On this occasion, we are going to use a re-release, or rather, an edition of previously unreleased tracks, to claim some legends of electronic music who have not been given their due recognition.
Rick and Karl, Smith & Hyde, a Welshman and an Englishman (although born not far from the Welsh border and who moved to Cardiff in his youth to study there), who started making music in the early eighties as Freur but who will be remembered as Underworld.
We say that they have not been recognized in their just measure because, for example, and to take their most commercial and famous peak, any band that in other styles and at other times would have created generational anthems such as Born Slippy, are on altars where they perhaps do not deserve to be.
Or you can try downloading some of their other defining tracks from no matter what age on a current dance floor, and people will still be dancing their heads off. You could try a King Of Snake, or Rez, or the one we’re talking about today, Two Months Off.
We think Karl and Rick should be recognized on another level in the history of music in the last few decades. Today, in the midst of Techno fever, we can hear new tracks released by other artists and producers who are more than indebted to Underworld’s creations.
We have taken advantage of the release of one of these generational anthems to praise this tremendous duo. Two Months Off was released in the last days of August 2002, and, nineteen years later, it sounds as fresh as when it was released, or as when the following summer it was still being played in Ibiza in the best clubs on the island and by the best DJs (mainly the tremendous remix by King Unique released on that original edition).
Two Months Off is another example of Karl and Rick’s genius for creating unforgettable records, another ascending orgasm that starts with an infectious percussion pattern and builds to a crescendo that squeezes anyone on the dance floor.
On this occasion a 12″ vinyl is released with a live recording at Glastonbury 2016 and on the other side a version called Two Months Off (r18 DAT July 2001b id 1 R89), which everything points to a version prior to the definitive one, which in any case, leaves us with more than ten minutes of an excellent and unreleased version.
We can only thank Smith & Hyde for all that they have bequeathed to us. And what they continue to do, just listen to their latest work, the tremendous box set called Drift that has recently brought us hours and hours of new music from Underworld.
The limited drop of Two Months Off is here to purchase
