My First Time Listening to Undertow by Tool | My Reaction
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2024
- Watch me react to my first time ever hearing Undertow, the debut studio album from rock band Tool.
*all comments in this video are completely subjective and I am not a music expert.
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0:00 Intro
0:51 Intolerance
2:23 Prison Sex
4:01 Sober
6:00 Bottom
7:29 Crawl Away
9:06 Swamp Song
11:08 Undertow
12:50 4 Degrees
14:47 Flood
16:23 Disgustipated
18:35 My Final Thoughts
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#albumreaction #undertow #tool
The woman who produced this album did an incredible job with the atmosphere, tho my personal fav is the next album(AENima).
Yeah, really well produced! For their first album it sounded pretty fantastic. I am looking forward to Aenima and hearing what they do differently on that album compared to Undertow.
@@mollyesanborn imo - Aenima is their most immediate, hook filled material, and production wise, my fav. Def looking forward to seeing what you think. Thanks for the response, keep up the fantastic content!✊🙏
Ron Saint Germain mixed this album as well. The same guy who mixed Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger.
producer was Sylvia Massy. super class. from Michigan. did some johnny cash and chili peppers too, i think
Isnt 'Opiate', tools first album?? Is this a mandelorian effect thing happening right now? You know...when mandelorians are butterfly effected by flying delorians?
A flying Delorean???
...Yes.
This was my introduction to Tool back when it came out. It completely blindsided me as I hadn’t heard anything like this before. “Crawl Away” is probably my favourite from this.
Fun fact: producer Sylvia Massey made Maynard run round the block a couple of times to get him angry enough to deliver the vocals for one of these songs with the appropriate amount of aggression. I’d say it worked. ;)
Was my introduction to Tool too, I loved it so much! Especially "Sober" which is my absolute favourite Tool song.
Tool, specificially Sober, was the first time I heard something randomly on the radio and became a fan and went out and bought their music. Everything else before that point was music my brother or sister or parents or friends listened to... but Tool was mine and nobody else's. I'll always remember that moment :] and thanks for reminding me. Love your reactions!
Sober is such a fantastic track, I can see why it was the song that got you hooked on Tool. Glad you're enjoying the reactions! :)
Me as well
Then I was hooked after hearing Bottom.
HAS ANYONE NOTICED THAT ‘UNDERTOW’ HAS A WATER THEME? Molly did in the first two tracks. 👍
By far their most unique album as far as heaviness and darkness, & their foundation for albums to come.
…And yes-they recorded actual shotguns, being shot by the band, at a piano. 👉💥🎹
Yes, those water themes are everywhere on Undertow. They definitely add to the album's atmosphere and give it a really interesting sound. That's interesting about the shotguns, I'd love to see the behind the scenes of that haha!
ua-cam.com/video/XYju_s0Dfe4/v-deo.html
Maynard shooting 🎹 👆
@@mollyesanborn Ask & you shall receive:
ua-cam.com/video/XYju_s0Dfe4/v-deo.html
Also search “Henry Rollins Bottom” (the 4th track on UNDERTOW) in YT. Another great behind the scenes video.
@@mollyesanborn ask and ye shall receive ua-cam.com/video/XYju_s0Dfe4/v-deo.html
Swamp song is still one of my favorite TOOL songs. In my opinion, one of the band's most underrated songs.
Swamp Song is fantastic!
Hell yeah. When they play it on XM radio volume goes all the way up.
I love listening to Swamp Song in my car when I’m in traffic because it’s so raw
Yay, more Tool! I can’t wait for you to hear, “I’m praying for rain, I’m praying for tidal waves.” I won’t tell you what song or album it’s from but you’ll know it when you hear it. It’s one of the most beautiful parts of a song I’ve ever heard, and I bet you’ll feel the same way.
Ooh, I am intrigued... I'll have to listen for that in my future Tool reactions.
For me, it's still their best album.
I agree it's their hardest album
It is!
This then Opiate then all the rest.
it's their country album
MY FAVORITE TOOL ALBUM PERIOD
This album. Sober *changed* me when I was a kid. Pivotal song that completely altered my taste in music. I recommend checking out their side-project A Perfect Circle's first album Mer De Noms.
Sober is incredible, what a tune! I will have to check out A Perfect Circle too, definitely intrigued to hear them.
If you truly want a firm grasp of Tool’s origins and evolution, you MUST explore their VERY SOLID six song EP ... OPIATE.
Very different from even UNDERTOW, it underscores just how far they’ve traveled throughout their long career.
Sweet! I think you’re gonna love the Aenima album
I can't wait to hear it!
