It's their own fault, but Underworld's third album, Beaucoup Fish, was never going to possess the bodyshock that their debut album, dubnobasswithmyheadman had in superabundance. From "Dark Train" to "Dirty Epic," from "Cowgirl" to the surreal epic "Mmm Skyscraper, I Love You," this album nuked the competition with floor-ripping rhythmic skills and totally bonkers lyrics. Only these cocky bastards could think they could get away (as they certainly do) with lines such as, "I've got my 501's freeze-dried with a new religion."

While other tracks on Beaucoup Fish are scared to really come out and be loud and proud for fear of becoming a "Born Slippy" rallying call, "King of Snake" certainly draws from that former greatness. Underworld have force-fed the bass loop from Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" beaucoup angel dust, and let the frenzied beast loose in a room of shrieking ghouls, led by Karl Hyde who whips them up into further delirium by shouting "Game boy!" and "Tom and Jerry!" at them. So, it sounds daft in print-- wait until you hear Rick Smith's remix versions!

On each of these singles, Smith adds his own takes. He keeps each mix short (under four minutes) and rather than just a quick edit of the album version, he's inserted voices even stranger than the wise old crone offering advise about how dangerous snake fighting can get. So, you get some plummy English lord (imagine that John Lydon had attended Eton and dropped a love dove-- that's the voice) exhorting all and sundry with, "Hey, fellow dancer, soul fellow, one time, one time, explode mystic dove! Start feeling." Smith periodically stops the track, creating a sort of auditory strobe effect. This effect gives his mixes even more unsettling appeal.

Ashley Beedle's take on "Save Our Discos" sticks closer to the original and, as you would expect from a member of the Ballistic Brothers and the X-Press 2 project, he's bigged up the piano vamps and made the track that much more housey.

Fatboy Slim really surprised me with his mix. Far from being some pop-dance cack, he's really thought about the song's structure and then gone ahead anyway, so shredding the bassline that it's barely recognizable. Fats has selected the Dionysiac delirium drum pattern from his library of percussion before grabbing his Roland 303 and setting it to acid burn the crowd as they're hectored by the distorted specter of Karl Hyde chanting the familiar slogans. This is the mix you're going to hear in the clubs, and you'll be taken away in an ambulance afterwards, too. Top night out, then!

On a different tip, but just as crucial, is Dave Clarke's technotic, filtermatic remix. Clarke's revered for his techno purity and hard bop- modelled drum programming. And all his trademarks are here, as he sweeps the track with his EQ filter to regulate the peaks and valleys and, cunningly, your synaptic responses, too. Also from the techno camp comes Slam (who are vastly underheard-– check out their kickass Headstates album and Dark Forces EP with the fine Claude Young remixes), who wrestle "King of Snake" to the floor and beat the royal crap out of his reptilian self. King gets right back up, dazed and hypnotic, drifting as though on the verge of unconsciousness, his eyes luridly spinning, and with a baby-munchingly evil grin on his face. You will genuflect before him. Now!

As all these mixes are equally superb, I have to wonder if "King of Snake" is such a smoking choon that nobody-- not even that geezer from Adamski-- could screw it up. At the moment, unfortunately, these are important singles and consequently about nine dollars apiece. But I assure you, while you might find pretenders to the throne, there is only the one King of Snake.

-Paul Cooper