Good God’s Urge

Good God's Urge CoverGood God’s Urge, sometimes listed as Good God’s://Urge,  is the second album by Porno For Pyros. It was released on May 28, 1996 by Warner Brothers Records. This album saw numerous delays, much attributed to difficulties with the album cover artwork. The woman featured on the cover of this album is Christine Cagel, a former girlfriend of Perry Farrell and the mother of his oldest son Yobel.

At the time the band began working on this album, original bassist Marty LeNoble was still with the band.  After his departure, the band invited several artists to fill in.  This album sees Porno For Pyros collaborate with the band Love & Rockets, Flea and Dave Navarro (who was still playing with Flea in the Red Hot Chili Peppers), and legendary bassist Mike Watt, who would go on to remain with the band for much of the GGU tour.  While this was the first time since their Jane’s Addiction days that Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro appeared on the same album, Dave’s contribution to the song Freeway was recorded at a time Perry Farrell was not in the studio.  Flea and Dave Navarro would re-join P4P for the end of the GGU tour.

This album was originally intended to be called Hard Charger, but was eventually changed.  Hard Charger would see release the following year, as a single from the soundtrack to the Howard Stern biographical film Private Parts, again with Flea and Dave Navarro contributing, however this time they worked together in person with the three remaining members of Porno For Pyros

Alternate Versions:

The Japanese version of this album includes the bonus track Dominator, which appears as a b-side on the Tahitian Moon single.  There two Japanese versions, one with a white OBI strip, and one with a green one.  Oddly enough, the bonus track is not listed on either version’s u-card, but is listed in Japanese on both versions’ OBI strips.

There are several promotional versions of this album.  The most common is identical to the regular release aside from the gold “promotional use only” stamp on the cover.  Additionally, there is an advance CD with standard promo artwork and a promotional cassette with standard promo artwork.

The advance CD version includes the following quote from Lorraine Ali, taken an article on Perry Farrell that appears in the March-April 1996 issue of OPTION magazine:

It’s a sonic landscape that falls somewhere among the 60’s psychedelia of Jefferson Airplane, the 90’s ambience of the Orb, and the gentler, opiated folk-blues of Led Zeppelin.

On December 4, 2020, a pink vinyl version was released for Record Store Day exclusively through Bull Moose.  This edition did not contain any liner notes, nor vinyl engravings.

Track Listings:

Standard CD Version:

  1. Porpoise Head
  2. 100 Ways
  3. Tahitian Moon
  4. Kimberly Austin
  5. Thick of It All
  6. Good God’s Urge
  7. Wishing Well
  8. Dogs Rule The Night
  9. Freeway
  10. Bali Eyes

Cassette versions of this album have tracks 1-5 on side A, and tracks 6-10 on side B.

Japanese Version:

  1. Porpoise Head
  2. 100 Ways
  3. Tahitian Moon
  4. Kimberly Austin
  5. Thick of It All
  6. Good God’s Urge
  7. Wishing Well
  8. Dogs Rule The Night
  9. Freeway
  10. Bali Eyes
  11. Dominator

Personnel:

Perry Farrell, Peter DiStefano and Stephen Perkins appear on every track.  Love & Rockets (David J, Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins) appear on Porpoise Head.  Mike Watt performs bass on 100 Ways and Good God’s Urge.  Martyn LeNoble performs bass on  Tahitian Moon, Kimberly Austin, Thick of It All, Wishing Well, Dogs Rule The Night, Bali Eyes, and the bonus track Dominator.   Christine Cagel performs backing vocals on Freeway and Good God’s Urge.  Matt Hyde performs slide guitar on the Bali Eyes and in the intro to Tahitian Moon as well as samples on Dogs Rule The Night.   John Flannery performs backing vocals and plays trash can on Good God’s Urge and space guitar (intro & chorus) on Freeway.  Lili Haydn plays violin, Ralf Ricker plays trumpet and Thomas Johnson plays keyboards on 100 Ways.  Josh Klassman performs backing vocals on Freeway.  Shawn London performs backing vocals on Good God’s Urge.  Leo Chelyapov performs clarinet on Wishing Well.

Release Date: 05/28/1996, 12/4/2020 (Pink Vinyl)
Released By: Warner Brothers Records, ORG Music (Pink Vinyl)
ID Number(s): 46126, 46126-A (Advance CD), WPCR-271 (Japan – White OBI), WPCR-10024 (Japan – Green OBI), PRO-A-9015 (Vinyl Promo), ORGM-2072 (Pink Vinyl)
Medium(s): Cassette, CD, iTunes, Amazon MP3, Vinyl (Promo), Pink Vinyl
Time: 38:22, 41:02 (Japan)

Artwork:

Related Releases & Album Singles:

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.