Unit (album)

Unit is the second full-length album by Regurgitator, released in November, 1997. Its style is a mixture of 1980s style synthesized pop music and alternative rock, with some hip-hop influences. It was widely successful and five of the songs featured broke into the commercial mainstream, mostly due to their popularity with alternative radio stations (Triple J especially). Many consider it to be the group's best work to date. On October 19, 1998, the album was re-released as Unit Re-Booted, which included five bonus video clips. In 1998, Unit won 5 ARIA awards, and in 1999, it went triple platinum, eventually selling over 240,000 copies.^[1]

1 Recording
2 Video clips
3 Cover art
4 Track listing
5 Singles
6 References
7 External links

[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 August 2, 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 in a futuristic sporting battle a la Tron. "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. Finally, "Modern Life" is about the life of a textile worker.

Unit Re-Booted

[edit] Cover art

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 (ie. clear) sticker with the words "REGURGITATOR" and "UNIT" printed in black on it. This creates the visual impression that the words are printed on the paper cover art, but in fact they're not. 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-Boooted has very similar cover art, and came in four bright colour variations – lime green, purple, royal blue and peach-orange. The visual trick used on the original release was abandoned for the re-release in favour of the more common practice of printing solely on the paper cover.

[edit] Track listing

"I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff" (B. Ely) – 2:35
"Everyday Formula" (Q. Yeomans) – 2:12
"! (The Song Formerly Known As)" (Q. Yeomans) – 3:25
"Black Bugs" (B. Ely) – 3:00
"The World of Sleaze" (Q. Yeomans) – 3:25
"I Piss Alone" (Q. Yeomans) – 2:05
"Unit" (B. Ely/M. Lee/Q. Yeomans) – 1:42
"I Will Lick Your Arsehole" (Q. Yeomans) – 3:20
"Modern Life" (B. Ely) – 2:23
"Polyester Girl" (Q. Yeomans) – 3:33
"1234" (B. Ely) – 0:51
"Mr T" (B. Ely) – 3:08
"Just Another Beautiful Story" (Q. Yeomans) – 4:38

Unit Re-Booted contains the following bonus video clips:

"Everyday Formula" – 2:12
"Black Bugs" – 3:00
"Polyester Girl" – 3:33
"! (The Song Formerly Known As)" – 3:25
"Modern Life" – 2:23

This was the second, and last, Regurgitator album to be pressed on vinyl (after Tu-plang).

[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")

A rumoured fifth single, "Just Another Beautiful Story", was never released.