Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
21st Century Poem, 18 Oct 2007
There's not much more to say - I think Electrohound summed it up pretty much perfectly. I've been a follower of Underworld since the Lemon Interrupt days, and I would agree that this is their best work. This opinion is of little use to fans of course, who will have Oblivion With Bells already, but if you're not, and perhaps you still associate Underworld solely with Born Slippy, then I urge you to give this record a try (on a really lovely Denon if at all possible).
It's a full, rich sound throughout, weaving layers into the dark minimalist style of The RiverRun Project. If A Hundred Days Off was a slightly disjointed, transitional record, then Underworld seem to have found their truest, most coherent, most melodic sound to date. It's no coincidence, I'm sure, that this latest record opens with its most bombastic moment - the tech-funk of single Crocodile - before gradually descending to a kind of multi-layered ethereal canvas - here is a band saying "goodbye" to crowd-pleasing big beats (although they will say "hello" again whenever they play live, I'm sure).
With Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, it could be argued that The Prodigy, similarly, found their true voice - only for it to be their downfall. No such fate for Underworld, I'm sure. They are true electronic innovators; and here is their most innovative, most rewarding work yet.
Oblivion never sounded so good. I, for one, can't wait to hear what lies beyond.
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25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure sonic soma vibrations, 16 Oct 2007
I've been listening to Oblivion with Bells over and over. A key session involved a start-to-finish odyssey with my Harman-Kardon sound system. I am happy to report that my esteem of the album has not sunk but skyrocketed. I actually think this is their best work yet, period. It's like pouring pure sonic light into your ears ... soma vibrations.
Yes, I know, you're thinking I'm a slavish, gushing fan. But if I was, I would be complaining that it's not as revelatory as Dubnobasswithmyheadman or as dance-centric as Second Toughest in the Infants. (I was a bit underwhelmed by Beaucoup Fish and A Hundred Days Off.) Instead, I think Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have revisited their early magic on those albums while simultaneously pushing the electronic music template forward into a tough, timeless future.
1. and 2.) Plenty of praise has been heaped on starters "Crocodile" and "Beautiful Burnout," thanks to American critics like Amazon's Don Dilibretto. These are the obvious touchstones for dance fans and those familiar with Underworld's oeuvre. So I'm not going to say too much more other than they are bloody professional and that "Beautiful Burnout" makes the album worth the price alone.
But the other compositions, less what we're used to, show Underworld working in a sort of parallel universe to Radiohead, who have cracked new codes in the modern "rock" song. Underworld are here instead bringing on the full power of their technical know-how to conjure post-everything "electronica." (Is it any mistake that the two bands now share some of the same representation through ATO?) Yet Underworld's sound is still firmly placed in the dance camp.
5.) "Ring Road" makes the point perfectly. John Bush of Allmusic.com dismissed it in his review, but that was foolishness. Played on a system with proper acoustics, the synapses open up to it like flower petals. Hyde springs to his Englishman raps, mixing paranoia with wonder, city with countryside. And the music surrounding it is simply astounding: Its flanged riffs skip around the ears in an infectious groove, a smeared whistle cuts the air, the bass building to a sound huge enough to carry a whole town fair. No doubt, in the hands of decent DJs, this will become a daytime anthem for the rave class. It's also ripe for a wicked club mix.
3. and 8.) More challenging material appears with "Holding the Moth" and "Cuddle Bunny vs. The Celtic Villages." The former takes more time to warm to. It carries a menace and loathing, Hyde speaking, "But I don't know you, I don't remember you...glass eye on you, electric eye on you." Then a counterpuntal "You walked away, you walked away" arrives in a lower, distorted register, adding a dirty groove reminiscent of Ralph Falcon's classic "Every Now and Then." "Cuddle Bunny vs. The Celtic Villages" takes on an industrial darkness, yet is still hauntingly beautiful. What sounds like metal furniture dragged slowly across the floor seems to only disturb subterranean waters below, glimmering in the cold.
4. and 7.) "To Heal" also belies the dividends received from Hyde and Smith's recent soundtrack work for Anthony Minghella and Danny Boyle. While "Cuddle Bunny vs. The Celtic Villages" unsettles in the depths, "To Heal" is the angelic afterlife. Its synth pads are so bright, fuzzy and clean, you could comb your hair with them or shave your stubble. It hearkens back to the opening chords of U2's breakthrough Joshua Tree even, but hangs in a moment of peaceful transformation.
U2's Larry Mullen Jr., a good friend of Underworld's, joins them for "Boy, Boy, Boy," moving the sonic palette into rockish territory. Mullen lends meaty, gritty drums as Hyde and Smith overlay swimming guitar and vocals, giving us country blues for the new century. Dissolving into spacious interchanges, synths wash into the rocks like a clear river, Mullen's drums dancing on the surface.
6. and 10.) "Glam Bucket" explores Underworld's taste for dissonant harmony, its pinpoint notes bouncing over grainy scratching swaths of sound. This is perhaps the most melancholy moment on the record, but it's brightened by intersecting elements that combine and crash in splendor like shimmering sparks. The brief "Good Morning Cockerel" is more morose, but its piano lines gently build into quiet joy, Hyde singing calmly "Hallelujah, black barbed wire kisses memories..." Unlike past shorts "Blueski" and "Ess Gee," "Cockerel" is heavy with consequence.
9. and 11.) "Faxed Invitation" and "Best Mamgu Ever" are perhaps Underworld's two finest compositions of all time. They require more than a superficial visit. "Faxed invitation to oblivion with bells," Hyde whispers in deep tones, its gossamer synth chords building and gliding and dropping down, then up again, until we're dancing toward the horizon, the sun rising to a new day. Believe it, this is one of the most gorgeous tunes ever committed through the microchip, unlocking the power of the machine to the wisdom of the human heart. You think I'm joking, but wait 'til you're there, on a playa or field with your brothers and sisters, dancing, hearing the devotional organs and the "Rez"-like pinball notes ricocheting in your eardrums, creating a heavenly kingdom here on earth.
So now we come to the sick closer, "Best Mamgu Ever," "mamgu" meaning grandmother in Welsh. A sly echo of their classic "River of Bass," it achieves a perfect dynamic between smooth, soft bass notes and hard, punching weaves around the beat. Hyde's voice hovers over the sweet, weightless bass line, cut up and skittering through the air, freeing real joy as you lean through the folding waves of boogie.
So wink goodbye to the '90s rave heyday and say hello to a bright new world: bigger, harder, smoother, better. Underworld are helping build it. Just follow your feet to the door of the beat.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Warning.... This is a classic...., 15 Aug 2008
I must confess that Underworld had slipped off my musical radar for a bit after the slight disappointment of Hundreds Days off, and had resigned myself to listening to the excellent live album 'Everything, Everything' as their last great release, but this album is one of the most significant and finest returns to form by any band.
Other reviewers have described the tracks in depth and made the relevant comparisons (and why not the tunes deserve it) so i won't repeat other peoples words, instead i will simply sum up this album by saying that it is one of the best albums i have bought in the past ten years, possibly Underworlds finest work, and at no point did I want to skip through any part of it. Last time that happened was with Radiohead's 'the bends' and that is one of my favourite albums of all time, and do you know what, i think this might just be another album for that list...
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