Unit (album)

Regurgitator had just completed their eleventh extensive Australian tour (with The Fauves and Tomorrow People), when they planned to start recording a follow-up to their first album, Tu-Plang. This was delayed when the band decided to make their third trip to America to do a tour with bands Helmet and The Melvins. Yeomans said of the tour, "I remember being completely frightened the whole time. They were real hard-arses. Helmet were a little army unit, and their fans were fucking really intense, really aggressive guys. Yeah, really full-on. So maybe it did have an effect."{{cite web|author=Matt Shea|work=Mess and Noise|title=Regurgitator's 'Unit': 'It's A Really Weird Dot on the Landscape' |url=http://www.messandnoise.com/articles/4519442 |access-date=23 October 2012|date=24 September 2012}} In 2008, manager Paul Curtis recalled that Yeomans had also stated "thank god Grinspoon came along because they took all the male angst away from our shows".{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s2409418.htm |title=The Album Series – Regurgitator: Unit | media | triple j |publisher=Abc.net.au |access-date=12 November 2012}}

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". Yeomans said, "Martin did a lot of the set up – Magoo as well – and they put in carpet underlay that they'd found somewhere that was just filthy. Ergh! It had this real soporific effect as soon as you walked in and you just wanted to fall asleep. One of the funny stories is Rob Cavallo coming in to have a listen to one of the tracks, and he just fell asleep on this piss-stained mattress we had lying on the ground. It was a really dingy vibe."

Regurgitator had begun experimenting with drum machines and synthesizers on their first album, Tu-Plang. Amongst the gear that Yeomans and Ely were using at the time was the Clavia Nord Lead, the Akai S3000XL, the Farfisa Super Bravo Organ and the newly released Roland MC-303 "Groovebox, which featured on a number of tracks including "Unit" and "Polyester Girl".{{cite web|url=http://www.themusicnetwork.com/music-features/artists/2012/09/04/retrospective-track-by-track-regurgitator-unit/ |title=Retrospective track-by-track: Regurgitator, Unit – Artists |publisher=The Music Network |access-date=12 November 2012}} Ely stated that the track that ultimately helped the band decide the change in musical direction was the ironically titled "I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff", which began as a punk rock track with some keyboard but gradually "breaking it down with a more minimal keyboard heavy sound, leaving off most of the distorted guitar attack, and adding a vocoder gave the song something we were excited and terrified by at the same". Magoo added, "Martin said, 'Let's go full Ultravox!" We started going, let's record the drums without cymbals. Let's have the keyboards play the basslines."{{cite book |title=Pig City: From the Saints to Savage Garden | page=285 |year=2016 |publisher=University of Queensland Press | isbn=9780702235610|author=Andrew Stafford }}

After 6 weeks of recording, the album was completed on 2 August 1997.

It has been labelled as being less guitar-based than their previous work.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/regurgitator-unit-polyester-girl-song-formerly-known-as-quan-ben/101602488|title=In 1997, Regurgitator's Unit seemed like a gamble — 25 years on it still sounds like a triumph|date=6 November 2022|website=Double J}} "Everyday Formula" was chosen as the lead single since its heavier sound would be less of a departure for the band's old fans. The guitars on that song have been described as being overly "fuzzy" and almost "cartoonish", in contrast to their previous album Tu-Plang.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucc.asn.au/~tommo/unit.html|title=Album Review: Regurgitator - Unit|website=www.ucc.asn.au}} AllMusic believed that the album had a strong 1980s synthesizer pop influence, unlike Tu-Plang which had more of a contemporary 1990s sound. They wrote that "pleasant, melodic pop songs take over from Tu-Plang's hip hop/metal/funk disasters like 'Couldn't Do It'". Some tracks like "!" and "Polyester Girl" have been called almost entirely electronic songs.

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.

{{Music ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/unit-mw0000926693|title=Unit - Regurgitator | Album | AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}

}}

In October 2010, the album was listed in the top 30 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.{{Cite book | title = 100 Best Australian Albums | last1 = O'Donnell | first1 = John | author-link1 = John O'Donnell (music journalist) | last2 = Creswell | first2=Toby | author-link2 = Toby Creswell | last3 = Mathieson | first3 = Craig | author-link3 = Craig Mathieson | publisher = Hardie Grant Books | date = October 2010 | location = Prahran, Vic | isbn = 978-1-74066-955-9 }} In July 2011, the album was voted 10th in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time. In December 2021, the album was listed at no. 14 in Rolling Stone Australia's '200 Greatest Albums of All Time' countdown.[https://au.rollingstone.com/rolling-stones-200-greatest-australian-albums-of-all-time Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time]. Rolling Stone Australia, Rolling Stone Australia, 06 December 2021. Retrieved 06 December 2021.

Regurgitator played Unit & Tu-Plang in full on the RetroTech Tour in 2012.

In 2017, Regurgitator played a special one-off show at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre celebrating 20 years of Unit, with the show called UNIT20. The show was filmed & was later released on DVD in 2019.

In 2022, the album was included in the Oceania line of the 33¹⁄3 book series.{{Cite web |last=bloomsbury.com |title=Regurgitator's Unit |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/regurgitators-unit-9781501381768/ |access-date=2023-05-16 |website=Bloomsbury |language=en}}

In 2023, Regurgitator toured around Australia for 25 years of Unit, with Custard, DZ Deathrays, Butterfingers & Glitoris.

{{Track listing

| headline = Unit track listing

| title1 = I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff

| writer1 = B. Ely

| length1 = 2:35

| title2 = Everyday Formula

| writer2 = Q. Yeomans

| length2 = 2:12

| title3 = ! (The Song Formerly Known As)

| writer3 = Q. Yeomans

| length3 = 3:25

| title4 = Black Bugs

| writer4 = B. Ely

| length4 = 3:00

| title5 = The World of Sleaze

| writer5 = Q. Yeomans

| length5 = 3:25

| title6 = I Piss Alone

| writer6 = Q. Yeomans

| length6 = 2:05

| title7 = Unit

| writer7 = B. Ely/M. Lee/Q. Yeomans

| length7 = 1:42

| title8 = I Will Lick Your Arsehole

| writer8 = Q. Yeomans

| length8 = 3:20

| title9 = Modern Life

| writer9 = B. Ely

| length9 = 2:23

| title10 = Polyester Girl

| writer10 = Q. Yeomans

| length10 = 3:33

| title11 = 1234

| writer11 = B. Ely

| length11 = 0:51

| title12 = Mr T

| writer12 = B. Ely

| length12 = 3:08

| title13 = Just Another Beautiful Story

| writer13 = Q. Yeomans

| length13 = 4:38

| total_length = 36:17

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Re-Booted music videos

| total_length = 14:33

| title1 = Everyday Formula

| length1 = 2:12

| title2 = Black Bugs

| length2 = 3:00

| title3 = Polyester Girl

| length3 = 3:33

| title4 = ! (The Song Formerly Known As)

| length4 = 3:25

| title5 = Modern Life

| length5 = 2:23

}}

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Unit}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|title=Unit|artist=Regurgitator|type=album|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1997|certyear=1998|access-date=6 October 2019}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

{{reflist}}

{{ARIA Award for Album of the Year 1990s}}

{{Regurgitator}}

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Category:ARIA Award–winning albums

Category:Regurgitator albums

Category:1997 albums

Category:East West Records albums