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Critic Reviews
80
With its tremendous focus, Barking ably demonstrates that, after six albums, Underworld remain the UK’s leading old-school dance combo.
5y
80
Barking marries a renewed emphasis on the dance floor with unabashedly open-hearted lyrics.
12y
76
It’s a sombre moment for the band, and one that takes the new-generation-of-fans angle to the quieter end of the scale. This is an Underworld for Jazz FM; a dance band you can build a log fire to.
11y
70
Through reflection and repeated play, Barking will reveal its nuances.
15y
60
The duo have remained one of the few constants in UK dance music.
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2y
60
Barking – where it was written – begins well with Bird 1, but varies wildly between cheesy dance anthems and chunkier drum ’n’ bass.
2y
60
After the search for new directions on A Hundred Days Off and Oblivion With Bells, Underworld confine experimentation on Barking mostly to dancefloor electronica, by collaborating with like-minded operators in techno, drum'n'bass and dubstep.
2y
60
Underworld has been able to cover all sorts of electronic ground on Barking, and while a majority of it is very good, I would not go as far as to call any of it “classic.”
15y
60
Although this is hardly Underworld at their finest, the duo's songwriting fits the mainstream productions and results in a solid dance album for the 2010s -- music for aging-raver activities like driving cars, pushing swings, or jogging on treadmills.
15y
60
As it stands ... Barking is a mostly-solid album let down by a couple of weak links. It's not earth-shattering, and there are no new Born Slippys, but it's well worth a listen.
15y
59
Underworld receive a lot of credit for being a great albums band in a singles genre, but the lukewarm reception their last two albums received glossed over the fact that each has housed one or two great tracks. So Barking stays the course, with the added prospect of a fitter, happier Underworld on the horizon.
15y
50
Overall, Barking is a hit-and-miss situation.
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2y
50
Despite its title, Barking is, in some ways, the most tuneful Underworld album yet, which isn’t saying a lot.
15y
50
In the ’90s, everyone loved Underworld and feared the millennium bug. Hence, it makes odd sense that the band has been misfiring consistently since 1999’s ‘Beaucoup Fish’. With ‘Barking’, they manage to spark into life just twice.
12y
40
It’s taken six albums and 20 years of working together, but finally, sadly, Underworld are starting to sound out of date.
11y
40
This time Karl Hyde and Rick Smith team up with a revolving cast of dance producers, hoping one of the many approaches to rock-meets-techno will again produce a bankable hit. Surprise! That doesn’t happen.
2y
Bird 1 - 3/5
Always Loved A Film - 4/5
Scribble - 5/5 ❤
Hamburg Hotel - 3/5
Grace - 3/5
Between Stars - 5/5 ❤
Diamond Jigsaw - 3/5
Moon In Water - 4/5
Louisiana - 2/5
Why is this rated so lowly 😭. Okay sure it’s not as good as their old albums, but with songs like “Always Loved A Film” on here it’s bound to be mostly good. This is a pretty diverse album for them, with them touching on their hard techno, ambient techno stuff, while also infusing it with some of that late 00s / burgeoning 10s EDM and club music. Hell there’s even some new wave touches like on “Bird 1”. Bits of that style do tend to feel a little ... read more
Their worst electronic oriented record, but even this one isn't too bad. I love Bird 1, it's very subtle and catchy, and Scribble is a pretty solid electronic pop song. The problem I have with this album is that it doesn't feel like Underworld, the synths they used for this one are sometimes really plain and generic, not distinct at all. It really feels like a lot of producers worked on this, which is exactly the case with this record.
Bird 1 is great but the rest is just okay.
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Contributions By
patton, royalflush, Alejandro González, erik, MarkyC, d_ism, sweertner, Lazers, ElementyFireBecome a Subscriber
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Track List
| 1 | Bird 1 6:51 | 80 |
| 2 | Always Loved a Film 6:52 | 90 |
| 3 | Scribble 6:58 | 87 |
| 4 | Hamburg Hotel 5:18 | 67 |
| 5 | Grace 5:11 | 70 |
| 6 | Between Stars 6:06 | 78 |
| 7 | Diamond Jigsaw 5:36 | 70 |
| 8 | Moon in Water 5:42 | 72 |
| 9 | Louisiana 5:05 | 70 |
Total Length: 53 minutes
