Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

For those of you that want to hear the album, theres an interview with Karl (a good interview), interspersed with 6 of the 7 album tracks, plus the Koze remix of I Exhale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0wbuSbwZ0

1. Introduction - 00:00:00
2. If Rah - 00:00:53
3. Karl Hyde Interview #1 - 00:07:27
4. Low Burn - 00:10:10
5. Karl Hyde Interview #2 - 00:16:21
6. I Exhale - 00:17:09
7. Karl Hyde Interview #3 - 00:25:13
8. Santiago Cuatro - 00:27:52
9. Karl Hyde Interview #4 - 00:30:47
10. Ova Nova - 00:33:40
11. Karl Hyde Interview #5 - 00:38:27
12. Motorhome - 00:40:06
13. Karl Hyde Interview #6 - 00:45:48
14. I Exhale (DJ Koze Remix) - 00:49:20

If you want to hear Nylon Strung then check out the Bristol show from 6Music (about 57mins in). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koqqpb2Idxc

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

anyone know anything about the Japanese bonus track?

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

full playthru... man that felt short. i know that wont matter in a few days of listening as it will end mushed into all their other tracks. Could be because I'm not all that fond of I Exhale and see myself skipping the longest track on the album.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

The remix is so much better, than the original... they should just play that out

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Santiago is sadly just a boring filler. 7 tracks are too less to have fillers. :(

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Sadly i'm not really feeling the album as a whole, there are a few decent tracks but come on, 7 songs is too little and the quality just isn't what i'd hoped for. Where is the energy from the same group that brought us tracks like cowgirl, rez, king of snake etc? I know they didn't want to just churn out the same formula that people expect, but then i don't think any of these new tracks are particularly new or groundbreaking to be honest. It sounds like a tired Underworld to me and they haven't even released anything in 7 years :( Barking was considerably better and got a lot of play from me which i don't think this album will be getting.

"Pleasant" is about the best i can give this album. I'm not trying to be too harsh, very few groups can sustain classic albums again and again, it can;t be easy.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

I Exhale and If Rah feel to me like they want to be Juanita/Kiteless style; one song that transforms. Exhale can be 3-4min, and then transition into If Rah.

Low Burn is quite pretty. Santiago is ok, but its not something I'll want to listen to after once or twice. Motorhome is gorgeous, fully fleshed-out, and chill. I love it. Ova Nova is pretty and has a nice thump to it. Nylon Strung is good.

So overall its a nice, super-short, album. I don't see myself playing this one cover-to-cover like STiTI, BF or Dubno. I'll prob. end up grabbing my 3 faves from BB and going with that.

Lastly, I don't think Exhale works at all live. After the initial drop, there's not much live going for it. Its not showcasing Karl or RIck, and its not evolving. Comparing Rick's "1 2 3 4!" of Downpipe from the Ibiza show to Rick's "1 2 3 4!" of I Exhale - its not even close. Downpipe crushes it.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Actually, they've been rather fortunate that way. Neither OwB nor Barking leaked before the Japanese release date.

Unfortunately, no. I have heard that of those who have heard it they think it might be the best track on the album.

Yeah, it is rather short. Certain tracks will be on repeat a lot for me, but there's not many to choose from.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Did Rick seriously give us a techno Bo Diddley Beat in If Rah?

They've both expressed their admiration for Bo Diddley before. I'd be surprised if this is a complete coincidence.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

How ridiculous would this be?

Are you sure about OwB? Pretty sure I had that prior to release but I could be mistaken. AHDO I remember was leaked eons before the official date.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Twenty Three Blue (Japanese Bonus) - Best track on the LP?

Good thing I pre-ordered my iTunes release via the Japanese store. :D

The only UW LP I was able to get a sneak listen to was Barking. I had that well before it was released officially. I purchase all my UW tracks, so I have no guilt lifting BB from a torrent. I will have to say I have mixed feelings on the LP. I was hoping for a little more. It starts off strong with I Exhale and then onto If Rah, but Low Burn and Santiago Cuatro (to me they sound more like B-Side tracks) - Don't get me wrong, they are both great tracks, but as part of the LP flow - they fit in oddly, especially Santiago... The good thing is that after these 2 tracks the LP progresses into a good flow. Motorhome is very chill and then it picks up on Ova Nova and Nylon Strung is a great closer, definitely one of my favourites on the LP. It makes me feel good like Best Mamgu Ever...

I may find myself growing more into this as I listen to it more. As for the Japanese bonus track, I'll have to wait until the 16th for that...

Update: After several more listens, I am diggin' this release. There's a lot going on musically which I do appreciate. Low Burn is really growing on me more too. Listening to Motorhome more too and it's like a throwback to the BF era (I loved that era). I'm really looking forward to their show this April in Pomona!!!

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

After three listens I also have mixed feelings. I Exhale is far too long and get boring after 3 minutes. If Rah is very good, Low Burn is brilliant, for me it's the only really Underworld-ish track on the album. Santiago and Motorhome are really ok, Ova Nova and Nylon Strung - not sure about these two, have to listen to them more.

Interesting thing: Santiago Cuatro is very similar to first movement of 'Odejście' a track made by polish prog-rock band SBB. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWE66yVxM4w

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Further down the Adult Contemporary hole we go...

kidding.

kinda.

