Change The Weather

The album starts out with it's title track Change the Weather, which makes the rock and pop aspects of the record stand out very clear. Still, their synth funk roots are still here, though the chorus I think is a little more fun than usual. Then we get this album's big single in Stand Up which has a bit of a twang to it. After that comes the very dramatic Fever with it's thunderous drums and wicked guitar solo. I don't think the previous record had one of those. Original Song compared to what came before it is a little standard for the era and genre it belongs to. I do like the chorus and the rock flourishes throughout this track. Mercy ends the first half of the record with a continuation of the religious themes Underworld was playing with on Radar, though now the production is super bright. Not only that, but the way this track opens reminds of something that would come off of a Yello record.

The second half of Weather opens up with Mr. Universe which honestly is one of the most derivative cuts on either of the Underworld 1.0 albums. It's this song that tries to song powerful and functions as a call-to-action. There was definitely plenty of these tracks already going around in the 80's. The mediocrity continues of Texas which, again, is a real bog standard synth cut interlaced with rock instrumentation. Thrash is another track I don't really care for as, at this point of Weather, I'm already well used to this sound. I do think things pick up on the penultimate cut Sole Survivor. This track has a real wicked hook with a fun guitar riff in the background. Finally there's Beach, which compared to something like The God Song off the previous album, is a lot more appropriate of a closer. It's got these sparse drums and atmospheric synths. Meanwhile things a string guitar in the background to make things nice and reflective.