[khouri]

My initial reactions to Barking were not good. And while I've warmed up to the record after repeated listens, I'm afraid I still rate it as the worst of Underworld's full-lengths (not including Mk 1 or Fruer).

I think it's important to stress that I'm more of a pop music fan than I am an electronic/dance music fan. I love electronic music and nearly everything I listen to is electronic in nature, but I come to music with a deep appreciation of pop themes and structure. Behind Underworld, my favorite artists are groups like New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Goldfrapp, Bowie. I see a lot of criticism in this thread of tracks being bad simply by virtue of the fact that they're pop; that the "cheese" alone is enough to invite comparisons to shit like "Change the Weather". I can't get behind that philosophy.

When I first started listening to Underworld in ernest, with the music of Dubnobasswithmyheadman era, I was struct by how intricately layered all of Underworld's music was. The songs' unusually long lengths were appropriate given the depth of the music. I remember thinking, "Every new layer justifies its own existence by improving the song." I think this bears out in the live arena, where any isolated track of any Underworld song can create an emotional reaction in the audience, whether it's a drum pattern or a synth sweep or a melody or sound effect. That is what Rick Smith does better than anybody in the world.

For the most part, the songs of Barking lack this quality. That is almost certainly a consequence of its unusual production, whereby outsiders stripped out what Underworld presumably considered uncommercial and what I consider magical and replaced it with functional but ultimately unmemorable beats.

1. Bird 1. The sinister opening moments remind me of "Dark & Long", "Juanita" and "Mo Move", but the song fails to live up to that prestigious legacy. I really like the lyrics and vocal performance in this song, but the track doesn't go anywhere. I can hear some nice music hidden in here somewhere, but I don't think Dubfire was able to really make something out of this track. Neither was Rick Smith, judging from the live performances of "Strumpet". I rate this as a B-side.

2. Always Loved a Film. Arguably the biggest tragedy in the Underworld canon. There was more anticipation for a completed version of this song -- specifically, the "Silver Boots" version -- than any other, but what finally emerged is... well, not that. When I hear those early "Always Loved a Film" sounds whisper through the tinny, glittery rave noise, I think, "Why bother?" It's not that song anymore.

That said, ALAF is kind of cool. Although the backing track leaves something to be desired, Karl Hyde once again provides some solid words and singing. The break is a very nice, genuine synthpop moment. It's obvious what they were going for with this track, so I'm left with the question: why didn't they just get Stuart Price to produce it himself?

3. Scribble. I can't lie, I really hated this at first. But "Scribble" has revealed itself to me and now I wonder if it's the best track on the album. Certainly, High Contrast and Underworld mesh better together than any of the other remixers. Many layers to this song, all of them intriguing and fun -- all except Karl, I'm afraid. Lyrics are woeful and the voice-as-instrument element is negligible to the song; practically an afterthought, but not so much as the Juanita bits. Christ, "download"? Welcome to the cool, edgy internet imagery of the 1990s, ravers. The instrumental mix is plainly superior.

4. Hamburg Hotel. Complete rubbish. The "Cuddle Bunny" of Barking. There's nothing to say about this track because there's nothing there.

5. Grace. Lovely lyrics from Karl that are wasted on this by-the-numbers bit of mid-tempo synthpop. "Grace" is slightly less directionless than "Bird 1" and concludes with a bit of a guitar or bass jam that invokes vague memories of The Cure or something like that, but that's only after four minutes or so of a boring song. I don't know if Underworld's version of this would have been any better. I liked the "Telematic Peal" from the April 23 2008 broadcast but even that was lacking something. Another B-side, here.

6. Between Stars. Now this is more like it. "Between Stars" is a successful synthesis of classic Underworld with the synthpop form. The production here is not particularly inspiring but nor is it distractingly bad. The beats drive the riffs and melody and they do well enough to get the job done. The obvious complaint here is the pointless fade-out.

7. Diamond Jigsaw. Underworld really nailed it with this one, a beautiful rebirth of Underworld mk. 1 as on par with their 1980s contemporaries, only a few decades late. Paul Van Dyke lets this track speak for itself, for the most part, which is wise. The built-in sweeps, Moroder synths and uplifting vocal melody (I'm not sure what the lyrics are about, but the singing itself sounds uplifting) are all perfectly executed. I especially love that "beep.... beeeeeeeep" noise in the beginning, it's a classic Rick Smith sound effect.

I do miss the Van Halen keyboards from the live version. Played with Karl's dirty guitar, they really cemented "Diamond Jigsaw" as the bridging, transcendent song that it is. Looking forward to the bonus disc version of this more than anything else.

8. Moon in Water. We've all had those breathless moments with a newly heard Underworld song; that feeling you get where what you're hearing out of a speaker is something you've been hearing for years in your mind, you just didn't know it. The original radio broadcast of "Moon in Water" was that for me, and its butchering was what I most feared about Barking. While I'm not a fan of Juanita's performance or of how many of the beautiful words were removed in High Contrast's mix, I am very impressed with his work on the track. The new synth riff built out of "does not wait to cast its reflection" is a tiny bit of genius and creates another one of those sonic bridges between Underworld and pop. This is probably my favorite song on the album.

9. Louisiana. Even if it wasn't as good as a Sarah Mclaughlin B-side, which it very arguably isn't, "Louisiana" does not belong on Barking. I don't know what they were thinking, it's plainly incongruous and in the worst way.

10. Simple Peal. Somehow more "Underworldy" than anything else on Barking. A puzzling choice for a bonus track, to be sure, but one of my favorite bits of noodly nonsense from Rick. Honestly, I am a huge fan of this sort of Underworld material and I hope I'm able to get that disc from Karl's painting exhibition.

11. You Do Scribble (Abbey Road Version). It never occurred to me before, but YDS is a kind of drum-n-bass sequel to "Kittens". They both begin with a blistering drum section that is soon joined by a lovely synth background that turns into a break and then climaxes with some more elements. This version's "live" percussion additions als reminds of me of "Kittens", where you can hear what sounds like some live stuff being played along with the programming. The "Abbey Road" tag suggests this was created during the Oblivion with Bells sessions. I think it would have fit in well there.