Unit (album)

Unit (1997, Warner Music Australasia) was the second full-length album released by Regurgitator and argued by many to be the group's best work to date. It went double platinum by 1999 and won 5 ARIA awards. It mixes 80's style synthesized pop music with alternative rock, and also a taste of hip-hop.

Track Listing

1. "I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff"
2. "Everyday Formula"
3. "! (The Song Formerly Known As)"
4. "Black Bugs"
5. "The World of Sleaze"
6. "I Piss Alone"
7. "Unit"
8. "I Will Lick Your Arsehole"
9. "Modern Life"
10. "Polyester Girl"
11. "1234"
12. "Mr T"
13. "Just Another Beautiful Story"

Cover Art

The cover is a plain silver surface with a large, plain yellow circle. The outside of the transparent CD case contains a transparent sticker which says "Regurgitator" and "UNIT". This gives the effect of the writing being on the cover, inside the cirle, when in fact there is in reality no writing on the circle at all. This minimalist design, credited to The Shits (Quan Yeomans and Janet English) and Ben Ely, won the 1998 ARIA award for best cover art.

Production

At the time of making this album, the band consisted of Quan (guitar, vocals), Ben (bass, vocals), Martin (drums) and Shane (keyboards). The album was produced by Magoo (who has worked on albums with Jebediah, Spiderbait, Skunkhour, Midnight Oil, TISM, Sekiden, The Cruel Sea, Custard and Gerling amongst others). One track that was not selected for inclusion on the album was Hello which can now be found on the Happyland (side project by Quan and Spiderbait's Janet) album, Welcome to Happyland.

The Singles

The singles from this album in Australia were:

• Everyday Formula
• Polyester Girl
• Black Bugs
• The Fourth Single From Unit (Double A-Side which inluded ! and Modern Life)

All of the above songs have had video clips produced for them. Everyday Formula is based in a futuristic sporting battle a la TRON. Polyester Girl is computer animation of shiny chrome women. Modern Life is about the life of a textile worker. Black Bugs is a computer animation of cartoon animal versions of the four band members. Finally, ! (The Song Formerly Known As) is simply the band members miming the song on the busy streets and subways of Tokyo.

Re-Release

The album was also re-released several years later as Unit Rebooted. This had the added bonus of different coloured covers and 4 bonus CD-ROM videos.

See Also

• Tu-plang

Bibliography

• Adrian Bright, The Unit http://www.ibitsu.com/unit (http://www.ibitsu.com/unit)
• Official Regurgitator Website (http://www.regurgitator.net)
• Consume Management Website (http://www.consume.com.au)