Timing is as crucial to the release of a retrospective as it is to comedy. That's why this celebration of a career feels more like a wake. Underworld's marriage of Karl Hyde's poetic vocals to Darren Emerson and Rick Smith's gliding electronica tugged the British dance boom of the 1990s towards a left-field-conclusion. But with the genre withering, it's perverse to release a Best Of now. One day, a new generation will plunder their back catalogue, but not now. As with The Chemical Brothers' recent compilation, the crash is too recent to celebrate the journey.
Timing is as crucial to the release of a retrospective as it is to comedy. That’s why this celebration of a career feels more like a wake. Underworld’s marriage of Karl Hyde’s poetic vocals to Darren Emerson and Rick Smith’s gliding electronica tugged the British dance boom of the 1990s towards a left-field-conclusion. But with the genre withering, it’s perverse to release a Best Of now. One day, a new generation will plunder their back catalogue, but not now. As with The Chemical Brothers’ recent compilation, the crash is too recent to celebrate the journey.