Undertow will always be my favorite Tool album, I do believe. The sound is so unique, like grunge turned up to a 10.
Yeah Sober was definitely one of the tracks that got me into Tool. And Passenger was one of the tracks that got me into Deftones lol
Both of those tracks are so insanely good! Very similar tones too, with all of that tension building up and kind of an eerie, haunted sound.
When I saw Tool for the first time, they played Disgustipated and it was mezmorizing. The side stage @ the 1992 lollapalooza tour.
I was really into industrial music at the time, Ministry/NIN/Skinny Puppy. I had not heard of tool before that show and been a fan since.
It will be fun to see what you think of all their work, especially Fear Inoculum. A ranking would also be enjoyable.
Cheers
Yeah, Disgustipated is such an enthralling track. There's something so riveting about how eerie it sounds. I'm a big fan of NIN as well, kind of makes sense that the dark industrial tone of that track is appealing to us. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of their albums :)
Was at that same 1992 tour . . . in Michigan. Heard "Sober" playing from the 2nd stage off in the distance, thinking to myself, "hey, that is that one song that has been playing on the radio lately", but didn't walk over to the stage and check them out, because I was feeling the vibe from the main stage crowd, I suppose? anyways, cheers! Alice in Chains and then the final act Primus, were the double-billed headline artists.
Awesome! You have such great insights. Can't wait for more tool and SOAD especially!
Thanks, glad you're enjoying the videos! I am planning on doing the rest of SOAD's and Tool's albums :)
I love that you went back to the beginning, (well, almost). I love undertow (for like 8000 reasons) but musically, it wasn't like anything that was really out at the time. Musically, I find this album to be their most unique, and while I love all of the albums that came after, I never felt like they found a sound as unique as they did on this album. I'm not selling them short by any stretch, but all of the albums to come sound like Tool, where undertow sounds like it comes from another dimension or something.
Really looking forward to your take on Tool. I was in college when this album came out, and it stayed permanently in my disc changer. Love this album (and band).
Tool: the only band I know of that has zero boring moments across their entire discography.
Been listening to this album for almost 30 years. Somehow with all of the water themes I never actually thought of the vocals as sounding “watery” in parts, but you’re right!
Definitely recommend the Opiate EP before you start moving forward in their discography again.
Great insight. Love your reviews!
I can recommend you "Leprous". A band that have a lot of variety on their sound along with their albums, and are also proggy. Their last albums are more catchy and easy to hear I highly recommend them :)
P.D: I'm addicted to this channel, keep it that way ;)
Leprous has been mentioned by several others in the comments as well, I'll have to do some sort of video for their albums!
Love the raw sound of this album. The production is awesome.
Yeah, the production is amazing!
Red shirt looks great on you. Thanks for these videos. I'm going through a tough but hopeful time. It's fun to hear someone being thoughtful about records I don't listen to anymore.
That means a lot, glad the videos are providing some entertainment :)
Someone probably already pointed out but Tool also had a different bassist for this album then they did for Lateralus. Paul D'Amour was the original bassist up until a few of the songs on Aenima before Justin Chancellor took over.
In terms of what to do next I would just go In chronological order, -Ænima has some cool mix of instantly catchy and experimental stuff which is fun
-10000 days is probably my fav out of the bunch and grew on me alot, lot of some of what I think is their best musicianship but also very grounded, the two wings for Marie tracks serve as tribute for Maynard's (singer) deceased mother as heads up, cause their quite different in tone
- Fear inoculum is the latest one and despite original decisiveness fans would love this one cause theirs some really great stuff on it
Have fun 👍
(Also PS when you mention you hear "heavy guitar" its probably the bass guitar)
Yeah I'll probably go in order from this point, I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of their albums!
Hey, Molly. I just found your channel. Really good shit. Thanks and keep it up.
aw thanks :D Glad you're enjoying the videos!
One of those albums that the more I listen, the more I love
I'm so glad I came across your reaction videos. Tool is the best and you brought stink face at the right times which means you were paying close attention. Love it!
Thanks! I'm loving Tool so far, they've got such a great sound.
Molly-just found this reaction-so glad you’re getting into Tool! If you want a visual experience, watch the live Sober video from the 90s. You really get to see the full range of what Tool is and was-especially Maynard.
Thanks for watching, I'll have to check out that video!
Great review! Wanted to point out that Henry Rollins from the band Black Flag provided the spoken word vocals for Bottom. Also, if you like Tool, I think you would enjoy the band Chevelle's discography.
I've actually done a ranking video for all of Chevelle's albums if you're interested!
