Digital Roundup: 12/14/2015

Underworld, Underneath the Radar / Change the Weather: As we close in on Christmas and the end of 2015, the number of weekly additions to our digital catalog begins to decline, but we've still got two newbies to tell you about today, and they'll be of particular interest for those of you who lived and died by everything released by Sire Records during the late '80s and early '90s. Oh, sure, Sire has always maintained a roster of considerable merit, but during the Just Say… years, i.e. when the label was regularly releasing compilations to spotlight their latest and greatest artists, it seemed as though they could do no wrong, and it was during this window when they welcomed a musical collective from Cardiff called Underworld.

Led by Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, Underworld didn't truly begin to enjoy commercial success in their native land until the '90s, when they released their seminal album Dubnobasswithmyheadman and made a contribution to the Trainspotting soundtrack that took them to #2 on the UK Singles chart: “Born Slippy .NUXX.” In the '80s, however, Underworld's music was less about dance and more about blending guitars and synths to create a sound that was surprisingly successful in the US: their debut album, Underneath the Radar, hit #139 on the Billboard Hot 200, and its title track made it into the Hot 100. Sure, it only hit #74, but that's still not half bad for a new band. (It probably didn't hurt that the album was produced by Rupert Hine, whose success with Howard Jones and The Fixx was enough to make anything with his name attached a must-buy in certain circles.)

Underworld's sophomore album, Change the Weather, may not have done as well as the band's debut overall (it didn't chart), but it did provide the band with their biggest US single, “Stand Up,” which hit #69 on the Hot 100 and climbed all the way to #14 on the then-new Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The title track also saw release as a single, and although it never charted, it's about as catchy an opener as any album could hope to have. If you've never heard it, it's worth checking out Change the Weather for that song alone, and if you find yourself as smitten as we think you might, then you might as well just go ahead and stick around for the whole album. Yes, it's almost quaint when compared to the more elaborate work done by the band in later years, but it's still full of pleasant, catchy late '80s pop goodness.