Urgent was a melodic rock band that formed in New York City and scored a single chart appearance when "Running Back" reached #79 in 1985. It came from their debut album, "Cast The First Stone," which kind of sank like a stone. Consequently, their 1987 sophomore record, "Thinking Out Loud," was DOA and the band broke up. Some of the members, including Yul Vazquez, joined another underrated rock band in 1989 called Diving For Pearls. Others may know Vazquez from his acting career, which included a recurring spot on Seinfeld and roles in several feature films. Here is the underrated title track to Urgent's debut record. Listening back on this, it is hard to imagine why it wasn't bigger in 1985.
Taking their name from the Elvis Costello song, Diving For Pearls is an AOR band that had a minor hit during the hair band era of the late 80s. "Gimme Your Good Lovin'" rose to #84 in late 1989. I always thought this track had more mileage in it and should have done at least as well as the hits coming from the likes of Firehouse, Alias, or Steelheart. The band's entire album (self-titled) is pretty good if you like this kind of music - there isn't anything earth-shattering about most of the songs, but the riffs and melodies are above par compared to most of the stuff I remember from that era. The band released a second album, "Texas", in 2006.
