Urge Overkill was misunderstood in real time; it’s unlikely the band will join Archers Of Loaf or Pavement in the playlists of 20-somethings who crowd-source their underground history (shame, because their reunited incarnation is pretty strong). Truth is, between a bad initial stretch and a really bad flameout, Urge Overkill made an album and an EP of top-shelf whatever-you-want-to-call-it. The opening hit cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” is skippable, but the remainder of Stull makes this the EP in question. They were always ahead of the curve, be it covering a Bloodstains/Killed By Death obscurity (the Alan Milman Sect’s “Stitches”), summoning Crazy Horse for the beautiful “Goodbye To Guyville” (yes, where Liz Phair got the term) or prematurely force-feeding an excellent take on Cheap Trick to the indie underground. This reissue e ffort is format-focused on bringing the 10-inch vinyl version back into the fold, so while there’s no bonus material, the first 500 do come on white wax.
—Andrew Earles
