[aphasein]

After diving into the boxset today, here's my (apologetically long) multi-part take on it:

1) Like most others here, I was really disappointed about the lack of extras, and that's been covered fairly in-depth by everyone. Wasn't a fan of the blue and pink cover either, and seriously debated whether to even buy it or just get the Mp3 download instead. The $47 price at Amazon and CDimport definitely alleviated that though, compared to the expense of the other sets.


2) It arrived in the best packing and is probably the most beautiful set of the group. The blue and pink seems right for that era and look great in the hand. The book is minimal, but in-depth in its image iterations and explorations of the "We are Beaucoup Fish" theme through its statistics content.


3) The music choices do actually seem appropriate to this album, unfortunately - I remember at the time the strange disappointment that all the extra mixes, b-sides and long EPs of the first two albums had suddenly been replaced with a few basic remixes from the band, tons of unnecessary typical remixes from dance producers, and only one actual b-side.

On the one hand, the actual album was amazing and experimental and atmospheric and punchy like never before. On the other, Underworld had become immensely popular and were acting like the rest of the dance/pop community now with their releases. I felt great for them and loved the album, but it was less of a journey itself and without the other releases, less of a journey for fans. Guess they'd arrived. :/


4) The "Dobro" relating to Bruce Lee makes sense now with this mix, and while the opening sounds a bit rough, think this version nearly equals the actual song and is great to have. The long version of Mama is fairly epic and worthwhile too, as is the vocal performance on Nifter. Others all seem a little too rough or early, can take or leave them.


5) Given that there are 11 extra tracks, no repeats and only one minute difference in total length from the original album, it seemed appropriate to me to re-organize them to mirror the BF order. Nifter matches Winjer, Orange Bed starts like Kittens, and Yeah Plan has a Downstairs dubby downtempo-ness:


Beaucoup Fish (CD2, Unreleased)

1. Please Help Me
2. Push Upstairs (Alt 1 A1336 July 98)
3. Jumbo (Diff Bass 2 A1317 Nov 97)
4. King Of Snake (Garage Mix A1313 Sept 97)
5. Nifter (5 A1317 Nov 97)
6. Skym (A A1317 Nov 97)
7. Bruce Lee (Ricks 1st Dobro Mix)
8. UW Orange Bed (Sept 97)
9. Yeah Plan (From A1385)
10. Something Like A Mama (Alt Upstairs Mix A1340 July 98)
11. Ramajama


6) Overall

Dubno - Best music choices, best b-sides and rarities, best presentation, great design, best overall value.

STITI - Best and most surprising unreleased music, solid b-sides and rarities, worst design and presentation (don't know what Tomato was up to with that set, it didn't seem to relate to original album design well).

BF - Worst music choices, poor rarities, best individual new track (Ramajama), best design and book.