"...it takes four or five listens to sink your teeth into it, but once you do you'll never tire of either of these tracks. I should also mention that this record has the most perfect drum sound since Physical Graffiti, and that this record is one good reason to spare Bruce Pavitt's life." --R. Griffin, "Seven" mag
Henry over at Chunklet already covered the Urge Overkill thing pretty thoroughly, so I'll only add that I used to be a fairly big UOK fan at one time (I had two copies of their first EP, "Strange, I...", though only because the band made the mistake of sending it to me twice, and I thought their first LP was totally ace), and this single definitely stands as their high-water mark. UOK started out with a fairly standard Big Black-style rumble, but once they figured out how to throw a hard rock swagger over the top of things, their stuff got damn interesting for a while. At times, the two songs here sound more like one of those Doug Gillard-led Cleveland outfits (Gem, Death of Samantha, Cobra Verde, etc) than anything specifically from Chicago. Of course, later on they degenerated into a band that even Joan Jett could like, but that's not the point here. Getting your ears shit-kicked by everlasting rock, that's the friggin' point.
Urge Overkill -
"Now That's The Barclords"
"What's This Generation Coming To?"
(these files are now listen-only)
7 comments:
ooh I love this one! "Erica Kane" smokes too, and ranks right up there with "Daytime Dilemma" by the Ramones in terms of ALL MY CHILDREN themed barn burners.
I used to really like their song "Dump" (from their first LP), but then everyone else thinks that song sucks, so I dunno...
An absolutely FLAWLESS single. Probably Urge's high water mark.
John Petkovic is gonna kick your ass, now! Gem was Doug's band, sure, but Death of Samantha and Cobra Verde are Petkovic's babies.
On the other hand, I commend you for not making the egregious and offensive mistatement that any of the three are Guided by Voices side-projects! Reading that always make me want to hurt somebody. Bad.
Ah, well-- it's just that I couldn't think of a better way to say that his guitar playing was a main feature in all three bands. Not like he was the frontman or anything, obviously.
It's pretty much a crime that the only way most people have heard of D.o.S. and Cobra Verde, I'm sure, is as a side mention in GBV write-ups....
The mp3 files on this post are now listen-only (non-downloadable) files.
Jesus Urge Superstar is one of my favorite records, the best one UO ever did in my opinion. Supersonic Storybook is another gem. I saw them last year, and they just played mostly stuff from the 2 latest records (the over-produced, smooth stuff). Too bad they don't cherish their older stuff like they should.
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