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And though it is a disappointing record compared to the group's high-flying previous albums, it displays Underworld's talents well.
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If you like the group's other work, you'll definitely want to pick this up, even though it may take awhile to grow on you. Just don't expect a revolution.
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Beaucoup Fish isn't a huge step forward for Underworld, but it is a refinement of their sound.
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It all sounds like something you've heard before, but done better, faster, slicker.
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Artistically, Beaucoup Fish lives up to its advance billing, crisscrossing the genres of rock, techno, ambient, disco and jazz to create a rich, multi-leveled listening experience.
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Furious techno stomps and mellow streamlined electronica clash head on with Karl Hyde's often nonsensical vocal style, pushing the group forward yet sticking close to their original blueprint.
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Imagine a dance floor where Steve Reich raves, Talking Heads reunite and disco divas shake their booty with pierced punks.
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Wipe away its dusting of frost and you'll encounter mystery, beauty, and alluring rhapsodies, with the warm, pulsating beats serving as the music's heart.
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Beaucoup Fish is a steady step above second LP Second Toughest in the Infants, and while it never scales the more spectacular heights of Underworld's debut, this album sounds like a grower.
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Few other contemporary electronic acts are quite so savvy in their subtle manipulation of traditional song elements within a cybernetic context.
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MagnetThe first great album of '99. [March 1999]
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Beaucoup Fish is 74 non-stop minutes-worth of next level disco inferno.
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The absence of quirky samples and lame big beats make it all sound, right now, strangely radical.
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It shouldn't surprise anyone in today's age of shattered expectations that Beaucoup Fish is not as great as we'd hoped.
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Midway through, however, Karl Hyde stretches himself too far with the minimal This Mortal Coil-styled ballad SKYM, exposing the weaknesses in his singing voice.
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Their specialty is an undulating trance throb that shimmers with shades of rock, contemporary symphonics, dub, disco, house, spoken word, whatever. The result still sounds like Underworld, and the fiftieth play sounds better than the fifth.
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Unfortunately, the obtrusive vocals mess up the vibe like an unwelcome party crasher. Underworld's experiments with electronica, vocals and rock are dismal failures.
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Underworld's music rarely makes dull listening, even at its most linear.
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Like its predecessor, though, Beaucoup Fish is too unfocused to prove consistently potent.
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A shiny little appliance that fragments its 11 tracks into nearly as many subgenres, doing away with the seamless sprawl of their earlier records.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 17
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Mixed: 1 out of 17
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Negative: 1 out of 17
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Jan 15, 2012
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JorisOct 9, 2007
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JenBAug 21, 2007Like a good wine, gets better and better. It's a masterpiece of electronic music and house beats.