Units – History of The Units (album review)
Born out of a frustration with rock configurations and rock music in general, Units were a fast-rotating group of like-minded individuals who decided that the best way to save punk rock was to smash it to bits (or, at least the guitar part of that equation). With a battery of synths, sound effects, and a drummer, the group created a heck of an invigorating racket at times, and managed to slide into a weird sort of southern-California vibe at other times, showing off a truly wide range during their 7 year run. Contemporaries of Devo and Suicide, they have a few things in common with each of those groups, but at the same time went shooting off in their own directions, dabbling with instrumental soundtrack-style work and synthpunk anthems.
History of The Units collects a bunch of early singles from the group, as well as selections from their first LP Digital Stimulation, and presents them in a newly-remastered edition that contains a whopping 21 tracks and 70+ minutes of music, plus some fancy liner notes that really capture the thought processes of the group. As mentioned above, there’s a pretty wide net cast here, and that’s part of the fun.
There’s no chronological order to History of The Units, and it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference if there was due to the different things that the group was trying out throughout their run. Cuts like “Cannibal,” “Bug Boy,” “Digital Stimulation,” and “The Mission Is Bitchin” are all build on a lean pop skeleton with sinewy synth melodies and male/female vocals, while “Red” and their cover of “Contemporary Emotions” take things down a notch into an odd, colder zones. Of their more straightforward songs, “High Pressure Days” is probably the best, locking into a pounding rhythm and some power chords that make the sing-along vocals even more sing-along.
“High Pressure Days” – Units
My personal favorite is probably the queasy-sounding “Run.” Although it’s a little more on the rough side in terms of overall sound, the production of the haunting song is absolutely amazing, with a slow-churning phase over most of the instrumentation, dramatic sound cuts, and an instrumental freakout in the middle that’s worth the price of admission alone.
“Run” – Units
Of course, along the way there are two-minute prog freakouts, longer instrumental excursions that dip into moody ambient, and compositions that are both raw and sleazy and at other times impressively complex. This is a re-release that’s well worth tracking down.








