Beaucoup Fish
| Beaucoup Fish | ||||
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| Studio album by Underworld | ||||
| Released | March 1, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 1997–1998 at Lemonworld Studios in London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 74:17 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Rick Smith | |||
| Underworld chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Beaucoup Fish | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
Vinyl edition
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Entertainment Weekly | A |
| E! Online | A− |
| Mixmag | |
| Melody Maker | |
| Pitchfork Media | 6.8/10 |
| Spin | 7/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Release Magazine | 8/10 |
| The A.V. Club | favourable |
| The Village Voice | very favourable |
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 who departed in 2001 and third album by the techno/house orientated version of Underworld which became active in about 1991/1992 (tracks were being released around this time under the names Lemon Interrupt and Underworld).
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".
Beaucoup Fish was released after the 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, before fading into sampled dialogue about the blood sport of snake baiting. "Skym" is a minimal ballad, inspired by This Mortal Coil and featuring 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.
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Wikipedia