Beaucoup Fish
Encyclopedia
Beaucoup Fish is the fifth album by Underworld
, released in 1999. Following the huge success of the single "Born Slippy .NUXX
" from its use in the film Trainspotting
, Beaucoup Fish was Underworld's most anticipated release. It spawned several successful singles, including "Push Upstairs
", "Jumbo
" and "Moaner
", which was previously used in the film Batman & Robin. It is the last studio album to feature Darren Emerson
.
The album's working title was Tonight Matthew, I'm Going to be Underworld, inspired by the famous catchphrase "Tonight [host name], I'm going to be...", used on the British
celebrity impersonation TV programme Stars in Their Eyes
. The title was changed to Beaucoup Fish ("beaucoup" being French
for "much"), on the basis that the tongue-in-cheek title would be incomprehensible to listeners outside of the United Kingdom
. The current title comes from a sampled voice used in "Jumbo".
"King of Snake" features a tape-edited guitar intro titled "Shudder", leading into a lively house track that interpolates the bassline from Donna Summer
's disco
hit "I Feel Love
", before fading into sampled dialogue about the blood sport
of snake baiting. "Skym" features little more than a solo keyboard and light piano chords over Karl Hyde's vocals, while "Bruce Lee" has more akin to rock music
than trance
. Beaucoup Fish also features a downtempo re-imagining of "Push Upstairs", cleverly titled "Push Downstairs"; only the vocal track is kept between the two. "Moaner", a song featured in the film Batman & Robin, is presented on Beaucoup Fish with its final three minutes removed by a fade out.
"Push Upstairs" and second single "Jumbo
" were both hits on the dance charts and in clubs. Beaucoup Fish was well-received critically (one review calling it "electronica's The Dark Side of the Moon
") and remains Underworld's most successful album, with over 1 million copies sold.
and cassette
formats.
Due to delays, the packaging incorrectly lists 1998 as the release year.
, Karl Hyde, and Rick Smith unless noted.
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
, released in 1999. Following the huge success of the single "Born Slippy .NUXX
Born Slippy .NUXX
"Born Slippy .NUXX" is a 1996 single by the band Underworld.It was preceded in January 1995 by the single "Born Slippy", which featured the ".NUXX" mix as a B-side. The band has stated that the pounding, relentless rhythm and shouted lyrics of the track were originally meant "as a joke", and the...
" from its use in the film Trainspotting
Trainspotting (film)
Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...
, Beaucoup Fish was Underworld's most anticipated release. It spawned several successful singles, including "Push Upstairs
Push Upstairs
"Push Upstairs" is an Underworld track which appears on the album Beaucoup Fish and was also released as a single. In business, to "push upstairs" means to promote someone either unwillingly or with an ulterior motive. The single peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #12...
", "Jumbo
Jumbo (song)
"Jumbo" is a song by Underworld that appears on the album Beaucoup Fish. The single peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #21. - CD : Junior Boy's Own; JBO5007193 Part 1/2 :# "Jumbo " – 4:07# "Jumbo " – 8:26...
" and "Moaner
Moaner
"Moaner" is a song by Underworld. It appeared on the Batman & Robin soundtrack first, and was later edited and added as the last track to the album Beaucoup Fish. It was only released in Germany and the US. The UK imported the German releases...
", which was previously used in the film Batman & Robin. It is the last studio album to feature Darren Emerson
Darren Emerson
Darren Emerson is a dance music DJ, and former member of the UK electronic music outfit, Underworld.-Career:Emerson began mixing Hip-Hop records at the age of 14, and by 16 was DJing regularly at local venues...
.
The album's working title was Tonight Matthew, I'm Going to be Underworld, inspired by the famous catchphrase "Tonight [host name], I'm going to be...", used on the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
celebrity impersonation TV programme Stars in Their Eyes
Stars In Their Eyes
Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent show that ran on Saturdays nights from 21 July 1990 until 23 December 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars...
. The title was changed to Beaucoup Fish ("beaucoup" being French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for "much"), on the basis that the tongue-in-cheek title would be incomprehensible to listeners outside of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The current title comes from a sampled voice used in "Jumbo".
Overview
Beaucoup Fish was released after the massively successful single "Born Slippy .NUXX"; a single that began to define Underworld's signature sound of stream of consciousness lyrics, anthemic melodies and abrasive beats and rhythms. Lead single "Push Upstairs", with its aggressive piano melody, exemplified this new sound. Much of the album featured experimentation not heard on previous albums: several tracks incorporated samples of dialogue recorded by the band itself, while the progressive aspect of previous albums was mostly slashed in favour of shorter, tighter arrangements."King of Snake" features a tape-edited guitar intro titled "Shudder", leading into a lively house track that interpolates the bassline from Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
's disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
hit "I Feel Love
I Feel Love
"I Feel Love" is a song by Donna Summer, taken from her 1977 concept album I Remember Yesterday.The song constituted the "future" segment of the album, which represented a stylistic progress through time...
