Underworld – Second Toughest In The Infants (Deluxe Edition) – (Universal Music Catalogue)
DMC World Magazine
Without question, ‘Second Toughest In The Infants’ is one of the great electronic albums of the 1990s, establishing Underworld as one of the premier league bands in dance music. Aided by the placement of ‘Born Slippy’ in the Trainspotting film, it was brash and party-fuelled on one hand, but capable of some much softer subtleties on the other. Its appeal has continued to last, and listening back to the album it sounds every bit as vital and exciting as it did first time around. Underworld fans will know of the wealth of material available to accompany an album reissue, and so the fact this has 4 CDs and a book will not come as a massive surprise – and nor will the fact that all the extra stuff is essential listening. The huge range of versions of ‘Born Slippy’ are here – and all are brilliant, with or without vocals, providing an essential background into one of the 1990s’ defining tracks. The versions of the rumbling ‘Pearls Girl’ are also brilliant – especially the quick dazzling work out that is the ‘Tin There’ version – reminding us of one of Underworld’s most enduring and atmospheric tracks. The inclusion of ‘Cherry Pie’ is a big tick in the box, but then so is a whole disc of previously unreleased material, which includes ‘Confusion The Waitress (She Said)’, the airy downtempo track ‘D’Arbly St’ and ‘Bing Here’, another example of that wonderful ‘beats ‘n’ pads’ combination only Underworld can offer. Buy this not just for a remastered stone cold classic, but for the generous inclusions that give the album context and the fans some new treasures.
