Could I Have Some Mash To Go With This Banger, Please?

Earlier this month Underworld released a new track, And The Colour Red, one of four new songs that they debuted at The Marble Factory in Bristol on 19th March 2023. An edit/official video was released just over a week ago.

 

It's a deceptively simple tune, menacing beat, deep bass and minimal vocals from Karl Hyde. Like the shorter edit and unusually for an Underworld track, the longer version also fades out at the end.

The version that was premiered at the Bristol gig on 19th March - a relatively intimate (1600 capacity) warm up for their show at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust the following night - plays out for an identical duration (5:42) with a rather more sudden fade out/stop. One of those 'wish I was there' moments.

With thanks to @RichardSmith_ZA, whose comment/reaction to the official video on YouTube inspired today's post title.

Darren In The Underworld

Inspired by Swiss Adam's return visits to some classic Darren Emerson and Underworld tracks and mixes over at Bagging Area and the coincidental inclusion of an Underworld remix on the cover-mounted Depeche Mode compilation CD available with the current issue of Mojo magazine, I've thrown caution to the wind and jumped on the bandwagon.

I've cherry picked half a dozen remixes from 1993 to 2003, classics all, and generous with beats and breaks. It's impossible for me to pick a favourite from this bunch.

 

1) Human Behaviour (The Underworld Dub (1)): Björk (1993)

2) Harlequin - The Beauty And The Beast (Underworld Alternative): Sven Väth (1994)

3) Sunset (Bird Of Prey) (Darren Emerson Remix): Fatboy Slim ft. Jim Morrison (2000)

4) David (Darren Emerson's Underwater Remix): GusGus (2003)

5) Schmoo (Underworld Mix): Spooky ft. Heather Sian Wildman (1993)

6) Risingson (Underworld Mix): Massive Attack (1997)

 

Darren In The Underworld (54:39) (Box) (Mega)

Who Fans The Flames?

Some Underworld, to help clear the Easter (egg) excess. I've been sorting out my CD collection, with a view to selling and/or donating a sizeable chunk. I've amassed quite a number of music magazine freebie and promo CDs over the years and, by default, a fair few artists are significantly represented across the various compilations.Without being a series as such, this has provided for the springboard for several upcoming selections including this one.

No surprise really to find that Underworld has frequently cropped up on music magazine promos, often end of year 'best of' collections, whether Jockey Slut, Mojo, Muzik or Select. Collecting all of the ones I had (7), I dropped a similar number of randomly picked Underworld songs into a "long list" and then compiled a (nearly) hour long selection. 

 

In the end, only 3 magazine promo tracks made the final 8-song track list. Mo Move and Luetin are the opening and closing tracks from A Hundred Days Off, an album I don't have and am otherwise largely ignorant of. Likewise, 2019's Schiphol Test, which formed part of Underworld's ambitious Drift project, begun in 2018 and hailed both as a huge success and a stunning return to form for Karl Hyde and Rick Smith. I like the track very much but to my shame, still haven't investigated further. The full CD+Blu Ray box set is available on Discogs and will currently set you back around £100, including shipping.

The remaining songs include the only version I own of Diamond Jigsaw, which I got as a free download from the RCRD LBL website. It's an instrumental remix of the track by The Invisible aka Dave Okumu, Tom Herbert & Leo Taylor and apparently one of nine versions, including the original, featured on the album Barking, another one that I don't own.

 

In fact, the only Underworld album I do have is Dubnobasswithmyheadman, which was their first as a trio with Darren Emerson and a hell of a statement of intent. I've featured the downtempo Tongue here and whilst the album edit of Cowgirl was the one that featured on Muzik magazine's Best Of Dance compilation back in 1997, I went for the Irish Pub In Kyoto Mix instead, as I prefer it. Likewise, I think Darren Price's remix of Push Upstairs is superior to the Beaucoup Fish album version.

 

Last but not least, and second track in the selection, is Underworld's contribution to the soundtrack of 2000 film The Beach, directed by Danny Boyle and based on the novel by Alex Garland. I haven't seen the film for a long time but there's no denying that the album is a great selection of songs and artists. The Underworld track 8 Ball does not disappoint.

1) Diamond Jigsaw (The Invisible Instrumental) (2011)

2) 8 Ball (2000)

3) Tongue (1994)

4) Cowgirl (Irish Pub In Kyoto Mix) (1994)

5) Mo Move (2002)

6) Push Upstairs (Darren Price Remix) (1999)

7) Schiphol Test (2019)

8) Luetin (2002)

1994: Cowgirl EP: 4

1994: Dubnobasswithmyheadman: 3 

1999: Push Upstairs EP: 6

2000: The Beach OST: 2 

2002: A Hundred Days Off: 5, 8

2011: Diamond Jigsaw EP: 1

2019: Drift Series 1: Sampler Edition: 7

 

Who Fans The Flames? (58:58)

The World Keeps Spinning

Side 1 of a mixtape, originally compiled 10th August 1994 and featuring remixes of Sparks, One Dove and Flowered Up. All three were purchased on 12" vinyl during a brief period living in Derby. My main job during this time was working a 2-10pm shift in the distribution warehouse at Joseph Mason Paints, co-ordinating the cross-country delivery runs. Crappy job and hours, but it did mean that after-work clubbing was a regular thing and I had cash to squeeze more vinyl & CDs into my pokey, damp bedsit.

There were loads of great record shops in Derby city centre at the time. The only name that I recall with any real clarity was Way Ahead, but I can at least remember that I didn't get any of these 12" singles from there. The Sparks one was a surprise discovery at the time as I'd kind of lost touch with their output in the 1980s and suddenly, here was this 2-track 12" with remixes from the Finitribe stable. I bought it without having heard it, confident that it would be great and I was right. Similarly, the limited edition remix 12" of One Dove was a must buy as soon as I saw it. Secret Knowledge aka Kris Needs delivered the A side, following a brace of epic remixes of previous single Breakdown, but the Underworld remix on the flip is even better, nearly 15 minutes of rolling beats and increasingly urgent synths. And what better way to finish Side 1 than the second of two epic remixes from the Weatherall's Weekender 12" by Flowered Up? Nearly three decades on, this sequence of music gives me a thrill and takes me back to the happy moments in Derby, listening to these before going clubbing, or through headphones whilst out and about, shaking off a heavy one or rekindling the vibe of the night before.

1) National Crime Awareness Week (13 Minutes In Heaven) (Remix By Finiflex aka John Vick & Fred Parsons): Sparks (1993)

2) Why Don't You Take Me (Underworld Up 2 Down Remix): One Dove (1993)

3) Weekender (Audrey Is A Little Bit More Partial Mix By The Sabres Of Paradise aka Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner & Gary Burns): Flowered Up (1992)

 

Side One (44:53)