Pere Ubu: Classic Or Dud

If it's a pissing contest for essential CDs, I'll take 'Terminal Tower' over Modern Dance, but I find everything on the boxset a must. I also have a soft spot for 'Worlds In Collision' - nice pop songs, and a contender for worst cover art ever.

I'd always ignored the four albums that came before Raygun Suitcase, despite the fact that I saw them in '93 and they were hugely entertaining. Seemed to have more story songs. I made a note to re-listen to some of that stuff but never did. With last year's remastered reissues dipping down to $11 + $3 shipping at Importcds & Caiman via Amazon, I think it's time to try out Tenement Year and Cloudland.

Oh boy, Cloudland.

just got ray gun suitcase

damn this is great! i think i like it as much as the real early stuff

upcoming album is pretty awesome :-)

anyone heard it yet or seen the performance? it's all based on Alfred JArry's "Ubu Roi" and was composed using the hum and click of 220 decaying apple macs.

I went on the first night at the South Bank (last year was it) and it was dire. Thomas did later apologise for it, saying it had been underprepared. That it certainly was, but seemed also excruciating in conception. Like something a six-form drama group would come up with to be performed at the end of the lesson.

I actually skipped the second half because I felt I'd rather be in the pub. But others I went with stayed behind and said the second half was 'very, very slightly better'.

It was a shame because the last live gig I saw Pere Ubu do was incredibly good.

A friend has been downloading some sort of podcast related to the performance and is hoping that the recorded version will be less intensely awful - he's actually quite hopeful in this respect, and I suppose not having to see them go through their dismal manouevres on stage can only be a good thing. And sometimes these things set free of their mundane shackles to float in aural spaces can be transformed.

Here's hoping.

I went on the first night at the South Bank (last year was it) and it was dire. Thomas did later apologise for it, saying it had been underprepared. That it certainly was, but seemed also excruciating in conception. Like something a six-form drama group would come up with to be performed at the end of the lesson.

more details plz

the pere ubu box set is £7.79 on amazon right now, for some reason.

It's a worry: SaraJane Morris ....

xpost which box? The singles or the albums?

"It's a worry: SaraJane Morris ...."

I got a promo copy 4 days ago, and I still have to find the courage to play it. Maybe I'm just wrong.

more details plz

Um, from what I remember. Group over to the right hand side of the stage from the audience's point of view. Microphones set up in the middle. Chairs to the left, where those not participating in a scene would sit.

In the main it consisted of Thomas standing in front of the mike, reading out from a script he had in front of him, in the character of Pere Ubu, (in this case Ubu Roi) berating the various characters who appear and come and talk into the microphone.

Sometimes in the character of David Thomas berating his collaborators for getting it wrong. Not as amusing as it sounds (in fact although this can be a feature of their gigs as well, I tend to find that they are at their best when there is less arguing.

Back projections ranging from the mildly interesting to the mildly uninteresting.

Some very embarrassing mechanical style dancing/marching across the stage.

The music the group played wasn't terrible by any means, but it wasn't particularly great.

Sorry - that's pretty undetailed details, but I can't remember too much more about it, other than finding it all excruciatingly embarrassing. I'd go quite a long to make allowances for David Thomas, but it was just a hodge-podge.

As I say, there's a possibility that it's been refined considerably since then.

that, admittedly, does not sound great. i've read elsewhere on the internet about some ubu live experiences giving an impression of "but surely they could have done better".

lol @ david thomas slipping in and out of role on stage. seems that the two are basically interchangeable anyway, although i'm disappointed by their lack of preparation for this venture. it's typically facetious of him to do this kind of thing only a few years after sreynolds quoted him as being entirely dismissive in the alfred jarry play.

of?

is there a real connection between the jarry work and the band's? i thought it was just "oh, wow, cool name"

Yes, I think it was originally just 'wow, cool name' and 'great! we get to say merdre merdre a lot'. Apparently people have been on at him for years to do something with the play though, and he'd always refused.

Live gigs that I've seen have generally been great - although I prefer it when he's cantankerous rather than actively disruptive (whereas I like MES to be actively disruptive in The Fall's live performances).

And it sounds like this album, or set of podcasts, might be worth a listen, the whole caboodle presumably having undergone some processing since I saw it.

all the same, i've enjoyed the new album from a musical standpoint. sj morris and thomas work well as pere/mere ubu and there's an almost miyazaki meets dada vibe to the whole thing. it manages to be avant-garde, absurdist and puerile (a whole track of grotesque burping noises over eerie ambient music - sounds pretentious, and probably is, but that's Ubu for you). elsewhere there are "proper songs" - even some punky stuff, infuriatingly catchy chants, 8-minutes of eerie "pillow talk" between pere and mere played out like a pitch black big-reveal nightmare, and even some quite pretty moments. i liked it, the gent in the wire said he didn't, but like the original it will divide audiences who give a rats arse.

avant-garde, absurdist and puerile

tempted to make that my 'three adjectives that describe you' on okc —

is this the first ubu release (of new compositions) since why i hate women? i might actually get it, despite not having read the play. is it out yet? what's it called?

pere ubu and the fall are probably top two on 'bands i am hugely fond of and who are still gigging but could probably not bear to actually go and see'. actually they may be the only two on that list.

it's called "long live pere ubu" - don't know if it's out yet.

what's the deal w/ Datapanik being so cheap in the UK? Is it the same thing being reissued?

Well, if they come to your town and you actively avoid seeing them you are making a mistake cuz they are still fucking great live.

i've never seen Pere Ubu, but I did see the reunited Rocket from the Tombs, and would def. put Thomas up there as one of the top 10 best/scariest frontmen I've ever seen.

Am I crazy or is this performance simply stunning?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hYqvtHzr48

I can't get over Thomas's vocal performance here....every moment that he's not singing is filled with a breath or tic that is just perfect. He's actually harmonizing, too.

And the video is notable also for David Sanborn sporting the official "late 80s, early 90s" uniform.

Yeah, I've referred to this clip several times in the last couple of years. They also performed "Waiting For Mary" with Debbie Harry!

How's the recently issued live album with both Cutler and Krauss on drums? (Recorded just after Cloudland I believe)?

The live album - London, Texas - 's great. Dudes're in fiery fettle.

I bought the 'Datapanik in Year Zero' box today despite never really hearing Pere Ubu. Impulsive yes but I've had some good luck in the past buying box sets of stuff I've never heard before i.e the Robert Wyatt box and the first four factory records Durutti Column set.

Looking forward to diving in tonight.

Or should I have listened to AMG?

"However, if you're simply interested in Pere Ubu, consider the set carefully before investing. Pere Ubu were indeed one of the most innovative and challenging bands of their era, which means that their music is an acquired taste. However, those willing to invest in the box will find a wealth of inventive, hard-edged avant rock & roll."

i found i had to retune my brain in order to get Pere Ubu, but it was worth it. I am a real fan of their last album. i think i voted it number one on the 2009 albums poll.

it's a fantastic box set. dig in!

I lean heavily on the first two CDs, but certainly worth it.

I basically listened to The Tenement Years every day last October ("Say Goodbye" and "We Have the Technology" especially)

Yeah-- if anotherdeadhero buys one other disc to supplement his box set it should be Tenement Year.

Or maybe it should be Cloudland.

Cloudland has some great highs but too many duds. And Tenement Year has actual OG Allen Ravenstine on squawks, bleeps and whirrs as opposed to a dude drafted in from late Beefheart.

The highs on Cloudland >>>> The Tenement Year.

Ooof. Have to revisit the materials if I wanna respond to that.

I can listen to "Waiting for Mary," "Breathe," "Bus Called Happiness" and "Love Love Love" on an endless loop.

Hmmm by wild coincidence I just noticed 'Long Live Pere Ubu- The Spectacle American' is happening march 28 here in nyc at Le Poisson Rouge...

so weird, I had "waiting for mary" in my head a few days ago but could not remember what song it was or who it was by. I kind of like this sub-talking heads period of pere ubu.

Yeah there's something endearingly quixotic about it. Right down to the record label they were on-- Imago (lol).

I can listen to "Waiting for Mary," "Breathe," "Bus Called Happiness" and "Love Love Love" on an endless loop.Those would definitely be my four picks from the album, if I could only pick four.

(line break)

I saw thenm on a double bill around the time of Tenement Year with John Cale. good show.

never understood them, like Material or 23 skidoo.

I like all three, to varying degrees...but Pere Ubu have way more to offer. While I can imagine struggling with some of the weirder early album stuff, I'm not sure what's not to understand about Heart of Darkness, Final Solution, Nonalignment Pact etc...pretty modern rock-n-roll, but not the most obtuse stuff.

Well, aided by something calling itself plant feeder I stayed up till 6 am with my good woman blasting tunes.

Managed to get through the first two discs (focusing mostly on 'The Modern Dance' and 'Dub Housing'). Really enjoyed a lot of the creative guitar playing. Lots of it sounded nothing like I expected and I was quite surprised by a lot of the mellower moments. 'Humour Me' from 'The Modern Dance' stood out, the rest was a schizophrenic blast of all sorts. Good stuff though. Looking forward to returning. I particularly dug the production. Lots of crazy noise. Even went down well with my girlfriend.

Dunno if I'm wrong but I'm sure I recall hearing that there's quite a divide between those who prefer 'The Modern Dance' and 'Dub Housing'. 'The Modern Dance' probably edged it for me on first listen. Really need to pull out 'Rip it up and Start Again' and re-read the Ubu chapter.

Cloudland has some great highs but too many duds. And Tenement Year has actual OG Allen Ravenstine on squawks, bleeps and whirrs as opposed to a dude drafted in from late Beefheart.

Allen's legendary (analog) EML synths provide the squawks, bleeps and whirrs on both 'Cloudland' and 'Tenement Year.'

It wasn't until 'Worlds in Collision' that he was replaced by the estimable Eric Drew Feldman, formerly of Snakefinger's band & the Shiny Beast thru Ice Cream for Crow-era Magic Band, and later "the 5th Pixie" and a frequent Frank Black-collaborator (not too shabby an avant-rock resume for a nice Jewish boy from L.A.).