@@mollyesanborn oh cool! Just watched it. Very good ranking! Some other bands to check out with solid discographies would be silversun pickups, kings of leon, and the Mars Volta. Rock on! 🤘
Haha, I did a Mars Volta ranking too! I'm sort of familiar with Silversun Pickups, definitely have enjoyed what I've heard from them. I'll have to check out kings of leon.
Great video! Haha that last song.... Lol
Interesting what you said about the industrial elements here. Totally agree, and maybe that's why I feel this album is the most dark and rawnest from them (and of course its first record, so less budget).
Crawl Away is probably the most similar song to EP Opiate, what is really grungy but still so unique. If any band would've done that sound more elaborated would have a special place in my list 🤭
Congrats again for your reaction. I'm diving into them 🐬
Ooh, I've gotta give Opiate a listen to! Sounds like I'd really enjoy its sound.
niiiiice, love your notes on every song
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video :)
Yeah Molly glad you did Undertow ! Interesting insight. Definitely a grungier, dirtier sound as you said, very visceral. Really great vocals, I think it's Maynard's peak as a singer. Love the bass work too on that one. Anyway it's weird but as an European, I like the way you talk, your accent, which is a bit specific to my ears maybe ? I must say I like your channel a lot. Keep up the good work !
Yeah, I love how heavy and grungier Undertow is. Visceral is a good way of putting it. Glad you're enjoying the videos! :)
My favourite music reaction channel. I like the analyses and format.
Thanks, I appreciate that! :)
@@mollyesanborn I notice you took note of the various industrial influences in your album reactions. I wonder if you're familiar with the German band Einsturzende Neubauten?
TOOL is my all time favorite. Enjoy the journey!!!!
The song Prison Sex is so incredibly upsetting and powerful to me and probably my 2nd favourite track on the album.
From my understanding it’s referring to the unspoken truth of child sexual molestation during the 90s. It was very hush hush compared to that kind of stuff being exposed now a days.
I once fell asleep on the bus while listening to this album and woke up to Disgustipated. I felt terrified and confused to say the least but Undertow as an album is one of my top favorite albums, the dark atmosphere mixed with the heaviness and lyrics make for a fantastic and memorable album.
I can only imagine the confusion you must have felt hearing that right as you woke up, haha! I agree though, the dark tone of Undertow is really great.
HELLZ YA... LET THE RABBITS WEAR GLASSES!!!
I know Opiate was a more live type of album but I'll allways remember it as my first tool album 😁
Probably the best debut album ever made for a Rock/Metal band. Undertow is simply addictive and phantastic, but by incredible as it sounds is not my favorite, understanding perfectly who choose it as the best. "Intolerance", "Bottom", "Swamp Song", "Undertow" and "Flood" are my favorites on it. And "Disgustipated", I'll never forget my first experience with this song, I've felt that I was in some kind of cult, and my soul had ripped away from my body LOL
Omg more of tool, nice!
Greetings from Peru /m/
Thanks for watching, I plan on reacting to the rest of Tool's albums :)
I appreciate your willingness to listen to an entire album.
If you want to here the original version of Sober... it was called "Burn about Out" and with his first band CAD, released in 1987
ua-cam.com/video/tAJn5OyqIas/v-deo.html
My favorite track on "Undertow" is "Flood". Such a HUGE build then Maynards first line just hits you. Feel like its the most "proggy" track.
Also...Two last tidbits.. Supposedly 4degrees is about buttsex according to the Tool community discussions back in day lol
and..
DAMN YOU! LET THE RABBITS WEAR GLASSES!
That version of Sober is wild! So glad they polished it up and made some changes to it for Undertow, the album version is incredible. I agree on Flood, that track is so immense in its sound and the buildup on that one is great. Lyrically 4 degrees is certainly... an interesting track :p I feel that Tool always seems to push a lot of metaphorical wordplay into their lyrics though, I'm sure there are numerous ways that it can be interpreted.
Great reaction, I like how you pointed out the way the production sounded like water at some parts.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! :)
Honestly is pretty cool to see you liked this album right away, took me so much time to fairly say I liked it, sounded so crude and hard on the edges the first time but I slowly came to realize that the production is actually amazing. The grungy but experimental sound made it jump from one album I absolutelly hated to one of my favourite by them after I learned how to apreciate more experimental and wild music. I think it doesn't helped me that my jump into Tool was like, Lateralus which is arguably their Magnum Opus (personaly I'd say Ænima take this place but Lateralus just leveled up so much on overall layering and song writting).
