Emerson V Price

[Dirty0900]

So another question... I never saw UW live with Emerson, just from when UW were a duo to the inclusion of Pricey.

Obviously, both of them did/are putting input to the live show. for the current shows, I'd safely assume that Rick is incharge of squeaks and bleeps where Pricey is preloading songs and doing the intermixing. Is that a safe presumption.

In the earlier days, would it be right to say that it was a more balanced output, or in the case of Orbital where they each had ownership of a certain aspect of the sound? Eg., synth, beats etc?

[potatobroth]

hard to say these days. i think Emerson may have done a bit more than pricey, but Im not entirely sure. Sure seemed like the 98-2000 shows had more 'random' improvs. maybe thats what he brought?

[Mike]

I always refer back to late 1999 / 2000 era... none of the Darrens, excellent shows, great improvisation.... what more do you need?

[ThingInABook]

after listening to some emerson era shows... i noticed that certain parts turned too long and dragged attention out of the songs. they turned boring after some minutes.

i really like how underworld live is now, perhaps pricey's input it's from a dj point of view, like somebody said, rick knows where the blips and blops are and pricey looks how to connect them in a sequence to make the thing sound always energetic. that's what i noticed when i saw uw live 2 years ago: price was always picking and bringing the paper stripes with song parts to the desk.

[Mike]

Have a listen to some of the shows from 2005 / 2006 / 2007.... the songs are great and have a better power, energy... however the mixing of the 'interlude' parts (the bits we think DP has more influence) are often really sloppy... or they use ambient pieces that just sound like a lazy way of building creating atmosphere.

Obviously they are being mixed from an external source, and not sequenced with the main songs, but i have always felt its a shame that they are not sequenced in the same way they used to be from the main desk, they dont appear to be able to strip specific elements from each of them and really mix it properly, they are just blended and beatmatched and at best it has just sounded like a DJ mixing over the top.

that's what i noticed when i saw uw live 2 years ago: price was always picking and bringing the paper stripes with song parts to the desk.

Its not a DP influence, they have always done it like that, have a look on EE they are doing it there too.

[King of Snake]

so anybody been to any of the recent shows?
Apparently they're using all Ableton Live now for the liveshow whereas previously the main uw tracks would be sequenced from Logic and DP would mix in his interlude tracks with Ableton.
It seems to me that now they should be able to integrate main tracks and interludes/improvs better again.

[Champiness]

They haven't had any shows for a couple months now.

[Dunwho]

The best example we have of the most recent stuff is San Francisco right? So have a listen to that and see what you think... are the songs more integrated? They have also been using Maschine for some of their mixing of tunes... this should make it easier for them, especially since they can switch between the controller for Abelton and the actual Maschine sounds...

Also i think with OWB's influence the 2005-2008 period there are more ambient elements to the show, with short ambient tunes btween more well known tunes like what mike was saying. I cant see how they would be unable to mould two songs together especially considering they have had at time four computers with abelton loaded on each at one time.. and a desk that size to load the tracks onto! We would also often hear the drums from .nuxx grow gradually out of the drums from pearl's Girl... in the more recent shows....

Also I think it is important to point out that a lot of the "seemless" mixing between tunes in the Emmerson days is facilitated by the simple use of a 909 drum machine... nearly all of the drum tracks for their earlier music was generated from the 909 and this made it very easy in their shows to go between songs... listen to the European Club gig... the drum pattern is reused and reused over and over throughout the gig... merci monsieur 909!!!

Nowadays i believe they are using Drumazon for their 909 sounds which is probably controlled by Maschine ...

So what i am trying to say is that the stop start element of the more recent shows with the ambient interludes are most likely more of a creative choice rather than a technological issue... id say they could easily mix tunes if they wanted too... and sometimes we hear them doing it... but they are probably not interested in it at the moment!

Oh and on the Darren issue.... Emmerson helped make the underworld of the 90's ... his influence is immence! Pricey has been involved with the group for a long time as a friend and a remixer... I would say he had an influence on AHDO and even more on OWB ... I would also think that he does a lot more in the creative/production stage than we think... On stage there is only so much to be done... and somebody has to do the dirty work so that Smith can mix it out..

[TheBang]

So what i am trying to say is that the stop start element of the more recent shows with the ambient interludes are most likely more of a creative choice rather than a technological issue...
Definitely planned out, at least on the recent shows. Take a look at the setlist:

http://www.aloha.com/~tabanger/underworld/oakland/oaklandsetlist.jpg

The arrows mean the song is going to be mixed into the next one. A circle-x means a hard stop to the end of the song. "Ambi" is an ambient transition? If you listen to the recording of the show, it played out pretty much as planned on the setlist.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Am I the only one who thinks Emerson's stuff is repetitive to the point that one stops listening? I mean, it sounds good, but after listening one thinks to oneself, "That would have been great if it was shortened about 5 minutes".

[holden]

though i like a long improv as much as the next guy or gal, the very early shows (1995-96) featured eally long, drawn-out jams that did seem to lose the plot- lots of altered beats and a few effects, but not really "songs"...

the opposite extreme was ~2002-03, AHDO tour, with only a few improvs and a lot of full-stops. Rick definitely had his hands full.

i think Emerson and Price both brought a lot to the table just in terms of having extra input - the 1998-99 shows sound amazing, as do 2005-present; but in Pricey's case, he also brings fresh tracks. i don't recall any sole Emerson compositions made it into the UW sets while he was behind the decks.

frankly, i don't care who's mixing or not so long as they keep it fresh - keep the traklist variable and the performance varied from night to night!

[//\/\/]

Am I the only one who thinks Emerson's stuff is repetitive to the point that one stops listening? I mean, it sounds good, but after listening one thinks to oneself, "That would have been great if it was shortened about 5 minutes".

aha - but when you're actually there in the dry ice, strobes and the music is 3000ft tall all round you, you don't ever want it to stop...

i still say stiti-era live shows are the best they've done; though the pricey stuff is getting better and better - if they'd ditch ambient interludes it'd be great; but that's maybe not their bag these daisies...

[potatobroth]

I've only seen them from the shows just prior to Beaucoup Fish. And my I personally liked the interludes from this era the best. Although, my most recent show in Atlanta was a very very close second.