is by far > than this album AFAIC.

CHANGE MY MIND ;-)

it is pretty nuts that they had these long incredible tunes like "Spikee", "Minneapolis" and "Why Why Why" just floating around on the backside of an extremely limited 12"

So your radical opinion is that a compilation of singles and hits is better than a 'debut' album? Why that's some crazy thinking.

Imagine preferring something.

Not following your reasoning there, are you suggesting a compilation of singles is by definition better than a 'debut' album or that it doesn't count as a comparison because it's not a fair fight?

the second disc of 1992-2002 is > the first disc of 1992-2002 so let the jaws drop

I got wind of them around the time Beaucoup Fish came out and immediately fell in love with Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Having never conceived of them a singles band (although in hindsight I can see why you'd be inclined to think that), I'm at a loss whenever I listen to 1992-2002, as it lacks the necessary filler.

Yes, I am saying a compilation of singles is by definition better than a debut album. Well, i'm at least saying it is not surprising that someone would prefer a series of songs that were considered better (thus selected for release and all that entails) than the other songs created during the same era.

I still haven't unsealed my German Box Set release for 92-02. Not sure why, as I think it has the longer version of Dirty and maybe one other track is extended. Anyway, sure, you can have the opinion that the singles compilation is better than the album. I've played Dubno so many times that it's no longer just a collection of tracks, is a holder of two decades worth of memories that get stirred up at various points while the album is playing. I happen to think Oblivion with Bells is their best album, at least it's the one I have listened to the most since it was released. Don't think I have ever actually played the 92-02 compilation straight through. Pretty sure I just downloaded the tracks from the compilation that were slight variants with longer durations and put those in a playlist.

not surprising that someone would prefer a series of songs that were considered better (thus selected for release and all that entails) than the other songs created during the same era.

The other songs on the album weren't selected for release?

It's not like that disc is an all-time Greatest Hits; everything on it was released either before the album or on it (and not elsewhere) IIRC.

Of course you get more concentrated bangers, but drawn from the same pwriod and pool of songs. Fair enough if you prefer a rock album model with few boring "deep cuts" thrown in for pacing.

True, if I had to save just one song from Dubno today, i'd pick River of Bass.

I happen to think Oblivion with Bells is their best album

i am very gradually arriving at this opinion too lol

There's a nice feature on the making of Dubno over on The Quietus from back when it turned 20.

Rick touches on how songs like Surfboy and Tongue were written to help the sequencing of the album