Some people may find some of the songs a little too long, or too repetitive (most of the songs are at least 7-8 minutes long, and most have trancey, repetitive beats), but if you like trance, the repetition aspect will be nothing new.

Cowgirl is one of my favorite "techno" songs ever, and probably the only song that has inspired me to play air keyboards. If this song doesn't get your ass off the couch, then nothing will. Dark & Long is just that, dark, trancey, and a good, insistent groove. Skyscraper is a little harder, with a more driving beat. Surfboy and Spoonman both pick up as they go, and Spoonman especially evolves into a good, beat-driven track, which sounds much "dancier" when played at loud volume.

With a lot of bands, I skip over the slower stuff, but with Underworld, their slow songs are always imaginative and compelling. Great songs to put on an ambient mix tape and chill out by.

Always interesting and innovative, Underworld rarely disappoints, and this is where it all started (we'll forget the Undeneath the Radar era; Underworld has achieved a stunning transformation from 80's pop weenies to electronica stalwarts with alt-cred, a transformation unlike anything except for Ministry). A must.

P.S. - if you get a chance to see them live, run, don't walk. I saw them last year when they opened for the Chemical Brothers, and by most accounts (certainly mine and my freinds'), they just blew the Chemicals off the stage.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:


One of the best albums of the 1990's  Sep 29, 2000 By Jeremy Pitt
Ok, so you won't find this on Spin Magazine's top 100 list, mostly due to their absolute fear of putting anything electronic that isn't incredibly popular already, but this is an absolute masterpiece. This first electronic Underworld album is widely regarded as one of the best ever made. In my opinion it is the the best album of the 90's closely behind Radiohead's "OK Computer".

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:


The holy writ of dance pop  Sep 12, 1999
It wasn't just that Dubnobasswithmyheadman reintroduced vocals, lyrics, and rock guitar back into the vocabulary of techno. Other collectives like Prodigy and Moby were doing the same thing around that time. But, what makes Dubnobasswithmyheadman such a landmark and why Underworld is arguably (think Orbital) the most relevant dance act today, was that on this record, Underworld defined the pop song for the rave generation.

This new music wasn't reconstructed rock or updated synth pop. These were compositions that replaced the dynamics of rock with that of the dance floor, riffs for groove and rhythm. The stream-of-conscious lyrics and simple, but elastic melodies captured the experience of emotions associated with not only the club/rave, but urban life. And most importantly, the songs, even up to 15 minutes, remained songs.

Dubnobasswithmyheadman, like Underworld's future releases, apply a minimalistic, deceptively simple approach to dance. They rarely clutter songs with samples or intricate rhythms. Rather, each element of the song is dynamic, somewhat improvisitory like jam-rock, and reveals itself as the composition flows.

Frankly, Dubnobasswithmyheadman has its flaws, particularly in the first half being a bit too long. After all, its the first record of its type, so they were still understanding how to compose techno this way. Neverthless, Dubnobasswithmyheadman is exceptional dance. "Mmmm Skyscraper" beautifully evokes the feeling of freedom in the big city. "Cowgirl" is a slamming 4/4 classic. Finally, there has never been a better pop song about the "darker side" of the rave experience than "Dirty Epic." Throughout the record, you'll think deeply cerebral thoughts, subtle, unsure emotions, and expand your conception about what techno can do. It is that good.

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:


Ooooh, this is good  Jun 17, 2004 By Rocky IV "metrohillbilly"
If your my age, (we'll just say mid-20s) then you'll remember all the hype surrounding "Nine Inch Nails" back when this album came out. It was about 1994ish and everybody was listening to NIN (including me for a little while). The first time I listened to "dubnobasswith..." I found it a little bland, so I didn't listen to it again for a little while. I was always looking for harsher, heavier music. But as time went by I started playing it more and really 'listened' to it. Each time I found it to be more listenable and addictive. I find the album to be beautifully done. With each song flowing into one another perfectly in a smooth "groovy" kind of way. I only own one other cd from Underworld, but I find this one to be far superior. This music is all I need to just chill out and calm me down. If you want intense, heavy, insane electronic music listen to Cubanate's "Antimatter" or Aghast View's "Carcinopest".Great albums, but this album has just the opposite effect, a perfectly calming cd that has grown on me more than any other over the years. My copy even has a scratch on it that sort of messes up track six, but I still play it all the time. I guess that means this is a good album. The Nine Inch Nails, boy did they get old fast. The only reason those cds aren't collecting dust right now is because they're at the bottom of a pile right now. I get my kicks on channel six, what does that mean anyway? It doesn't matter.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:


The Masterful Music of Madness  Apr 18, 2007 By Mark Eremite "This Is A Display Model Only"
For almost twenty years, the British duo of Hyde and Smith have been recording as Underworld. This was their first studio album (made with the collaboration of DJ Emerson, who has since left the group), and it is a synapse-shattering example of pure electronic genius made even more impressive when you consider that its electroclash ingenuity and acid house ambiences are as powerful as anything being made today.

If you wondering what to expect, keep wondering. You can listen to this record over and over again and be surprised every time. The reason that music like this exists is because there are no words to approximate what it means or accomplishes. You could say that some songs flow like the trickle-down perspiration on the walls of unexplored caves ("Dark & Long"), that some of them illustrate the electrochemical hopscotch of viruses invading healthy cells ("Spoonman"), that some of the tunes are the aural equivalent of lazy, Missourian sedimentary fossilization, silt and grit burying half-heard secrets ("River of Bass").

I could point to similar bands, if that would help. Here there is A3's country-wise spiritualism, Morphine's coarse-ground flophouse jazz,

Crystal Method's spirit mixed with Zero 7's laconic mentality. Again, though, this is a case where the whole is much more than the sum of the parts. How to describe the wickedness of "Cowgirl" or the sonorous luminosity of "Surfboy?" Will words do "Mmm Skyscraper I Love You" any justice at all?

Nah. It's enough, I think, to say that this album is an unnerving work of art, an example of electronica that -- like electricity itself -- defies containment, defies shape, defies limitations. It charges the slow, wilful spark of precarious profundity, it rips through the impulse to think and remember, it ignites the vicious and verdant instinct to get up and move. If Cicero was right when he said that "No sane man will dance," then this record should make lunatics of us all.

See all 89 customer reviews on Amazon.com