Product Description

Underworld's position in the budding electronic universe isunique: Each of its songs is as much a pop tune as a deftlysculpted rhythm track. Not the usual three-minute pop, but interwoven epics that develop over twice the length, using rhythms and loops rather than verses and choruses as buildingblocks. On SECOND TOUGHEST IN THE INFANTS (a nod to the hardships of sophomore outings), Karl Hyde, Rick Smith and Darren Emerson create a haunting new language built of dub, ambient, techno, jungle and rock textures, all set to a bass-heavy pulse. And even that fails to describe the dark, dreamlike atmospheres that the trio creates.
First off, there arethe rhythmic overdoses. The opening "Juanita", clocking in at an epic 16 minutes, features layered, percolating percussion that rides an incessant techno throb down a highway intoa psychedelic sunset. "Rowla" takes a punky, distorted-beyond-repair keyboard loop and drops it in the middle of the dance floor, where it roars like the Tasmanian devil. Most unusual of all is "Blueski", a three-minute instrumental that slows the pace around a bluesy slide-guitar loop, evoking a late-night scene in a parallel universe. All these sounds areparts of Underworld's expansive domain, unified by the aforementioned pulse and the search for more of it.

Track Listing

1. Juanita
2. Kiteless
3. To Dream Of Love
4. Banstyle/Sappys Curry
5. Confusion The Waitress
6. Rowla
7. Pearl's Girl
8. Air Towel
9. Blueski
10. Stagger

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51751 in Music
• Released on: 2000-09-01
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Second Toughest in the Infants came three years after Underworld's potent debut Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Following the group's massive Trainspotting soundtrack hit "Born Slippy", at first glance this offering seems to carry the same epic and elaborate edge of that huge hit.

Opening with an opulent triptych called "Juanita", "Kiteless" and "To Dream Of Love"--three tracks which segue seamlessly into each other and form a quite splendid 16-minute Underworld-a-thon--the trio certainly weren't afraid to indulge when making this LP. The next track, "Banstyle/Sappys Curry" seems to confirm this, weighing in at an impressive 15 minutes, though this time nose-diving into some atmospheric, oceanic drum & bass a la LTJ Bukem.

Throughout the rest of the album, Underworld alternate between assuaging their raging club beats with warm washes of sound and beatless splashes of colour, and offering more straight-up heavyweight club fodder. "Confusion the Waitress" carries a definite prog-rock feel in places, "Pearls Girl" takes a more breakbeat-fuelled route and is arguably one of the album's most thrilling moments, while tracks such as "Air Towel" are as insubstantial as their name suggests--flimsy, inconsequential "Detroitian" workouts lacking real punch. "Blueski" is a little better, straying as it does into an acoustic psychedelic roam while the final track "Stagger" is a similarly beatless meander, though more maudlin and electronic this time and featuring Hyde's best vocal performance of the album. Overall, there are some solid tracks here, but it's less sinewy and more indulgent feel make it not quite as essential as its predecessor. --Paul Sullivan

Customer Reviews

Spoiled by one careless review
Why review this album if it is not the kind of music you usually listen to? Ok, if you like Underworld and this comes as a real disappointment, then fair enough. But to have this album as a random review, and slate it, is a waste of time.
I refer to the one-star review below - check the rest of the reviews from the same person: a few negative reviews, however I can appreciate them. For example, the review for a Miles Davis album relates to the incorporation of rap, which the reviewer has a clear dislike of. Fair enough. But why slate an album simply because it is not to your taste???
I have bought some howlers in the past - my mistake - but I didn't go out of my way to rubbish them...

Anyway, A damn fine record sirs, Pearls girl is a beast of a track; it leads you in gently and smacks you square in the face with that beat. Beautiful. The rest also all great.

Don't let one bad star ruin the rest of them, if Underworld is to your taste, go get this record, and if it isn't, leave it alone (all the more Underworld for the rest of us!!)

dark trance genius
utterly fantastic if you like dark repetitive beats that go on for an age ... love having this on in the car for long drives after surfing ... takes me to a special place listening to just the first (or 3 depending on your opinion) track - i recommend this as well as dubnobass.. and beaucoup as essentials for any collection if your into 'decent' dance music

Therapeutic
This "music" can be quite therapueutic. Simply listen for ten minutes to this mind numbing unmusical repepition of childishly simple themes thumped out to the same never changing rhythm, and when you finally go "phew" and stop the garbage, replacing it with - well virtually anything from the last 500 years of the world's musical output - you will feel extraordnarily relieved, like a great weight was lifted from your shoulders. Listen to it, then be thankful that there is such a thing as music after all, and thereafter use the CD to rest your coffee cup on, because that's all it is good for.