I entered the world of Underworld with no prior knowledge of the band (except of course Born Slippy) and little history in this whole "electronica" genre. Before this i was into guitar rock - U2, Live and stuff.

The first time through I HATED this album. I sat through tracks 5-8 thinking how I wished I hadn't wasted by money.

PEOPLE! GIVE IT TIME! This is one of the most beautiful and inventive pieces of work I have and probably will ever hear. Cups is truly dazzling...better than the Bee Gees from Sat Night Fever. Jumbo is so creative - funky at the start and mesmorising by the end. Something Like A Mama is another beautiful track. As for danceable? By the half way mark of Moaner you feel like you've just done a 20km run! By the end you are finished - lucky its the last track on the album.

I would recommended Beaucoup Fish to Underworld fans, Moby fans, Nirvana fans, REM fans, Brittany Spears fans....EVERYONE! Well, actually its up to you...your loss if you don't persevere with this album

Retro techno from the Underworld crew
Beaucomp Fish eschews, for the most part, the trends in dance music for the last 7 years for a sound that recalls acid house and Detroit. Lots of house grooves, cool synths, and 4/4 beats here. It's a harder album than their previous two, but it's also a simpler, more conventional one, lacking the pop sense and trancy effects of Dubnobasswithmyhead or the eclectic ambition of Second Toughest In the Infants. Moreover, where once Underworld's unique mix approached dance provocative, here it seems more a formula to fall back on. In other words, Beaucomp Fish is more a "Underworld album" than an album we'd come to expect Underworld to make. Nevertheless, tracks like "Jumbo", "King of Snake", and "Moaner" deliver the goods, showing that Underworld makes fundamentally awesome dance music, even if it is more 1991 than 1999. It's a good album, fans of Cowgirl will love it. Fans of underground club at the turn of the decade will remember the sounds fondly. But, I think alot of Underworld fans will scratch their heads and ask -- is this it?

Mood Music
This album has been deeply misunderstood...The muted production, the reptitive, cyclical nature of some of the songs and the dry delivery of the vocals might seem irritating at first, but it's all for effect. Beacoup Fish requires patience to appreciate; it's very deliberate and very calculated.

While a lot of electronica is just designed to sound pretty or be danceable, there's a core of substance in Beaucoup which becomes aparent after several listenings. These songs describe real scenes, characters and situations, even if their language is always vague, and the overall effect is cohesive. A song like 'Cups' perfectly describes the sweep and weird beauty of urban life, while the punchier 'Push Upstairs' and 'Bruce Lee' are remarkable because, for all the violence and energy implied in their lyrics, they have the same sterile sound as Cups. The album is human life seen (or heard) through a filter of sterility and detachment.

More objectively, while 'Cups,' 'Jumbo' and 'King of Snake' are great, there are some weak songs on the album, all toward the end; so, four stars.

The bands masterpiece
In my opinion, and that's all reiews are any way...opinions, this is the bands best album. Even though Underworld will be remembered most for the intense "Born Slippy" this CD contains tracks that are better than tat, if you can imagine. Stand out tracks include: "Push Upstairs", "Shudder/King of Snake", "Kittens" and the best Underworld track ever - "Moaner". If you've never heard any of this I can't beleive you're a techno fan, buy it!

Oh and as requested, I want to recommend another instrumental CD, a killer instrumental CD, by Mr.Deviant called "Techno Obsession". It's a killer mix of power rock and hard dance music. Check it out if you don't fear any conspiracies.

Great artists, prefect production, but rather dull
Although I am a huge music fan and I can appreciate most genres, when it comes to electronica I generally tend to like what may be deemed too commercial for hard-core fans. Although the band release its first record in the late 1980s, like many I knew nothing about them until their absolutely sensational hit single "Born Slippy" shook up "Trainspotting," which also happens to be one of the most original movies released in 1996. That song has an energy that is rarely found in commercial electronica and it still sounds amazing after all these years. After liking "8 Ball" from "The Beach," I decided that Underworld deserved to be heard more carefully.

Although I understand that this release may not be among Underworld's best, I have no other point of reference, except that of the two aforementioned singles and some songs that friends have introduced me to. At first listen I actually liked this CD, but although it is rare for me, the more I heard it the less I liked it. It is flawlessly produced, but it lacks passion. "Cups" starts out like a placid "Café Del Mar"-like song, it never reaches goes anywhere. "Push Upstairs" is energetic and I would love it, instead of just liking it, if it did not sound so much like "Born Slippy." "Jumbo" is a good journey. I love the "I Feel Love"-like synth of "Shudder/King Of Snake" and although it's my favorite song of the release, it does not inspire nor energize me. The rest of the songs are not that different, with maybe a little Gregorian chant here and traces of energy (i.e the beginning of "Kittens"), but mostly tired and repetitive sounds that are passable at best.

After listening to this release I guess my biggest problem with it is that it mixes acid-house and trance and does not go for the complex ubber beats that I loved in songs that I have heard from their previous releases. There is nothing wrong with trance or acid-house, but there are "capable" artists in those genres that do it better, In my view Underworld should keep challenging themselves and their audience with the loud passion and quiet power of their best work. This release only gets 2 stars from me, but you may want to check out their earlier work and the "Born Slippy" remixes are a must!!!
The much-anticipated return of Underworld after 1996's landmark recording Second Toughest in the Infants, Beaucoup Fish is infused with subtle, lean rhythms, memorable hooks, and a youthful, sensuous energy. Alternately sinister and sweet, the endless DJ creativity on display is an ecstatic revelation. --Matthew Cooke
A stunning album of smart, dance-pop craft, Beaucoup Fish blends stomping beats and meandering, binary dream worlds into a cohesive and heavenly revelation. It's another work filled with Karl Hyde's singsong talk-vocals ("Push Downstairs") floating over DJ Darren Emerson's sinewy, house-style rave-ups ("King of Snake"), a sound that has distinguished them since 1993's Dubnobasswithmyheadman. On Beaucoup Fish, however, that sound slips around tracks that do more than patiently await the next thick coat of rhythm, building simple songs into a digitized, epic whole. There are eruptions of ecstatic melody on songs such as "Jumbo," while jerky dance tracks such as "Bruce Lee" open whole new avenues for bursting layers of rhythmic ambience. Underworld are doomed to be haunted forever by "Born Slippy" (popularized via the Trainspotting soundtrack), the world's first international rave anthem, yet Beaucoup Fish goes well beyond such timely phenomena, and works instead to free electronic music from its computer-age constraints. --Matthew Cooke