Customer Reviews

Saturation

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Saturation is worth a spot in the CD case for the hit "Sister Havana" alone! Ever so often, I clean out my CD collection, and this one usually ends up in the "maybe" pile until I listen to "Sister Havana" again, and then it quickly goes into the "keep" pile. Actually, there are other awesome tracks on Saturation. "Tequila Sundae" also kicks! Blackie O's drumming flies and the opening guitar riff really rocks! "Positive Bleeding" blends a heavy rock sound with a very catchy melody. I'm not sure if this was ever released as a single, but it would have been another perfect choice. It also sports some of Nash Kato's best vocal work. "Back on Me" is a slow, pleasant track. It sounds like Tom Petty (in fact, Nash's vocals could be mistaken for Petty's here). I like the whining guitar on it. "Woman 2 Woman" rocks hard but is also catchy, especially at the verses. "Bottle of Fur" is a slower classic rocker similar to the Black Crowes.

So far, this album is almost perfect. Unfortunately, the latter half is not near as good. "Crackbabies," at first, sounds very cool with the simple opening keyboard notes and the driving verse, but I end up not liking it as the chorus is repetitive and annoying. "The Stalker" it a lot of noise. "Dropout" is a different-sounding track. The keyboards on it are unique, but it is kind of a weak-sounding song (well, it's about a dropout, so I guess that is appropriate). "Erica Kane," about the All My Children character, of course, is a catchy rocker. Anyone whose watched the show can relate to the line "you find yourself in such a mess." The high-pitched vocals at the bridge detract from it, however. "Nite and Grey" is a decent track. I like the chorus. "Heaven 90210" is a slower rocker that is, again, a classic style. It is OK, but not spectacular. There is also a hidden bonus track which scared the heck out of me one day when I didn't push "stop" after the CD ended and forgot about it. It is not worth the wait. It is a very noisey song with lyrics that are indecipherable (they almost sound backwards). The CD is not "saturated" with great songs. To me, it has always seemed like a 6-track EP because the first half is so much better than the second. I was going to give it three stars, but have added a fourth because "Sister Havana" kicks so much fanny.

I love this CD. I bought it when it came out and went to see them play in Athens. I still listen to it all the time. I'm about to buy a 3rd CD because I've worn the others out, but I've been unable to find one. Now I know why. Why no one has heard of this band is beyond me.

Since UO is back together and touring, I don't see why this CD isn't on a shelf somewhere. It's a crime! Can't wait to see the show though.

Am I reading this right? Is "Saturation" truly out of print? If so, that's a tradgedy. Urge's major-label debut was premium guitar rock and roll, mostly upbeat, bright-sounding songs that somewhat clashed with the heavy grunge environment that infiltrated the times upon its release. This was a 3-piece outfit with a sense of humor and great songwriting skills. They reveled in their mostly unironic tunes, their fast image, and rough-and-tumble, refreshingly angstless attitude. "Sister Havana" starts things off with an absolutely irresistable riff, and the chorus - "girl you've got to rooooll!" sums up Urge Overkill's basic attitude throughout "Saturation." It's just somewhat of a mystery that these guys didn't explode into big-time popularity; afterall, song after song on this album is loaded with meaty, catchy hooks, and sing-a-long lyrics everywhere. Urge were definitely part of the rising apex of all those great guitar bands that led off the 1990's. Only the funky, clean beat of the atypically gloomy "Dropout" veers from the straight-out, down-home riffage that makes this album such a true classic. Here's hoping these guys reform, and that "Saturation" will soon be around and in print for others to enjoy.

