I was gonna mention Krautrock, but Stimp already got to it...personally, I agree that krautrock is probably a little closer to UW than prog, but I enjoy them both. Personally, I see a lot of Brian Eno influence in UW, more so than really any other band or group I can think of. They're not like Orbital with an obvious Kraftwerk influence, but I see a lot of Can and Neu in Underworld's music, both of which were big influences on Eno, so there.
Personally, I love a lot of prog releases..."Lark's Tongues in Aspic", "Selling England by the Pound", "Brain Salad Surgery", "Fragile", and "H to He Who Am the Only One" (last one's Van Der Graaf Generator if you didn't get it) are probably my favorites. My entire senior year of high school and my freshman year of college I was obsessed with the stuff...in fact, when I bought "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" and listened to it for the first time it was in my car with my then-girlfriend in the passenger seat talking up a storm about this and that and getting pissed that I wasn't listening to her, because I was paying close attention to the music. I went through a phase with Underworld that's kind of like that, and now I'm really into a lot of New Wave bands (Talking Heads, XTC, Devo, Police, and whatever)...point is, the few progheads I know, I DO recommend Underworld too, because I think that the music, while not similar, would be enjoyed by someone with an affinity towards complicated and long music.
I think the thread isn't so much about the connection but rather how many of the UW fans here are into prog. And Rick Wakeman ain't that bad...either that or Stimp's just a really big Sex Pistols fan
