Urge Overkill - Disc of the day

Features Disc of the day

Urge Overkill
Saturation

(Geffen, 1993)

Ill-starred Chicago trio’s killer fourth LP. Goes great with late ’60s rock and Mini Cheddars.

From time to time MOJO has a staff “do”. An occasional break from looking at photos of Jerry Dammers’ hats and searching for Gong live albums online to relax, drink and play records. Urge Overkill’s blistering 1993 album is a party perennial. Pogo-ing power pop like Positive Bleeding (straight off the back of SRC’s Up All Night - a Deputy Ed special) or nearly-hit Sister Havana sound fantastic on scratched orange vinyl cranked through speakers far too large for a pub back room. But Urge had their sights set firmly on big time glamour, not sticky carpets and drunken old lags. Led by guitarist and self-anointed “costume mistress” Nash Kato (responsible for their gold lame jumpsuits - the neckline forming the ‘U’, the ‘O’ cut out around the naval) this was the trio’s major label debut and it had no business not being a huge hit. Produced by experienced crossover hit makers The Butcher Brothers, every track is a winner from Tequila Sundae’s stadium-sized distorto riffing to Back On Me’s quietly strummed regret.

Sadly, Urge were somewhat previous in adopting the celebrity lifestyle (Keith Cameron of this parish remembers being driven around Chicago by the band in convertible with a cocktail cabinet in the back). Sales of Saturation were disappointing and although Tarantino’s use of their cover of Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon in Pulp Fiction the following year gained them the exposure they craved, the band took too long to follow it up with 2005’s patchy Exit The Dragon. Amid rumours of drug craziness and in-house fighting they disbanded (a brief, fluffed reunion not withstanding). If it all happened again today it’s hard to imagine them failing. The hooks, the hair, the audacious use of branding. Does anyone else still have their UO medallion?

Jenny Bulley

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 09/05/2008

Further Listening

Urge Overkill - Americruiser (SST)

Redd Kross – Phaseshifter (Polygram)

Big Star – #1 Record/Radio City (Fantasy)

SUGGEST YOUR OWN DISC OF THE DAY ON OUR MESSAGE BOARD HERE, OR, MORE PRIVATELY, HERE!

Comments

Comment on this post

Comments:

Name:

Click here for House Rules

"a brief, fluffed reunion not withstanding"?

the reunion is going fine, actually; the band has been touring the globe off and on for the past four years, and if you check out youtube you'll even find a recent performance of some new UO material.

Jeremy of Mood Control, the UO mailing list, fresh from polishing my medallion with pride

Posted by Jeremy at 7:05 PM GMT 09/05/2008 Report Abuse

Reply to this post