Underworld – Second Toughest In The Infants

Juanita/Kiteless/To Dream of Love has to be one of the most euphoric pieces of dance music ever created.

Beginning of the end imho - dubnobass was their pinnacle - with the remixes et al... this has way less staying power. On the downward slide.

"Deep Arch" & "Cherry Pie" b-sides deserved to be on the album rather than the lackluster "Confusion the waitress".

"Rowla" being an off-shoot of "Cherry Pie" (or vice-versa) would have made for a great mix-up two part track.

Born Slippy & Sappy's Curry are both names of greyhounds members of the group saw on a couple of nights out at Romford's dog track.

Remastered version release date: 20/11/2015

The album that got me into techno. Just like that. One friend gave it to me as it was too "hard" for him, and I listened to it. First track sounded familiar and then I realized that was the one that was played in one rare night in my hometown (not even Madrid, a bit further), where a short lived club was having one of its most spectacular nights with dancers and stuff and though I was incredibly drunk (17 years old, what can I say), I remember that the climax really impressed me.

Well, it still does. The first two songs, or let's call them compositions, are long ones and with different movements, much like the progressive rock stuff from the 70s. Juanita starts with a kind of breakbeat, jumps into 4/4, throws more melodies and arpeggios, and then leaves you alone at one of the most impressive instrumental bridges of the whole techno/house era. Banstyle starts with a mellow drum n bass, jumps into a Pink Floyd-mood and back to a trip hop rhythm with guitar samples over synth chords. In both tracks, Karl Hyde doing his wonderful free association lyrics.

"Confusion the waitress" and "Rowla" seem under ambicious in comparison, so "Pearls Girl" comes at the middle of the album as one of the greatest compositions of their career. Harsh slow drum n bass, words that tells you about the stress of city life, melodic build up... It's very difficult to talk about the other tracks when Juanita, Banstyle and Pearls Girl reign the album, but even then they add to the flow of the album. Maybe the album can be seen as a progressive rock album for the electronic public, with a freedom in composition that seems nearly jazzy. When "Stagger" closes the album, with a tension never resolved as it all is unfinished chords and subtle percussions, a really long trip has been covered where you cannot but admire the ammount of ideas and musical knowledge of these three when they were inspired.