", before fading into sampled dialogue about the blood sport
Blood sport
Bloodsport or blood sport is any sport or entertainment that involves violence against animals.Bloodsport includes coursing or beagling, combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, or other activities...
of snake baiting. "Skym" features little more than a solo keyboard and light piano chords over Karl Hyde's vocals, while "Bruce Lee" has more akin to rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
than trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
. Beaucoup Fish also features a downtempo re-imagining of "Push Upstairs", cleverly titled "Push Downstairs"; only the vocal track is kept between the two. "Moaner", a song featured in the film Batman & Robin, is presented on Beaucoup Fish with its final three minutes removed by a fade out.
"Push Upstairs" and second single "Jumbo
Jumbo (song)
"Jumbo" is a song by Underworld that appears on the album Beaucoup Fish. The single peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #21. - CD : Junior Boy's Own; JBO5007193 Part 1/2 :# "Jumbo " – 4:07# "Jumbo " – 8:26...
" were both hits on the dance charts and in clubs. Beaucoup Fish was well-received critically (one review calling it "electronica's The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
") and remains Underworld's most successful album, with over 1 million copies sold.
Artwork
The art for Beaucoup Fish was once again designed by Tomato, the art firm that Underworld is a part of. Each page of the liner notes featured a stylized shape in a large blue field. The shapes used are a circle for CD; a square for vinyl; and an elongated rectangle for MiniDiscMiniDisc
The disc is permanently housed in a cartridge with a sliding door, similar to the casing of a 3.5" floppy disk. This shutter is opened automatically by a mechanism upon insertion. The audio discs can either be recordable or premastered. Recordable MiniDiscs use a magneto-optical system to record...
and cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
formats.
Due to delays, the packaging incorrectly lists 1998 as the release year.
Critical Reception
Beaucoup Fish was well recevied by music critics and it continues to be Underworld's best selling album to date. It has a score of 79/100 on Metacritic based on 20 reviews. Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars saying "the trio is still the best at welding obtuse songcraft onto an uncompromising techno framework and making both sound great". Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A rating stating that "Beaucoup Fish is the rebirth of the cool". The Village Voice gave it a favourable review saying it's "A shiny little appliance that fragments its 11 tracks into nearly as many subgenres, doing away with the seamless sprawl of their earlier records". Rolling Stone gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 saying that "Their specialty is an undulating trance throb that shimmers with shades of rock, contemporary symphonics, dub, disco, house, spoken word, whatever. The result still sounds like Underworld, and the fiftieth play sounds better than the fifth". NME gave the album 8/10 saying that "Beaucoup Fish is a pure, seamless flow, pinned together with trance-techno beats that hark back to classic Detroit house and early Underworld singles like 'Cowgirl' and 'Spikee' and also adding that "There are rare moments when even the longest albums feel like they should go on forever: this, emphatically, is one of them".Track listing
All songs by Darren EmersonDarren Emerson
Darren Emerson is a dance music DJ, and former member of the UK electronic music outfit, Underworld.-Career:Emerson began mixing Hip-Hop records at the age of 14, and by 16 was DJing regularly at local venues...
, Karl Hyde, and Rick Smith unless noted.
- "Cups" – 11:45
- "Push UpstairsPush Upstairs"Push Upstairs" is an Underworld track which appears on the album Beaucoup Fish and was also released as a single. In business, to "push upstairs" means to promote someone either unwillingly or with an ulterior motive. The single peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #12...
" – 4:34 - "JumboJumbo (song)"Jumbo" is a song by Underworld that appears on the album Beaucoup Fish. The single peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #21. - CD : Junior Boy's Own; JBO5007193 Part 1/2 :# "Jumbo " – 4:07# "Jumbo " – 8:26...
" – 6:57 - "Shudder/King of SnakeKing of Snake"King of Snake" is a song by Underworld. It was played live many times in improv versions and then released earlier on 2 promo-only 12-inch singles. This is the second release of the new single from Beaucoup Fish. The song contained an interpolation of the bassline from the Donna Summer single "I...
" (UnderworldUnderworld (band)Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
/Bellotte/MoroderGiorgio MoroderHansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
/SummerDonna SummerLaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
) – 9:30 - "Winjer" – 4:30
- "Skym" – 4:07
- "Bruce Lee" – 4:43
- "Kittens" – 7:30
- "Push Downstairs" – 6:03
- "Something Like a Mama" – 6:37
- "MoanerMoaner"Moaner" is a song by Underworld. It appeared on the Batman & Robin soundtrack first, and was later edited and added as the last track to the album Beaucoup Fish. It was only released in Germany and the US. The UK imported the German releases...
" – 7:38
Limited edition bonus CD
- "Push Upstairs (Roger S. Narcotic Haze Dub)" – 6:37
- "Jumbo (Futureshock Worlds Apart Mix)" – 6:31
- "King of Snake (Dave Clarke Remix)" – 6:01
- "Bruce Lee (The MicronautsThe MicronautsThe Micronauts are a Paris-based dance music act. They formed when Christophe Monier met Canada-born George Issakidis whilst working at the Parisian music fanzine eDEN....
Remix)" – 8:54 - "Cups (Salt City Orchestra Remix)" – 9:24