Product Description

Sixth studio album from London techno crew, their first since 1999's 'Beaucoup Fish'. Regrouping following the departure of pivotal member Darren Emerson, the duo deliver a joyous, upbeat collection of surging techno and mutant acid house to rival any of their previous work. Includes the single 'Two Months Off'.

Track Listing

1. Mo Move
2. Two Months Off
3. Twist
4. Sola Sistim
5. Little Speaker
6. Trim
7. Ess Gee
8. Dinosaur Adventure 3D
9. Ballet Lane
10. Luetin

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23217 in Music
• Released on: 2002-09-16
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Underworld are in many ways the godfathers of techno, and A Hundred Days Off is close to a decade after their seminal debut album Dubnobasswithmyheadman firmly established their presence; they have little left to prove. Largely responsible for stretching the boundaries of dance, Underworld almost single-handedly dragged the genre out of murky clubs and into the live arena, blended guitars with techno and even had a mainstream hit "Born Slippy Nuxx" along the way. Following a three-year recording hiatus that saw longtime DJ collaborator Darren Emerson leave the fold, the remaining members Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have never sounded so buoyant. The tardy sequel to Beaucoup Fish, A Hundred Days Off has none of the former album's bristling claustrophobia and urban menace, favouring instead a joyous carnival feel riddled with cut-up live percussion and surging keyboard loops. Entrancing from the outset, the dreamy psychedelia of "Mo Move" sees Hyde languidly intone; "I dream that I'm chemical" while cascading percussion and the intensifying beat peak and dissolve. The storming 9-minute first single "Two Months Off" continues the surreal lyrical theme with Hyde this time chanting, "You bring light in", while mesmerising multi-layered rhythms and effects make for a sure-fire dancefloor dominator. There are quieter moments such as the breezy funk of "Solar Sytem" and lethargic folk-blues ambience of "Trim" (reminiscent of Moby circa Play), but while unmistakably Underworld throughout, A Hundred Days Off is their most unrelentingly upbeat and infectiously joyous release to date. --Christopher Barrett

Customer Reviews

a good solid album
not an epic album by any means but it is still one of my favourites.

High points - the stunning, serene beauty of Ess Gee will blow you away. Sola Sistim and Dinosaur Adventure 3D are brilliant also

Low points are few and far between, but Little Speaker and Luetin both meander along a bit too long, not really doing a lot

a good buy, you will not be disappointed

It's an Underworld album. You know what these are like.

Disconnected, shimmering vocals over electronic landscapes and impulsive rhythms. A late night bullet train journey to Osaka. The same dead empty words. A handful of pounding, heart in your throat moments, a gentle slow decline as the album slowly bleeps away.

Shorn to a duo, the seventh Underworld album (including the two, godawful late 80's funk-house efforts) is just another Underworld album. There's no radical shifts in style here. For the first time, instead of trying new things, its just a bunch of Underworld songs. It's almost predictable that the first couple of songs are relentless, gorgeous beasts that pound along like hunted animals and seem to last for years, yet just aren't long enough. It's almost predictable that the penultimate song is a slow, bluesy riff over a muted beat, and lasts about two minutes. They pulled the exact same trick a couple of albums ago.

Trouble is, a couple of albums ago, we hadn't heard it all before. And now we have. This is an old dog resolutely failing to learn new tricks.

That's not to say that this isn't an album you should own. There's four songs, the opening double punch of "MoMove" and "Two Months Off", the closing "Luetin" and "DinosaurAdventure3D" prove that Underworld songs can be as brilliant as their titles. The trouble is that four songs do not a great album make.

This then, is not great. It's just another Underworld album. Underworld can make great albums. But not this time.

New directions
I've owned this album for a year now, but only really listened to it in the last month. Somehow I couldn't get on with it before then. But now I've accepted it, digested it, and emerged out the other side. I'm ready to talk about it.

As a long-term Underworld fan, this represents a change. However, it was not such a massive change as I had first thought. After really listening to it I've decided that this is decidedly Underworld, perhaps more so than any other of their albums. But I don't think it's the best. The only way I can describe it is two parts brilliant. I think when Darren was onboard, the music was three parts brilliant in comparison.

There is undoubtedly something missing, for me at least, from a few of the tracks. This is a decidedly personal thing, as I've come to appreciate. Some people prefer what isn't there on this CD. And in fairness to them, there is a lot of evidence that in many ways, more is happening than ever before.

This could well be the most beautiful album Underworld have created. Every track is pretty; it's either the girl next door or the Venus Di Milo. But there's a problem. There's a lack of cohesion in this album that unsettles me somewhat. The influences, sampling, seem eclectic and less meaningful at times than previous albums. I don't seem to be able to connect to this album as a whole, rather I'm scratching at bits of it and trying to hold it up together to see it as a whole.

And then there's Two Months Off. This is a breathtaking track, easily the best dance track of the new millennium thus far. If it doesn't move you you have no soul. But it's so good, so euphoric, and so tragic that the tracks after it suffer. Mo Move before it is classic Underworld and a great mood-setter, but Twist just isn't really up to par. Sola Sistim is another deep, sombre and purposeful track, but Little Speaker seems a bit limited and random after that. Trim is pretty, very pretty, but that's all really. The vocals touch on Underworld past but the content doesn't really match the music. Ess Gee, again, is just prettiness. I thought I'd really dislike Dinosaur Adventure 3D after hearing some reports, but I think it's a cracking track. It really picks you up on a wave and sends you thrashing around the images. Ballet Lane is the most pleasing instrumental track on the album, and Luetin, whilst having some redeeming points, is a bit of a soft ending which could have used a little more development.

Against it all, Two Months Off keeps standing out, shining almost too brightly. Clearly a lot of work went into it. It is a peerless love song, redeeming idol-worship and maybe hinting at what ecstasy truly is.

There are some other great tracks on this album, but against TMO the adventure sounds almost 2d, or, as I said before, only two parts brilliant.

However, if you're a dance music fan, it is still an essential purchase.