Darren Emerson leaving UW was the worst thing that happened to the band!

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Originally Posted by holden

In 1994, 95, 96, the improvs were longer, the mixes more continuous, but also, the tracks less well-known and the band less-popular. But unless one was recording what happened behind the desk, one really can't say how much was Darren and how much was Rick.
Anything else is speculation.

Yeah, but I think it's only natural for a band to do less of that stuff as they evolve. I mean the modern UW has like 100 different tracks to choose from. '94-'96 was before "King of Snake", "Moaner", "Jumbo", and "Push Upstairs" had to be played every show.

I think the OP has a point, I don't think that AHDO or OWB are as good as dubno, STITI, or even BF, but they've released an awful lot of good material regardless. I really did enjoy the last two Riverruns and there seems to be plenty of A-grade unreleased material sitting around based on the radio broadcasts and live shows.

[potatobroth]

I know its been mentioned but its worth pointing out more obviously that Darren Emerson is only accredited to Surfboy on the Dubno album. All the rest are Smith/Hyde.

[oceanic]

And, for me, Surfboy is by far the least original, creative and experimental track on Dubno. It took me over a decade of Underworld listening to believe that Darren wasn't a vital part of their sound, but stuff like Faxed Invitation, Moon in Water, Beautiful Burnout/Biro The Leggy, Peach Tree and the RiverRun projects have made me believe it.

[bazwint]

I love UW in any shape or form but it would be interesting to hear what Darren could add to the mix right now, if you'll excuse the pun. I don't think it would be a backward step to collaborate on a couple of tracks, and a show or two together would be awesome.

Interesting to hear Skyscaper bookending his (excellent) GU Bogota set - I've seen him three times and never heard him play any Underworld. Perhaps the time is right.

[DaddyAdv]

By mere coincidence, I stumbled across this interview with Rick from 2000 about the making of the EE DVD:

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_underworld_live/

Originally Posted by Rick

On a more sort of spiritual level, I had a feeling at the time that we weren't going to be performing in that way much longer. It was sort of a look in Karl's eyes that I recognized; we've been together for nearly 20 years now. And I just thought, "We're not going to keep this up like this." The way we were performing the material where the energy level had risen to a certain point and the pace of things was really fast. And I thought, "This has got a limited life span," in terms of live performance. As it turns out, with Darren leaving the band earlier this year, I was kind of right in a different way.

[Futuregrapher]

Darren Emerson leaving was the best thing happening to the band.

Why?

A Hundred Days Off
Riverrun
Oblivion With Bells
&
all these lovely, lovely broadcasts and internet activity.

Those things would never have been released / happened if Darren Emerson would have stayed in the band.

As much as I like Mr. Emerson, I love life when he's outside of Underworld.

AND we also have another Darren.

peace.

[holden]

Originally Posted by Futuregrapher

Those things would never have been released / happened if Darren Emerson would have stayed in the band.

As much as I like Mr. Emerson, I love life when he's outside of Underworld.

AND we also have another Darren.

peace.

It IS nice to have another Darren among the ranks, isn't it? Pricey seems like a very nice guy, with a taste for doughnuts and some awesome electro track productions!

Well, who knows if the sort of post-Emerson output could still have happened if Emerson had stayed. But yeah, Rick's quote from the interview does suggest they were looking for something a little less immediate dancefloor-and-forget-it, a little more, dare i say intelligent dance music (yeah, i know, UW is hardly classified as IDM in the general sense of the genre). Anyway, OWB was described by karl as "the album that Rick wanted to make", so they've clearly got the balance right.

Before we knew that the likes of "Aquafunk" or "Shake that Higher" were actually Price's compositions, i was intrigued with the new direction that UW was presumably taking - these tracks fit in great with their originals. So, i'm all for his extra hands and tracks behind the desk. As for Emerson, he seemed to add similar elements, if perhaps in a more conventional dance direction.

[Lx_Nen]

Personally, I think the only lasting downside of Emerson leaving is that AHDO was a weak album, because UW felt the need to stop making music that came naturally and deliver huge slabs of beat in order to prove they could still make 'dance music' without their DJ.

It's true that we no longer have the seamless hour-long meandering jam gigs that we used to love so much, but I'm not sure that they would be compatible with the way UW's sound has grown up these days.

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by Lx_Nen

It's true that we no longer have the seamless hour-long meandering jam gigs that we used to love so much, but I'm not sure that they would be compatible with the way UW's sound has grown up these days.

Atlanta wasn't far off from a constant live mix. So Em's shows featured 10% more streaming than some of their recent shows? No biggie.

[Dirty0900]

Hmm if you don't think they can improv, watch this version of Crocodile when it all goes a bit wrong [around 2.18]. Theres something locked away in Rick's desk if an emergency happens: