Unit (album)
| Unit | ||||
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| Studio album by Regurgitator | ||||
| Released | November 1997 Unit 19 October 1998 Re-Booted |
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| Recorded | "The Dirty Room", Brisbane Australia, in 1997 | |||
| Genre | Pop Alternative rock Electronica |
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| Length | 36:17 Unit 50:50 Re-Booted |
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| Label | Eastwest Records | |||
| Producer | Regurgitator, Magoo | |||
| Regurgitator chronology | ||||
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| Unit Re-Booted | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
Unit is the second full-length album by Australian band Regurgitator, released in November 1997. Its style is a mixture of 1980s style synthesised popular music and alternative rock, with some hip-hop influences. It was widely successful, receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews and five of the songs featured broke into the commercial mainstream, mostly due to their popularity with alternative radio stations (Triple J especially). On 19 October 1998, the album was re-released as Unit Re-Booted, which included the album's five video clips. In 1998, Unit won 5 ARIA awards, and in 1999, it went triple platinum, eventually selling over 240,000 copies.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Recording
Regurgitator had just completed their eleventh extensive Australian tour (with The Fauves and Tomorrow People), when they planned to begin work on the creation of their next album. However this was delayed when the band decided to make their third trip to America to do a tour with bands Helmet and The Melvins.
Upon return, the group rented a condemned warehouse in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley to write and record Unit. They affectionately named this studio "The Dirty Room".
Recording the album took six weeks. The band had no songs already written, and as the style of the album was different from that of their earlier album Tu-plang, there was a lot of work involved. On 2 August 1997, the album was complete.
[edit] Video clips
The bonus video clips featured on the re-release are varied in their style. At times they provide insights into the songs, but generally they are designed to be light-hearted and simple.
- "Everyday Formula" is based on the film Tron, with singer Quan sucked into a computer program (via laser beam) and is forced to play the first game in the film.
- "Black Bugs" is a computer animation of cartoon animal versions of the four band members.
- "Polyester Girl" is computer animation of shiny chrome women.
- "! (The Song Formerly Known As)" is simply the band members miming the song on the busy streets and subways of Tokyo.
- "Modern Life" is about the life of a textile worker.
- "I Like Your Old Remix Better Than Your New Remix", (a b-side to "The Fourth Single From Unit") featured animated versions of the four band members in both a virtual Pac-Man esque setting and a creek full of crocodiles. This video was the only one not featured on the re-release and is available on the single.
[edit] Coverart
The cover is a large, plain yellow circle centred on a plain silver background. On the outside surface of the jewel CD case is a transparent sticker with the words "REGURGITATOR" and "UNIT" printed in black for identification in stores. This minimalist design, credited to "The Shits" (Quan Yeomans and Janet English) and Ben Ely, won the 1998 ARIA award for best cover art.
Unit Re-Booted has very similar cover art, and came in four bright colour variations – lime green, purple, royal blue and peach-orange. On the re-releases, the title text was printed directly onto the paper.
[edit] Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff" | B. Ely | 2:35 |
| 2. | "Everyday Formula" | Q. Yeomans | 2:12 |
| 3. | "! (The Song Formerly Known As)" | (Unknown) | 3:25 |
| 4. | "Black Bugs" | B. Ely | 3:00 |
| 5. | "The World of Sleaze" | Q. Yeomans | 3:25 |
| 6. | "I Piss Alone" | Q. Yeomans | 2:05 |
| 7. | "Unit" | B. Ely/M. Lee/Q. Yeomans | 1:42 |
| 8. | "I Will Lick Your Arsehole" | Q. Yeomans | 3:20 |
| 9. | "Modern Life" | B. Ely | 2:23 |
| 10. | "Polyester Girl" | Q. Yeomans | 3:33 |
| 11. | "1234" | B. Ely | 0:51 |
| 12. | "Mr T" | B. Ely | 3:08 |
| 13. | "Just Another Beautiful Story" | Q. Yeomans | 4:38 |
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Total length:
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36:17 | ||
| Re-Booted music videos | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Everyday Formula" | 2:12 | |||||||
| 2. | "Black Bugs" | 3:00 | |||||||
| 3. | "Polyester Girl" | 3:33 | |||||||
| 4. | "! (The Song Formerly Known As)" | 3:25 | |||||||
| 5. | "Modern Life" | 2:23 | |||||||
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Total length:
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14:33 | ||||||||
This was the second, and last, Regurgitator album to be pressed on vinyl until 2011 when SuperHappyFunTimeFriends was released.
[edit] Singles
The singles from this album in Australia are:
- "Everyday Formula"
- "Black Bugs"
- "Polyester Girl"
- "The Fourth Single From Unit" (Double A-Side which included "! (The Song Formerly Known As)" and "Modern Life. It also included "I Like Your Old Remix Better Than Your New Remix" as the B-side).
A rumoured fifth single, "Just Another Beautiful Story", was never released.
[edit] Legacy
"Everyday Formula" was featured on The Wildhearts covers album Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before, Vol 1. In October 2010, the album was listed in the top 30 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.[3] In July 2011, the album was voted 10th in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time.
[edit] References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Artist Profile - Regurgitator, http://www.emimusicpub.com/worldwide/artist_profile/regurgitator_profile.html
- ^ O'Donnell, John; Creswell, Toby; Mathieson, Craig (October 2010). 100 Best Australian Albums. Prahran, Vic: Hardie Grant Books. ISBN 978-1-74066-955-9.
[edit] External links
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