Underneath the Radar by Underworld

Underneath the Radar, Underworld's debut, came out on Sire on 16 February 1988, and anyone who only knows the later techno juggernaut is in for a jolt. This is the band's first incarnation, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith with Baz Allen, Bryn B. Burrows and Alfie Thomas, working as a slick funk and synth-pop outfit out of Cardiff, with Rupert Hine producing.

They cut it live in the studio in a single session, and the label sold it on exactly that, to show off the players' chops; on the promo trail they performed the entire record live, in order. The sleek, twitchy title track did the heavy lifting, going top five in Australia, and the album also caught on in South Africa and the US. Within a couple of years the band would pivot to dance music and become something else entirely.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.