Lateralus was my introduction to Tool as well and yeah, that album is so complex and nuanced that it's almost a bit overwhelming as a Tool newbie. Undertow is my second album of theirs I've heard so far and to me it is far more accessible to new listeners. Both are great though, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the rest of their projects!
@@mollyesanborn I think you'll find Ænima amazing as well, is definitelly a step up from Undertow but still has the same overall bottled up agressiveness, tho it sounds more advanced (kinda?) with song structure, writting and production (that's not to say the production on Undertow is bad, the whole thing is amazing). The songs also are packed with really cool topics, I don't remember if it has an overall theme such as the water in this one tho.
-On 'Bottom' the spoken part is Henry Rollins
-On 'Disgustipated', later in the track (after the sheep) you hear what sounds like squealing/screeching... that is the sound a rabbit in distress makes...
This album, and Rollins' album 'Weight' were on constant rotation on my cassette deck on college
Do you have a bio? I'm so fascinated by how much you appear to love this music you've never heard. I'm just curious how you've never heard much of this? Maybe a strict upbringing? Or a very different taste in music until now? You are really well versed in reviewing! So you clearly have a background in music. I'm genuinely curious 🙂! Or like you said and much like me, too much time on your hands 😅? Lovin your channel! Edit...funny you should mention fascinating lyrical themes during 4 Degrees 😂
Intolerance, Sober, and Flood are my favorites!
track ten used to be a hidden track on cassete tape side B. My brother and I were sitting in my car (my car was one of the first to flip from side A to side B without removing the cassette out of the deck. lololol how times have changed. Anyway after track 9 we just sat there talking and about 20 minutes later we start noticing crickets. From inside the car for about 10 minutes then sheep and voices....finally figured it out and again after the song was over.....more crickets...good memory of my brother. (we were in WTH mode intil the song actually started.) fun album.
This album has very unique themes, mainly revolving around water, and how it creates and destroys. And oh yeah, anal sex. Lol. I remember we didn't have the internet back then and we spent hours listening carefully to the words trying to understand what Maynard was saying. Great album. A masterwork. Saw them on this tour at Lollapalooza, too. Super intense show!
I knew you gonna love this album. And the guitar you talking about is actually bass (Paul D'Amour makes this record so unique)
Yea but Justin elevated the band above what Paul could ever do. Justin basically rides his bass like a monster.
The spoken word portion at the end used to be on track 99 or something after about 10 minutes of crickets.
Congratulations, your reactions / reviews are very complete and precise, they are very pleasant and open up several new ideas especially to albums with a few years ago. I would be very pleased if you reacted to the album Antichrist Superstar (produced and discovered by Trent Reznor of NIN) by Marilyn Manson, I'm sure you will like it a lot and you would make an interesting examination.
Thanks, I appreciate the kind words! Interestingly enough I have never really been able to get into Marilyn Manson's music, which is surprising to me considering Nine Inch Nails is my favorite band and has a very similar sound to a lot of Manson's stuff. Perhaps I will have to give his music another chance though, I didn't know that album was produced by Trent Reznor.
Nice, thanks!
Yes!!!!!!!!
:)
Fantastic video
Thanks! :)
That was a great reaction/review!!!! Please do the AEnima album!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I will certainly do Aenima too, can't wait to hear it.
@@mollyesanborn Most Definately! You should see them live, absolutely AMAZING!
Love
I can't wait for your review of Aenima!
Can't wait to hear it!
flood and undertow my all time favorites
Undertow album released 2 albums before Lateralus, so you're hearing a lineage much closer to "Grunge" era music, in time. I think you have good sensibilities to have picked that up. Aenima is like the bridge between Undertow and Lateralus. But the thing about Tool is each stage/album needs to be approached by its own right -- there's no best evolution, I don't think. Other than a generic statement saying talents mature with time, obviously.
Yeah, Undertow and Lateralus are very different for sure. I'm very curious to hear Aenima, the bridge in between them as you put it.
The entire appeal of undertow is that it’s absolutely not grunge which surprised people after opiate was more traditional
I'll watch every Tool and every SOAD video you make!
Thanks! I love making them :)
Who else remembers "Disgustipated" being track 69 on the CD?
Tracks 10 through 67 were empty and track 68 was only a couple of seconds of silence so the CD's running time would come out to 69:13.
Great album reaction.
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Definitely my fav Nu metal band 🎸
I know the lead lead singer Maynard was the lead singer for a band called a perfect circle if you never heard of them you might check them out. Good reactions btw I usually learn a new word from watching some of your videos lol.
