Second Toughest in the Infants
| Second Toughest in the Infants | ||||
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| Studio album by Underworld | ||||
| Released | 11 March 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1995, Lemonworld Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Techno, progressive house, progressive trance, ambient, experimental | |||
| Length | 73:01 | |||
| Label | Junior Boy's Own | |||
| Producer | Underworld | |||
| Underworld chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Second Toughest in the Infants | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
Vinyl edition
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Guardian | |
| Muzik | 5/5 |
| NME | 8/10 |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  |
| Select | 5/5 |
| The Village Voice | C+ |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The Guardian | |
| Mojo | |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.8/10 |
| PopMatters | 10/10 |
| Q | |
| Uncut | 9/10 |
Second Toughest in the Infants is the fourth album by Underworld, and the second in their "MK2" line-up with Darren Emerson. With this album, Underworld expanded on their progressive palette, while developing their signature sound of abrasive beats and anthemic melodies. The curious name of the album derives from a comment made by member Rick Smith's six-year-old nephew, Simon Prosser, when asked on his progress at infant school (the level of schooling attended by four- to seven-year-old children in the United Kingdom): "Yeah, don't worry about me, I'm second toughest in the infants now".Second Toughest featured the single "Pearl's Girl". The re-issue featured the band's best known single, "Born Slippy .NUXX".
The album was remastered and re-released on 20 November 2015 with deluxe and super-deluxe expanded editions.
The album opens with the multi-song suite "Juanita : Kiteless : To Dream of Love", which features all three parts intersecting each other at various points during the piece; hence, the use of colons instead of slashes in its name. The loungy, drum and bass track "Banstyle" follows, alongside its downtempo, half-speed counterpart "Sappy's Curry". The rest of the record showcases advancements in the Underworld sound: both "Rowla" and "Pearl's Girl" feature club-ready abrasive beats and basslines, while "Blueski" and "Stagger" incorporate live acoustic guitar and light, melancholic arrangements, respectively. "Pearl's Girl" is one of the few Underworld songs to use breakbeats.
Due to the success of the single" Born Slippy .NUXX", Second Toughest was re-issued with a bonus disc containing the single-only tracks "Born Slippy .NUXX" and "Rez"; Japanese editions also featured "Cherry Pie" and the "(Carp Dreams... Koi)" mix of "Pearl's Girl".
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Wikipedia