Track Listing

1. Crocodile
2. Beautiful Burnout
3. Holding The Moth
4. To Heal
5. Ring Road
6. Glam Bucket
7. Boy Boy Boy
8. Cuddle Bunny Vs Celtic Villages
9. Faxed Invitation
10. Good Morning Cockerel
11. Best Mamgu Ever

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82623 in Music
• Released on: 2007-10-15
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
Oblivion With Bells' is the long-awaited fifth LP from maverick UK electronic duo Underworld. After completing various other soundtrack projects in the intervening five years between this release and 'A Hundred Days Off', Rick Smith and Karl Hyde return with a typically far-reaching mix of electronic influences jostling for dominance. A distinctly disco-flavoured aspect to their sound appears on lead single 'Crocodile', while the comparatively impressionistic 'Glam Bucket' showcases a still-maturing side to this most perennially energetic and youthful of acts.

Customer Reviews

One of Underworlds Finest
Underworld have proved to be one of the most enduring and interesting electro-orientated outfits over the last 20 years or so. The soundtrack to 'Breaking and Entering' released earlier this year stands out as one of the most hypnotically beautiful soundtracks ever released, alongside the intriguing and embracing download releases from their own website.

Oblivion with Bells is a return to a more febrile musical state with a mix of upbeat danceable tracks, subliminal hypnotic grooves (but don't be fooled, the lyrics may be oblique but they hit the targets intended!) and straight forward ambient pieces of music which are fantastic.

I can't really add much more to the detailed track description given on the earlier review posted on this site but would like to reiterate that this is one of the best releases across any musical genre this year. Underworld are very intelligent, thought inducing, subtle and highly commercial. A truly rare mix.

Another awesome Underworld LP.
Underworld are "officially" back in action after years operating behind the scenes. "Oblivion For Bells" maintains Underworld's penchant for blending strong beats, ambient synths, powerful basslines and disjointed lyrics, whilst moving into slightly new territory. This LP features plenty of experiementation as any Underworld album before it, but the whole CD has a kind of soft mellow feel to it possibly missing out without an anthemic stomper like Pearl's Girl, Born Slippy or Two Months Off. What you have here is an album with some highs and lows that will certainly delight fans, but might fail to inspire newcomers to the Underworld sound. The following is a track breakdown:

1: CROCODILE: The lead single is a very song-like affair featuring some gorgeous synths to accompany Hyde's 80's style lyrics, but it falls short of previous singles due to it's lack of power 3/5.
2: BEAUTIFUL BURNOUT: This could well be the definitive Underworld track! Subtly upbeat with layers of synth, driving basslines, soft mellow lyrics and powerful melodies, best track on the album 5/5.
3: HOLDING THE MOTH: A simplistic track with an abundance of swirling ambient textures, reminiscent of "Little Speaker", lovely but not exactly outstanding 3/5.
4: TO HEAL: The second best piece of music from the Sunshine soundtrack. To Heal is a beautiful ambient track in the style of Brian Eno's "Ascent" featuring a gorgeous swelling melody 4/5.
5: RING ROAD: Similar to "Bruce Lee", sounds a bit like The Streets with some cute little backing melodies. It's a good song but not one of the best 2/5.
6: GLAM BUCKET: An intersting lo-tempo electronic piece featuring fathoms of intertwining melodies swirling and swelling into a large scale finale 3/5.
7: BOY BOY BOY: Another song-like piece featuring Larry Mullen from U2 on drums. This is a good song with an awesome beat but similarly to Crocodile it's not quite got that powerful edge 3/5.
8: CUDDLE BUNNY: A short track made out of one ambient pad and a few bassy explosions in random moments. This is basically unnecessary filler considering some of the awesome work they produced on their live project over the last 2 or 3 years 1/5.
9: FAXED INVITATION: A very mellow electro track featuring some typical Hyde lyrics but nothing of any real merit 2/5.
10: GOOD MORNING COCKERIL: A NICE piano and voice piece which once again lacks any kind of significane in the context of the album. Could have easily been replaced with some of their Underworldlive work like "Play Pig" or "Back In The Fears" 2/5.
11: BEST MAGMU EVER: A great finale piece in the style of Ulrich Schnauss' early work, a terrific 9 minute relaxing electronic number to round off a good, but not amazing album 4/5.

As always I expect some interesting material to appear on their B-sides which is often where you find Underworld at their best. In short this is a good album for fans, but not their best if you want to try them out.
This is a list of their best albums:

1: Beacoup Fish
2: 100 Days Off
3: Oblivion With Bells
4: Second Toughest In The Infants
5: Dubnobasswithmyheadman
6: Change The Weather
7: Underneath The Radar
8: Breaking and Entering

A return to form
Yes the mighty Underworld have a welcomed return to form with this album. I was not a fan of "2 months off" (yes it had 1 or 2 stand out tracks but overall I thought it was a poor enough effort) but this album is what they were working towards and it was worth the wait. On initial listen I was not won over completely but I could see the vast improvement in all the tracks. After 2 or 3 listens I love just about every track on the cd. It is a fine addition to any collection. If you are a fan of "Beaucoup Fish" then I would recommend you buy this. No point in getting the limited edition version though as it is just a compliation of live performances and song vidoes. Its an ok DVD to accompany the cd but I wouldn't be too worked up if I had bought just the cd which is a lot cheaper too. The fact that it is a limited edition means it costs more!!