Push Upstairs was the single which accompanied the release of Beaucoup Fish, the third studio album by Underworld released in March 1999.
It was an eagerly awaited moment, the band having not released any new material since 1996 and in the intervening period having become a household name thanks to Born Slippy (Nuxx) being one of the many great songs associated with the hit film Trainspotting.
It doesn’t disappoint whatsoever, offering again the big, throbbing and pounding beat and the near impossible to make out stream-of-conscious lyric while providing the bonus of an imaginative and superb use of a house-style piano loop. Once again, I found myself listening to an Underworld song and wishing I was a wee bit younger, wanting to head into a nightclub with some confidence and dance myself stupid until my legs gave way from under me, instead of feeling rattled and scared by those who patiently but loudly stood in the long snaking queues, often underneath leaden and damp skies in my home city.
mp3 : Underworld – Push Upstairs
I heard this again for the first time in a long while, thanks to a random appearance via the shuffle feature. It is genuinely outstanding…..
Here’s the two remixes made available on CD1:-
mp3 : Underworld – Push Upstairs (Roger S. Blue Plastic People Mix)
mp3 : Underworld – Push Upstairs (Adam Beyer Mix 1)
There may well be some of you who like these remixes but they simply act as a reminder of why I have my struggles with a lot of dance music and why it is that I prefer Underworld under their own steam to most others.
The single reached #12 and remains the band’s best-performing 45 chartwise outside of the big hit.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I love this band. And wasyoung enough to dance myself into a frenzy on numerous occasions. But like you, I find the remixes unnecessary…
It’s funny. I was all about dance music until 1987. As soon as E hit and house and techno happened I completely lost my taste for it. Anything for the decade prior I could be up for. As far as modern remixes, I did not hear any that I cared for until the last decade or so. I stopped collecting many a dance music artist due to the [to my ears] poor 12″ mixes being regurgitated into the market during ’87-2004 or so. When remixes became a challenge to see how few actual sounds of the record in question being remixed could contain. While simultaneously being as minimal and repetitive as possible.