Underworld – Dark & Long

Released the same month as Dirty Epic/Cowgirl was released in the USA. So two 70+ minutes releases the same month for different markets.

To my ears, the lot of the remixes are still killers, especially "Spoon Deep"

2 monumental tracks from 90s electronic (dance) music on this record.

Thing in a Book: Despite it is not Underworld's most accessible track is it still as good as its length. No stand out melodies here but gradually evolving smoothly layered sounds, short riffs and pulsating melodies with a modest mid-tempo 909 percussion beneath. Probably Underworld's best track. An epic masterpiece.

Dark Train: Compared to Thing in a Book this is a very accessible track. Seen as one of the first trance tracks and featured in the Trainspotting movie. If this is played on a gig or in a club then this will be the track you when you are back at home.

The story of this EP is the story of my foray into electronic music. Travel back to the year 2000; Tiesto was large. Sasha was touring with Digweed and putting the finishing touches on Airdrawndagger. This was the first time I ever heard Dark & Long, the Dark Train mix, at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando. Granted, I had just begun to listen to electronic a few months before. I loved the beauty of Dark Train.

After hearing that, I went on a mad hunt for anything Underworld. I came across this EP which was incorrectly labeled as only. I saw the track time for Thing In A Book, 22 minutes. I thought, now there's a quality release. I put it on, and oh boy, was it addictive. It is a true look into the best ambient and Underworld offered, circa 1994. This CD is officially my driving music because of Thing In A Book.

After I got bored of listening to Thing In A Book for months, I went to the other tracks. They were just as good, if not better! Dark Hard has an amazing bassline to begin, and it gets better as it builds and builds. Burts has a very nice bass induced synth as a main melody, and then there's the grandmaster of them all, Dark Train.

After typing this, I realize that if my words, and others, have not convinced you to seek this out by any means necessary, no one ever will.

Probably the longest EP you'll ever see or hear. I love long "when-trance-was-good-trance" songs, that really takes its time to develope, and on this EP we have many of them. My favourite here is the 20 minute + song "Thing in a book" which really puts you into a trance-like state of mind. The housey bpm (around 125-130), the rolling bassline, the smooth, hypnotic and ambientish synth melodies makes it a true masterpiece, which I rank as one of Underworlds absolutely best songs ever. I'm actually listening to it right now, and I have now reached the 18-minute "level" and the track is slowly starting to slow down. Wow, this song could easily bring tears to my eyes when I'm in the right mood!

What an excellent collection this is. I bought this when I was living in Holland for a mere 35 Guilders (back in the day before Euros came along). Dark Train, taken from the Trainspotting soundtrack is Underworld at their best, smooth, melodic, dark and quite, quite mad if their lyrics are anything to go by.