Man, this album has some bad reviews.

Ok, this album would have been much more highly acclaimed if it had come out in 1983, instead of 1989, but i still really like it. This album IS 80'S SYNTH POP! It is not the same techno stuff that Underworld released in the 1990's. These guys have been around for a long time. Back in 1984 (or maybe 83) they Karl Hyde and Rick Smith were in a band called Freur. They made cheesy 80's music. Maybe you might remember a song called "Doot Doot". That's them! Or "Hey Ho Away We Go" or "Devil in Darkness". This 80's music continues with Underworld's first 2 albums, Underneath the Radar and Change the Weather.

This album is good though. I like it better than Underneath the Radar (which often gets much better reviews), and would highly recommend it to anyone that's a fan of 80's pop music.

If you love that unique techno sound that Underworld is known for, be forwarned- THIS ALBUM DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY OF IT! I'd only recommend this album to those who are really into 80's synth pop, and even then, not so much. This album was produced before Darren Emerson was added to the group. I even read in a magazine article that Darren hasn't even listen to any songs in their entirety because he thought it was so lame.

I know it seems like a good idea to buy this album because it's a rare, early Underworld, right??? Believe me, it's not a very good idea. This isn't techno, it's weird, silly, laughable synth pop directly from the closing credits of a back to the future movie. Believe me, i love Underworld, but this is not Underworld, at least not the Underworld that anyone likes. Karl Hyde dubbed the first version of Underworld "Mach One". Believe me, theres a reason that they weren't popular..

Bought this when it came out based on liking Underneath the Radar quite a bit. I thought it was pretty good and some of the songs really grew on me, but overall, not as good as Underneath the Radar. Two songs that I still enjoy from time to time are Fever and Sole Survivor. One review called it a combination of the Cure and Depeche mode. That's a pretty good description in my opinion. A little bit of the darkness of the Cure mixed with the atmospherics of Depeche Mode. If you like 80's music, this is a pretty good album. If not, well then you probably won't like it.

Its really hard to review this album, since if any person aquired it recently, im positive to think that its because its an Underwolrd Fan that want to "have them all" or just for the curiosity to know the evolution of the Underwolrd sound. Well in both cases its amazing the different that it can sound comparing to ANY album after this, its like differnts bands.

Lets check just the music and you found an rather good 80's pop album, with many synth sounds that may difference the sound from other bands. Still for 89 was even kind of old regarding what already was in the market at the time. Its a good mix of pop, syth sounds and guitars without abusing them. Depeche Mode influence can be found in some of the songs, as 808 and Primal Scream in others (Even Toto, check Mr. Universe song for the reference).

Now for an Underwolrd fan...you may want to try it before buying it, because its REALLY different from Dubnobasswithmyheadman that its following this album and everything after that, well they even are reconogized with as "Underworld MK1" in this period (Change the weather and Underneath the radar)