Thanks for watching :)
A lot of others have been telling me to listen to A Perfect Circle, I will have to check them out!
the gun being fired on disgustipated is actually a sample from a video of maynard shooting a piano with a shotgun
That weird bit at the end of Disgustipated was from an answering machine recording from Maynard's landlord (I believe that's the case anyway). No idea why he left the message 🤣
That whole album is bad ass, but like many Tool songs and albums it takes many times listening to a song to really start to feel it.
Every time I know a storm is coming I listen to flood. It's definitely helped me with my fear of thunderstorms. I don't know how it helps but it does.
Bring it
Brought it
Good
And you listened to Disgustipated. Excellent
Of course, it wouldn't be the full Undertow experience without it! Such an interesting ending to the album.
I bought this album when it came out because of the cover. They didn't have any videos yet. No radio play in Dallas. I bought this album because it looked like the facehugger from Alien... Nothing else. What a great day that was.
Nice, glad the album cover enticed you enough to buy it!
You should check out their EP Opiate that came out a year before Undertow, if you want to get a sense of their evolution.
I once left this album in my car radio for six month straight. Finally had to swap it out because my friends wouldn’t stop bitching about it. 😁😁😁
I was happy to hear Henry Rollins was on this.
I love the Henry Rollins feature on Bottom.
You might like the opiate ep debut. Pretty interesting stuff. The title track is classic
I'll definitely have to check it out!
I still remember to this day when my older brother handed me this CD and told me it was going to change my life back in 1995.
If you look up Sylvia Massy you can see the band record alot of these songs at Sound City. They even have footage of Henry Rollins doing his spoken word section for Bottom!
She also has footage of SOAD recording their debut as well.
Cool, I'll have to check that out!
You mentioned The Mara Volta. How familiar are you with their discog?
I've heard all of their studio albums, I actually did an album ranking for them a while back on my channel if you're interested :)
@@mollyesanborn favorite band ever so yes absolutely interested lol
I think you’re going to absolutely love Aenima! I’d recommend doing that one next, then 10,000 Days, then Fear Innoculum so that you can really hear how their sound changed👍🏻
Ahh, I just did a reaction to it that's up now if you haven't seen it yet. And yes, I loved it! Might be my favorite album from Tool of the one's I've heard so far. I'm looking forward to 10,000 Days and Fear Innoculum :)
@@mollyesanborn yeah I watched it today and loved it! Your mind is gonna be blown with where they go next ✨
The song Sober pre-dates Tool. Thank God Maynard brought it with him when he got together with the guys. Search UA-cam, it’s pretty incredible how different it is.
Haha, oh wow! That is VERY different. It's weird hearing it at a much faster tempo and with a much less heavier tone to it. I'm glad it made it onto Undertow, the album version is just phenomenal.
Bottom is my favorite TOOL song ever. Still soooo good. Definitely their best album here IMO
Time for ÆNEMA!!!!! 🤘
I am getting Owen Wilson vibes from this Molly gal . . . . "w - o - w" and I think it rocks!!!!
haha, thanks :D
There is pre Lat and post lat albums pre lat is more angry post lat is more healing. Love that you're loving this album .
Yeah, comparing Undertow to Lateralus there is definitely a lot more of an aggressive, raw tone to Undertow. I'm looking forward to hearing their progression across the rest of their discography.
I am late! but i am here
Thanks for watching :)
"Flood" sounds like some "Melvins" stuff, i really liked it
Would you consider doing The Strokes discography?
I've already heard some albums from them, but I might try and get to a Strokes album ranking video sometime soon :)
Aww lil beans, your reactions are to cute
Sober is the best :)
Sober is my favorite!
THE CRIES OF THE CARROTS!
Great album! I highly recommend L.D. 50 from Mudvayne if you haven’t heard it yet
No, I haven't heard that one yet! Some others have recommended it in the comments though, I'll have to give it a listen.
👍🏻
This is the best Tool album for me!!
The ending to the song Undertow is one of the most killer endings to any song, by Tool or otherwise.
This album was produced by a woman named Sylvia Massey and i believe it was the first record she produced
wow, that's a pretty fantastic producing debut for her!
@@mollyesanborn She also produced the Opiate EP by Tool released before this one.
Still waiting for Toxicity and Pinkerton, keep up the good work!
They're coming, I can't wait to hear them!
I don't know if you noticed it but the intro of crawl away is 20 sec of very faint peruvian-like folk music. You need to push up the volume a lot to hear it clearly
That last message was supposedly an actual phone message left by Maynard's old landlord. I still to this day can't imagine the context behind it.
That's interesting, yeah I can't imagine what that message would have been about!