I was prepared to have a laugh at it but I'm getting friendly with it. I like this sound better than where OWB was aesthetically, and it's a damn sight better than pretty much anything on Barking (aside from Bird 1). it's low on the bpms, but there's a dignity in not trying to make hype tracks when you're fifty-seven years old. first two tracks are too goofball to advocate for, but they're fun and got in my head anyhow (i'm expecting some sort of 90s-style, 5fps video to accompany If Rah). Low Burn and Ova Nova are my takeaway "oh yes please" jams where i feel some ghost of a specific UW thrill, while Motorhome seems like the weakest link (a whole lot of chemical brothers done really cheesy and slowed down with some un-ignorably iffy words). the closer sounds like it'd go great live yet it's a bit empty in a strange way.

but more than anything I'm relieved this is free of crippling embarrassments like Ring Road or Boyx3 or half of Barking.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Does anyone know who's singing the vocals with Karl on Nylon Strung? It could just very well be his own voice filtered through a vocoder, but it sounds feminine.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

I can almost guarantee it is Rick's daughter.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Yes. It's just the Japan release date was nearly 2 weeks before the rest of the world.

Sorry, Alan, we have to take back your forum curmudgeon card now.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

:D Thank you for hitting my funny bone with this post! LOL!!! :D

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

pretty sure BLD took that championship belt from me awhile ago

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Karl did say something about having 30 or 40 track with lots of vocals in the podcast interview. Curious about these tracks and what did NOT make the BB album though.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

I first thought that, but I now think he meant Vocal Tracks. There's no way they wrote 30-40 'songs' and then decided to make a 7 song album.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

In all serious, in the digital age, why is there still japanese only exclusive tracks? Considering how short this album is that extra track would have been nice. This is the only band that I know that still does it

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

aphex twin had a japanese bonus track on "syro." and not just a throw-away one either - it was one of the album's best. though he was generous enough to release that track months later as a stand-alone single . . .

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

someone explained this once about having to do with the import and resulting album cost to Japanese customers. Its still dumb. Do movies in Japan get extra scenes? Books get extra chapters?

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Yeah I think you are right. Although I don't understand: BB is full of vocals. Maybe it's about songs like motorhome which they just used a single phrase to make the song instead of lot of different words...

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Not at all.

As to why it's done, this article explains it. Although it was written in 2002, it's still relevant today:

http://www.melodicrock.com/industry/insidestory.html

Japan is one of UW's most important markets so they abide by the industry conventions.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

plenty of bands still do.

the most hilarious one that i got totally burned on was when i bought the Japan version of SOPHIE and it turned out the bonus track wasn't even on the CD, it was just a download code. i kinda stared at it for awhile before getting over it because it's just a CD, but danggggg

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

'Ova Nova' is streaming in full on NPR's website. There's a writeup about the guys, too.
http://www.npr.org/2016/03/07/468737...world-ova-nova

Jason

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

The Underworldlive store has a promo pic of what the Special Edition set for 'Barbara, Barbara we face a shining future' looks like with all the content, similar to promo pics for the 'dubnobasswithmyheadman' and 'Second Toughest of the Infants'.

https://img.tmstor.es/underworld/26885.jpg


Jason

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Held off on ordering the album because shipping the special edition stateside is 60 pounds...

But with the comments about the Japanese bonus track possibly being the best one of the album, ordered the JP CD.

I'd been listening to the 6 music festival set while at work, and actually am really enjoying the new material. Not what I wanted or hoped for, but really enjoying it all the same :)

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

The album is growing on me, and I quite like that they have taken it down a notch both in bpm and energy. I was ready for something new, but I agree it's too short and that I Exhale is a boring choice for a song to stretch out.. Hope the JP bonus is great as some people say it is.

Look forward to seeing them live this summer! The BBC6 show sounded great, although the show and visuals were a bit too low key. Hope they spice it up for festival season.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

As usual, I'll just download the bonus track. I tried to pay for Farmcoat the proper way, and to this day my iTunes still asks me to verify its location - even after i deleted the track. I'll never make that mistake again.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

If you log into your iTunes Japan account you should have no problems listening to the track. The problem is, back then the 128kbps iTunes tracks were locked with DRM. The iTunes Plus format now is unlocked so you'll have no problems with playback.

I have iTunes accounts for US, UK, Japan & Mexico... :D

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Really want to hear "Twenty Three Blue" now...

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

been quietly obsessed with this and will have to, as usual, walk back at least half of the brash statements i made about it.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

There was an email sent out this morning that says there will be a slight delay in the delivery of the special edition boxset. The email text is below:


Thank you for ordering the Special Edition of Underworld’s Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future.

We have been working hard to make sure you have a beautiful package which we are really happy with.

Unfortunately there was an error with the slipcase which we weren’t happy with so they had to be re-made which means there will be a slight delay on delivery of your special edition.

You will still receive a download of the album on release and we are very sorry about the delay but are confident you will really enjoy the package when it arrives.

Thank you as always for your support.

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

I passed on that edition because of the $230 price, would love a review from someone

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

You know what would be really nice of Underworld, to release this MP3 to all who ordered the special edition because we have to wait longer for the item ;)

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

Please not 12 weeks...

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

The Guardian has an "exclusive album stream" today. Though funnily enough, some other websites around the world also have this album stream. Maybe they meant exclusive for the UK.
It'd be nice to find a Japanese stream with the bonus track...

Re: New Album: Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (March 18, 2016)
 

I just can't pay $230 for a single LP... it'll just sit with the others... barking, dubno, stiti...

after several listens... i am enjoying the flow of this LP more and more. it is a definite change of pace. even though i pre-ordered the Japan iTunes version (for the bonus track - obviously). i am glad they mastered the LP for iTunes (at least will get a better copy than just a CD rip). i did pre-order the US Vinyl on Amazon for $20 to satisfy my latest vinyl fetish... :D

i'll shell out the extra quid for the beaucoup fish super deluxe if that ever comes to light... :cool: