Underworld – Dubnobasswithmyhean

this original release is big on the low end, if you have good speakers and phono stage you will be fine. .... Also give the blu_ray audio release a go , Hi-Res in perfection .

WOW!! Did I really buy this 30 years ago?? It still sound sooo good. It makes the modern melodic, minimal, prog stuff sound like watered down, unimaginative tripe. Go UNDERWORLD you creators.......HOW DID YOU DO THAT????

For 'River of bass' alone everyone should hear this album. And you should hear it on vinyl because it really is something else. It feels like a splendid UK variation on the fantastic Berlin Rhythm& Sound dub-vibrations invented by Ernestus/Von Oswald.
Also, it's years ahead of it's time in of how to write lyrics.
This still is a feast for the ears. Love it to pieces.

Cowgirl is the gift that just keeps giving. Didn’t know about their origins as a synth-pop outfit until I was watching an episode of Miami Vice during the first lockdown… 😯

One of the all-time greatest albums out there! Question: I have a vinyl copy which I believe is a bootleg, during Mmm...Skyscraper I Love You there is an apple new email alert sound like the computer its recording playback from had email open!?! Anybody else have this? It's a weird little glitch that catches people out every now and then! Otherwise, the pressing is actually really nice, sounds great. I bought it a long time back.

Underworld evolved from several monikers and line-ups, with only two remaining from the original incarnation: Rick Smith and Karl Hyde. Darren Emerson's entry into the fold as a teenage DJ collaborating with Rick Smith on dance tracks and remixes coincided with Karl Hyde's return from session musician work in the US, causing a tectonic shift in of musical direction. Hyde and Smith readopted the band name and recruited Emerson, whose current practice was modelled after acid house and techno, to reshape their sound. Underworld's unique songwriting approach would be to include as much as possible from the past and present, cutting and pasting diverse musical elements before adding abstractly written and performed lyrics. It was a formula that would result in something entirely extraordinary and yet oddly arresting.

Ostensibly, the unconventionality of deriving profuse, disconnected ideas, poetry and inspirations and constructing them, albeit in a deranged fashion, into hypnotic compositions with found material, conversations, recordings and whispers functioning as vocals, was somehow rendered accessible by the bass-heavy musical backdrop. Generally, dance music is designed to be played in clubs and DJ sets, but Underworld possessed the ability to reproduce their experimental sound in a live setting without sacrificing the walls and webs of rhythms and sonic innovations that contributed to their success. Underworld triumphantly capture the galvanism, interconnectivity and hedonism of a pitch-black dark, sweaty nightclub, with the only source of illumination being neon green strobe lights. However, the pervading capriciousness of the proceedings generates a definite air of disquiet, activating a feeling of portent in the listener as much as euphoria. Conjuring unsettling nightmarish imagery with repetitive, infectious chants such as "an eraser of love", "everything, everything" and undulating patterns during thundering and long compositions, the album format provided the group with sufficient indie cred and a suitable platform for their more metaphysical, incomprehensible explorations. They would further champion the earthly pleasures of clubbing and debauchery, as if from the perspective of a slurring alcoholic spiralling out of control on a binge, but here subject matter ranges from iring New York scenery to object philia, with even less coherence. Hyde's vocal contribution to the album is a mix of lairy chants and Lou Reed-esque, barely intelligible incongruous words. Somehow his inscrutable vocal style is elevated to greater effectiveness in the context of extended, elaborate and energetic workouts such as "Cowgirl", which gained exposure after featuring on several soundtracks.

As self-assured, complex and devoid of pop sensibilities as their music was, Underworld would move towards the stadium house act model of The KLF, who went outside the limitations the charts and clubs with their trilogy of trailblazing dance records. Upon becoming a headlining act by the end of the decade and later operating as a duo, personal problems and a creative decline ensued for Hyde and Smith, and the immensely off-centre, edifying and cohesive triptych they created with Emerson has yet to be duplicated. In 1994, the group were at their most vibrant, experimental and free-spirited, in other words, before they were affected by their surge in popularity, they were still in a state of flux, with "Dubnobasswithmyhean" being the visionary consequence of creative brainstorming and drawing inspiration from everything in sight. It is a seminal dance record that not only defined the group's newly downtempo, nocturnal sound, but also transcended the very musical territories it seemed to playfully and uncommittedly derive elements from.

Despite being the precursor to the fragmented intensity and involution employed on a certain iconic soundtrack appearance, "Dubnobasswithmyhean" was nevertheless denied mainstream acceptance. Indicative of the anthemic mode that the band would enter, with songs such as "Dark & Long", "Dirty Epic" and "Mmm Skyscraper I Love You", the album verges on the exhilarating method of expression and themes of self-destruction and clubbing culture they would often utilize. Beyond Emerson's expansive electronic blueprint, the progressive elements of 1970s rock and Hyde's philosophical yet secular lyrical and vocal style assimilating his emphatic Romford credentials are integral to the album's immersive power and conversely dirty and exotic quality. Underworld were an unpigeonholeable, multi-genre band, capable of eclipsing the clichés of faceless EDM; this advantage over their contemporaries can be ascribed to their extensive appeal and established reputation as a live draw. Maximising the possibilities of dance music by incorporating unorthodox structures, textures and tones, "Dubnobasswithmyhean" is a cogent collection of fluid, indivisible songs spanning techno, dub, acid and progressive house with enough credibility and conviction that, as an overall experience, induces you into a state of transfixion. It is an ambitious, astonishingly accomplished and baroque album requiring multiple listens to fully absorb and quantify, but the pathway to deciphering and discovering such nuances is more pleasurable than you expect it to be, largely due to the modulation of sounds contained within.

Rating: 4.5/5

I like the sound better than the 20th anniversary remaster. The remaster is well executed and not squashed by any means, but in the original the bass drum still has more "kick" to it.

I bought this the week it came out. 14 years later and it is still so damn good