Too Much Stereo

Sometimes it doesn’t all add up. Take the Urge, an extremely competent St. Louis-based six-piece who’ve been paying their dues since the late ’80s. They’ve got pretty good taste, great chops, and a live show that would shame most of today’s modern-rock shams, but on record, they rarely come up with anything worth a second listen. Why? Well, their basic problem is that despite playing an overwhelmingly energetic brand of ska-laced funk-rock (and playing it well), they do little to distinguish themselves from either their forebears (Fishbone, Bad Brains) or their contemporaries (311, Mighty Mighty Bosstones). Thrashy guitars mix fluidly with funk grooves and a reggae backbeat, but the missing ingredient on Too Much Stereo is personality. If you’d lie down in traffic for any of the aforementioned bands, you’ll likely find enough here to keep you interested. Otherwise, tune this out.