Customer Reviews

Urban Verbs

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's been 20+ years since I listened to this album and still, every so often, one of these songs will spontaneously enter my head and stay all day. This is truly one of the best and most
influential song collections of the '80s. The UVs certainly never got the attention they so well deserved. I too could listen to this collection over and over for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. It's completely excellent.
-PJ

I can't stop listening to this CD. Somebody help me! This CD remains intense, complex, and it still rocks -- even after 20 years. It's too bad this band never got the attention it deserved, when they were together. This band was "alternative" before anyone knew what "alternative" really was. Brian Eno saw them in concert early on, and demanded to record them. Pretty cool.

Back when I was a new wave punk my brother and I used to go see the Urban Verbs perform in a little dive in Washington D.C. called the Atlantis that was later renamed the 9:30 Club which is still around though in a different physical space. We'd see them every chance we got because the Verbs always put on a great show and this CD manages to capture most of their magic. I loved the Talking Heads and found out that Verbs vocalist Roddy Frantz was the brother of Heads drummer Chris. There's definitely a hint of David Byrne's quirky delivery in Roddy's wonderfully dramatic singing but at the same time Roddy does have a unique voice and he had a truly unforgettable stage presence. It would have been interesting to hear what producer/ambient god/music theorist Brian Eno did with the Verbs' sound but it's nicely produced just the same. Roddy frequently saw me in the small audience and at one point asked if I'd be interested in funding the recording of their album but I was just a lowly (and frequently broke) bank teller at the time. To this day I don't why he asked me this but I assume he was drawn to my strange appearance (see my profile page)...

My choice tracks on this CD are the frantic "Subways", the theatrical "Next Question", the energetic and humourous "Ring-Ring (My Telephone's Talking)", the slyly romantic "Only One of You", the moody and atmospheric "Tina Grey" and the wickedly satiric ode to L.A.,"Good Life". You owe it to yourself to check out this very cool artifact of the 80's.

Masters of the 'pent-up frustration' song, I always loved this album--a very promising debut. The biting lyrics are great fun too. My favorite line: "You'll arrive with your scotch and your problems.." A good twitchy, cerebral, sarcastic, dancey album from the post punk/new wave era.

It's rare to attend an concert and have magic happen, so I was overjoyed when I first heard the Urban Verbs' complex music and intelligent lyrics at the U MD Student Union in 1979. I went to many of their local shows in the DC area, and bought their two albums. This is the first and, in my opinion, the better of the two. My favorite tracks are "The Angry Young Men" and "Tina Grey." I'm delighted to see it available again on CD.

If there were any justice in the world, the Verbs would have enjoyed long music careers. Sadly, they broke up after only a few years. At least we have this CD, though it's a shame they never recorded one of my favorite songs, "Pensive People."

When I bought this album in 1981, I got it for the fast songs - Subways, Frenzy and Ring Ring (My Telephone's Talking) - but now in 2011 I love every song and still listen to it very regularly. The fast songs are still the highlight for me but the whole album has a really distinctive sound and is very consistent. Good Life is particularly impressive and the way it ends the album is simply brilliant. If I had to pick a weak point, it would probably be The Angry Young Men but even that song is a 3.5 out of 5, so it's not exactly bad.

The songs are all built around great rhythms with a very distinctive guitar weaving through them. The vocals are really different and the lyrics are great. It's hard to make comparisons but if you ever thought A Flock of Seagulls would be great if they had more energy and were a bit harder, I think you would really enjoy this album.

The Urban Verbs were a DC based group with connections to the Talking Heads through Chris Frantz. The sound of this album at times mirrors the alienated frenzy of the Talking Heads' "More Songs About Buildings and Food" or "Talking Heads: 77". The Urban Verbs add a strong droning element to many of their songs, with synthesizers looping sounds a la Philip Glass. A very potent musical mix to which is added some exceptional new wave lyrics.

I haven't listened to this album through in years, but I have all its songs on my Ipod and every time one comes on I stop and listen. Outstanding songs off the album are "Next Question" (great lyrics - "If this is love, I was born a survivor" and "Is this love, or just a feeling"), "Ring-Ring (My Telephone'S Talking), "Only One of You" and "Subways". If you are a fan of the Talking Heads or good new wave music/early 80's, pick this album up. You won't regret it.

Like many debut albums, this shows a band that was trying hard to come up with a unique identifiable style that would make them stand out from the crowd. The results are a variation of different styles that lack focus. Roddy Franz's frantic vocals (sometimes with a faux-British accent) and good production are the only trademarks between them all.

It starts off with "Subways". This is a lushly-produced song very similar to Ultravox's "Can't Stay Long". Both have a simple bass rhythm, swirls of distant guitars and synthesizers, and first-person observations while being in motion. The slower "Next Question" repeats this style with almost as much success. What defines this style to me is the seamless fusion of synthesizers and guitars. Instead of having the synths and guitars stick out of the mix which was the fashion at the time, they're subtle and layered together creating a powerful sound. The Cars and other synth bands would soon adopt this sound.

Unfortunately this style isn't apparent in many other songs. They take influences from Talking Heads, the Cars and other high-energy New Wave bands of the era. There are some standouts. The creepy echoy "Luca Brasi" starts like a Joy Division song but sudden tempo changes make it unlike any song I've heard. This was definitely a band that could come up with unusual ideas. "The Only One of You" is a good song that would have benefited from the lusher "Subways" production but ends up sounding like a single guitar song with a synth fading in and out.

The remaining stronger songs like "Tina Grey", "Good Life" are fine by themselves but do nothing to define the band's style or where they belong in the history of New Wave music. The production is still excellent but the arrangements are simpler, conventional and lacking catchy hooks. The weaker songs like "Ring Ring (My Telephone's Talking)" and "The Angry Young Men" sound a little too desperate and predictable for me to think they were anything more than mediocre New Wave songs being carried by pure energy and good musicianship.