Urge Overkill: Classic or Dud

Still think this cover might be my favorite of all time. I mean, it's probably terrible in a way but looking at it always makes me so happy

http://991.com/NewGallery/Urge-Overkill-Saturation---Oran-424122.jpg

I even love the Geffen symbol hanging up there like a distant star.

i had the orange vinyl! and i always wanted one of those 'catch the fever!' UO tee shirts kurt c wore...

On the inside, there is a man there
Strapped in a black chair
Ask him his name, and he'll say, and he'll say:
I am the late Alpha of electric Omega
Tried and fried down in Georgia
But my body won't die

Hit me again

Fried on the inside
Fried on the inside
But alive on the outside
Two-minute warning sounds
Enthroned is a killer
He's double dead now

I'm walkin' down death row
Don't want my mamma to know
Her little chicken
Too young to fry

Are you scared of dying?
- I don't mind if I go
Tell me why you're crying?
- I don't know, I don't know

HIT ME!

Saturation is such a good album, i feel like america failed these guys

and yeah, saturation cover is brilliant

saturation did okay. i think it's more that exit the dragon failed america.

exit the dragon is great!

Yes.

exit the dragon is good its just a major downer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3fsaa-SgZw

Saturation is so great, but I still always wince when the vocals come on in The Stalker.

nah, the vibes and production are cool, but the tunes just aren't there. (with the exception of "the mistake", of course. that one's great, but it fucking towers over the rest of the album.) jay otm 7 years back:

After the great Cheap Trick pastiche that is "Saturation," this was much of a letdown as I've ever experienced from any american band...

my favorites, ranked:

Saturation
Jesus Urge Superstar (really hard not to call this my favorite, but the production is a huge obstacle)
The Supersonic Storybook
Americruiser (half brilliant, half pretty good)

Saturation had "Sister Havana" right? that was on MTV all the time at least.

Supersonic Storybook is their classic imo.

We've never recorded in the big leagues before.

Is this thing on?

You got it

We've never recorded in the big leagues before.

Is this thing on?

You got it

We've never recorded in the big leagues before.

Is this thing on?

You got it

We've never recorded in the big leagues before.

Is this thing on?

You got it

these guys never delivered on the hooks/melodies front like I wanted them too

also "Bottle of Fur" lol ok we geddit

i can't think of a band that seemed so equally earnest and ironic. even on exit the dragon, where clearly little fun is being had, they're just trapped in this self-aware wanna-be superstar crying over cliches mode. totally disagree with shakey on the hooks front, songs are jam-packed imo

Truman's Water?

haven't heard them, only vaguely aware of the name

I wasn't being entirely serious.

i love love love exit the dragon.
its like the darkest corners of the 70s rock world all encased on one perfect album.
still getting my head around the new one.

Also - what is the song sampled at the end of Nite And Grey under the lines I quoted above? Sounds like Love's all around, no need to waste it?

I had Jesus Urge Superstar back in the day and the only song with a hook I could remember was the one they didn't write

Oh it's "Love's ALL Around". Well, never mind then

xp

these guys never delivered on the hooks/melodies front like I wanted them too

xp dang, you got standards. saturation is about as hook & tune heavy as a power pop album could hope to be. easily holds its own w/ nevermind, phaseshifter and bandwagonesque (comparison to immediate peers).

mary tyler moore theme

didn't really give the new album much of a try, felt like they were getting back to the pre-supersonic sound, which is eh (ok shakey, if you're talking about the first two albums rather than the three - two on a major - that followed, yes they were low on hooks)

part of why i've never been able to get into BOC is how relatively glib they sound, aside from the occasional Buck Dharma love ballad or hard rock hit

"man uo just never brought the hooks on their unpopular obscure debut album"

so obscure teenage me in the middle of nowhere suburbia got a copy

"i grew up in a cool suburb"

also isn't that their third album...?

my suburb sucked lol

mine too!

iirc I got it cuz it was written up in Spin and Daniel Clowes did some of the sleeve art

and there was other stuff on Touch and Go that I liked a lot

you're talking about supersonic storybook then, not jesus urge superstar

"nash was the walrus"
"shut up, shakey"

and I saw them play (I think after Saturation came out?) - Luscious Jackson opened and UO had a big black guy in a cowboy hat playing bass for some reason and they were terrible

I saw them open for The Breeders in London and I bought a UO medallion from the mercy stand which I have since lost =(

I had Jesus Urge Superstar back in the day and the only song with a hook I could remember was the one they didn't write

it's all originals? but yeah, it's not much of a pop album. hooks are definitely there, but they're primitive, subverted, buried in noise and murk. i like the combination of ridiculous ambition and complete ineptitude, the way these magnificent ROCK OPUSES occasionally become visible through the fucked-up production and arrangement. but i've spent a LOT of time listening to it, so...

haha mercH stand

xp

but yeah Supersonic Storybook was the one I had. sorry for the confusion.

xp

(was referring to the song "Emmaline" as being the only memorable one btw)

The shadows make no sense on that Saturation cover

supersonic storybook is rad

http://tyrannyoftradition.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/deathtongue2.jpg

haha mercH stand

i thought "mercy stand" was intentional and brilliant

The shadows make no sense on that Saturation cover

it's nighttime! all the lights are on! also the sun is out.

I wish

xp

also the sun has a sticker of a sun on it http://www.emotty.com/images/emoticons/907.png