Quote:
Originally Posted by William_the_Bloody
Underworld
Like Massive Attack Underworld declines after the departure of a key member; Darren Emerson. Emerson joins for the alubm dubnobasswithmyheadman and they begin to take off peaking sometime around the release of Born Slippy on the Trainspotting soundtrack. They continue to have success with the release of Beaucoup Fish in 1999, shortly after that Emerson leaves, the band returns to being a duo, but never achieves the success they had in the 90's.
Underworld Expiry Date: Sometimes after Beaucoup Fish
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I certainly acknowledge (as any fan will) that Darren Emerson's exit from the group in 2000 marked the end of the Underworld Mk II sound. Dubnobass, Second Toughest, Beaucoup, and the Everything Everything Live albums were a critical period that defined and popularized the band's signature sound with stadium-packing tracks and floor-stomping anthems.
But from A Hundred Days Off onward (the period known as Underworld Mk III), Rick and Karl traded four on the floor anthemic progressive house for more cerebral experimental territory. Meditative pieces like "Ess Gee" and "To Heal" worked quite well in this environment alongside steadier uptempo selections like "Dinosaur Adventure 3D" and "Scribble."
But the duo's most important works are the non-album selections like their art installation work and web releases like I'm A Big Sister, And I'm A Girl, And I'm A Princess And This Is My Horse, Pizza For Eggs, and Lovely Broken Thing give listeners a taste of the more contemplative material that they'll find if they dig deeper than the hits.
Perhaps my favorite track from the nearly 400 Underworld albums, EPs and singles in my catalog is the 2005 "Always Loved a Film" (working title: "Silver Boots") edit broadcast once on 05-19-06 from Lemonworld. The cut is an ambient spoken-word poetry piece combining lyrical fragments from what would become the I'm a Big Sister... web release, the "Silver Boots" demo and musical elements of what would become "Always Loved a Film" on their next record, Barking.
Tracks like these, and Karl's recent collaborations with Brian Eno are far more interesting and artful than the "Lager lager lager..." material from their days with Emerson.
Just my take on it, but the ~300 albums, mixes, singles, and soundtracks that followed Mk II have been arguably their best work to date.