_Saturation_ is one of my favorite rock albums. Nearly ten years after its release, it still sounds great. It reminds you of the great commercial rock bands and artists that were making music from 1991 to 1994 - ahh, a time when songs on the radio didn't make you sick to your stomach. Anyway, from the power pop of "Sister Havana" and "Positive Bleeding", to the Soul Asylum-grit of "Back on Me", every song on this album is a winner. "Stalker" sounds like the kind of song the original Kiss would've written if they had picked up their instruments in the early 90s instead of the late 60s/early 70s. With its subtle electronic drum beat, "Dropout" sounds like something that could've came from U2's _Zooropa_. And who can not like the tongue-in-cheek, but still poignant, "Heaven 90210" ("She gives me heavenly thrills, 90210..."). Erica Kane even gets her own song! So, even though it might sound as if this album will now sound dated, it's really a great hard rock album with timeless songs.

Let's face it: if it weren't for their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", which found its way onto the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack, few people (myself included) would have ever heard of Urge Overkill. Which is tragic, considering how good this album is.

"Saturation" is hard-edged pop for those who didn't know they liked pop (myself included). The opener, "Sister Havana", is a fun rocker which paints a picture of Fidel Castro and his groupies cavorting on the beaches of Cuba--it was a college radio hit. "Erica Kane" and "Heaven 90210" explore the band's cynical fascination with popular culture, and the twisted "Crackbabies" is a knock against tabloid news.

Other great tunes include: "Bottle of Fur", "Tequila Sundae" and "Positive Bleeding". In fact, there isn't a bad tune on this disc--which was supposed to be the band's breakthrough. Instead, after one more fine album ("Exit the Dragon"), Urge Overkill succumbed to alleged drug problems within the band, which eventually broke them up. Too bad. There are listeners who would have liked to hear more from them (myself included).

This really is a great alt-pop album from 1993, and I suspect their best one. I've got the orange vinyl. It starts off with the hit "Sister Havana", which really does have the best opening riff ever, and rocks on from there. "Positive Bleeding" was another single I think, and a catchy track. Two other stand-outs are "Crackbabies", and the slower "Dropout". There's also a hidden track, but it should probably stay hidden. These guys has a great style, and no doubt rocked. Now that they seem to be history, they should put a "Best Of" out. "Nash Kato" did release a solo album however.

Ten years later, it still gets better every time I listen to it. Long before it became cool again to like rock and roll because it just kicked [butt], there was Urge. Why they never ruled the universe is still beyond me . . . maybe it was because their music seemed too devoid of the angst, politics, and streetcorner psychoanalysis that rock music needed to make a commercial statement in the 90s?
Whatever the reason, it's a true shame that Saturation isn't listed among the great rock albums of the last 25 years. Hot guitar, lyrics that sparkle with wit and sting with irony, and that voice. . . my God, that voice.

Urge at their studio-rockin'est, came up with can quite honestly be described as a classic rock album. Front to back, each cut transports you within the boundaries of yourself to somewhere you enjoy (got that?). Anyway, it is a real crime that UO never quite made it, and that can probably be blamed on their intermittent, infrequent touring schedule. I was lucky to see them several times back in the early '90s in Chicago, and if you've ever seen them live, you know why I say I was lucky. "Heaven 90210" is the hidden gem of this cavalcade of campy kickass cacophony - hearing NK beg Cal-i-for-ni-ay not to "slip and slide into the sea on me" brings a smile to my face every time, for so many reasons.

Has stood the test of time and still feels good to listen to....

This CD opens with a bona-fide rock and roll with it classic, "Sister Havana." A quintessential song for blasting as you ride down the highway with the top down, like in the Video!! Hopefully you won't be wearing their trademark gold medallions, that's a bit hokey, but these guys are so musically cool, we'll overlook the strange outfits.

There's lots of other good music in this CD, but to me "Bottle of Fur" is the best cut of all. The bottle of fur Nash Kato sings so longingly for is his lost lady. A very sexy analogy if you listen, "missing the smell of her...bottle of fur." The refrain where he sings with a cry "We used to make it 'til daylight...now I sleep alone..."then the beautiful guitars and smashing drums resume while he repeats the latter. Last and best, the wonderful tubular bells that clang in a slightly discordant yet perfect harmony through the refrain elevate this cut to outstanding. If you have this CD, listen again. If you don't, buy it now.