Barking: The Alternate Versions (Disc 2)

[bryantm3]

after hearing this, scribble gets dropped for YDS. it would be cool if someone did a mixture of the two, like an instrumental that leads into the new version. from the samples, i still prefer the album versions of everything else except 'grace', sounds just different. i might like that version better or worse, i have to wait until i hear both versions in full. diamond jigsaw sounds just like a demo, like it's incomplete.


it sounds like the only ones i really might prefer are 'you do scribble' and 'grace'.

[purlieu]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

it sounds like the only ones i really might prefer are 'you do scribble' and 'grace'.

After all my moaning about the collaborations, it turns out I'd probably agree with this actually. I like Grace on both CDs, but the Telematic Peal mix is just more... Underworld. Scribble I love the vocals, but the High Contrast stuff still pisses me off.
Oh, I think I'd probably take Hamburg Hotel Essex too, it's a bit weirder and I like that.

On the whole, the disc does sound a bit like work in progress versions, remixes, demos and such as opposed to finished tracks for a lot of it. I can imagine the versions of ALAF, Bird 1 and such being on EPs if anything. Sooooooooooo yeah. Not the Underworld version of the album some of us were expecting/hoping for, but it's still an enjoyable and interesting disc.

[Sappys Curry]

I was hoping and assuming it'd have a more complete feel to it. But I do like what I heard in that youtube link. I'll enjoy listening to disc 2, but I'm suspecting it'll be inferior to the album.

My problem with Barking isn't the collaborations (although I dislike the synth plop on Bird 1 which I'm sure was totally not added in by Rick or Karl). Everybody has some Underworld songs that they just don't care for. For me, I don't enjoy listening to three of the nine tracks all that much. I don't find much appeal in Between Stars (even when I first heard the live version), Grace, and Scribble, although I like Between Stars and Grace a little more then when I first got the album. The rest of the album is pretty solid for me, but that is three out of nine tracks I'm not really impressed with. Scribble is okay, I guess, but it just sounds so mainstream, which is not what I want from Underworld. Other songs on the album are poppy, but none sound so commercialized like Scribble.

I was thinking about combining tracks from Barking and CD2. I might still do that. I'll have Barking and CD2 on my iPod, and then...a custom track listing, and I think I might just keep all the Barking tracks except Scribble and replace that with YDS.