Tom Kielty

URGE OVERKILL - "Saturation"

URGE OVERKILL

“Saturation”

Geffen Records - June 8, 1993

Not enough people knew who Urge Overkill was before, “Saturation,” so, they decided to change that. They got the Butcher Brothers (Phil and Joe Nicolo who had worked with artists as varied as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Cypress Hill and Nine Inch Nails, try to beat that) and Andy Kravitz to produce, and made an album that just blazes from start to finish. The trio (Nash Kato, Eddie “King” Roeser and Blackie Onassis) were already heroic in their residence of Chicago but this blast took that legend further. “Sister Havana,” and, “Positive Bleeding,” both charted on alternative radio and if you can name another album that features Jack Lord’s “Steve McGarrett” from “Hawaii Five-O” in a song titled for soap legend, “Erica Cane” (Susan Lucci) then you have it on me. That’s how wide-ranging the pop culture references are and that would be a novelty if not for the fact that all of these songs are so good. And, they knew it. In the midst of grunge understatement, the Urge were full-on fucking rock stars! When other musicians were mining thrift stores for fashion, Urge Overkill were turning up in leisure suits or smoking jackets and making it absolutely work. The world today needs the combination of unabashed energy and total cool that Urge Overkill pulled off effortlessly more than ever.