Early into A Hundred Days Off, Underworld reaches absolute perfection. "Two Months Off" is awash in nostalgia, sounding like a fuzzy memory of the best day of your life. It takes its time building through a foundation of polyrhythms, then a thick blanket of a synth line that is all texture and no melody, and finally arriving at Kurt Hyde's voice, which breaks through, ties it all together, and makes the whole wonderful arrangement sing, cry, and dance. It is indescribably rich, achingly lovely, and utterly goddamned beautiful. If all dance music sounded like "Two Months Away," there would be no need to ever take ecstacy.

Sadly, the rest of the album sounds like a chill-out from that track. It's not that it's bad. It's just dull, comparitively. It's pleasant living room music, beat-heavy though it is, with light, jazzy undertones. It even dabbles in lackluster Eno ambience for one track ("Ess Gee"). Underworld's first album since 1989 without producer Darren Emerson, who had been with the band since the memorable 1993 album Dubnobasswithmyheadman, simply does not live up to the standards Hyde and Rick Smith set for themselves. While "Two Months Off" sings, cries, and dances, the rest of the album whispers, whimpers and plods, often generating little more energy than a beat alone could have. Hyde's distorted vocals add a certain soul to some tracks ("Sola Sistim"), but anyone familiar with earlier albums will neither be surprised by nor especially interested in this. The one track besides "Two Months Off" that earnestly tries to move butts, "Dinosaur Adventure 3D," comes off as forced, partly because it's predictable and sub-standard, but also because it's surrounded by such a laid-back and uninspired record. "Luetin" does generate tension and maybe even pathos, and hints at greater heights, but earns no points for originality. If it works, it's only because it sounds so much like the old Underworld, as if to say that without Emerson handling the production, the best they can aspire to is repeating themselves.

It's not a terrible record by any stretch, but with the notable exception of "Two Months Off," A Hundred Days Off is merely mellow, and almost... nice. That's hardly a flattering way to have to describe a band that once harnessed and focused as much electricity as Underworld. My girlfriend thinks it's good music to read by. Unfortunately, she's right.