lol
― Trip Maker, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
i just bought the pere ubu box set for like £7
unfortunately i then realised i don't have a cd player right now
when i have a cd player i will vote
― thomp, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
oh sorry i am not getting into the spirit of things am i?
comment here about subsequent ubu album being more interesting
― thomp, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:14 (fourteen years ago) link
"non-alignment pact"
― we beat so many gimp (k3vin k.), Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh nooooooooooooo :-(
― Ivan, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:16 (fourteen years ago) link
This is between Street Waves and Chinese Radiation for me.
― Trip Maker, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Real world just over non alignment pact, tough call.
― eskimo kisses, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:17 (fourteen years ago) link
"Non-Alignment Pact" for me. The "Real World-Over My Head" stretch leaves me a bit cold.
― Roman Polanski now sleeps in prison. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Chinese Radiation, or Sentimental Journey.
I just don't know.
― Ivan, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
non-alignment pact
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:20 (fourteen years ago) link
OhIt was the first thing that I sawYou never see that kind of Classical GirlUnderstandIt was the first thing that I sawThat was fateIt was the ballistics!Nothat was fateIt was a worldWhat a world!What a world?What a big worldBut a world to be drowned inIt's just a joke man!Another day?WellSUFFERfor that's the way of the westSUFFEROhOh it's a joke!It's a jokeOhIt's a JOKEThat's a joke?Hunh-unhWellhumor me
― chief rocker frankie crocker (m coleman), Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:21 (fourteen years ago) link
when I saw "hedwig & the angry inch" the backing band did a killer cover of non-alignment pact
― chief rocker frankie crocker (m coleman), Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
lol ubu
― dmr, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
street waves
― kornrulez6969, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:40 (fourteen years ago) link
"Non-Alignment Pact" for me too.
― Euler, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
I really should get that Hearpen singles box...
― Mark G, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:06 (fourteen years ago) link
street waves vs non alignment vs humor me, pretty hard choice there.
my favorite Ubu album by light years, I never warmed to anything after Dub Housing except for maybe some of Ray Gun Suitcase.
― sleeve, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:20 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah it's pretty awesome
voted for Street Waves but Non-Alignment Pact and Modern Dance are close behind
― dmr, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:22 (fourteen years ago) link
I prefer the live version of Humor Me on Terminal Tower.I guess I just like David's delivery more on the live one.
― Trip Maker, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:26 (fourteen years ago) link
is the Hearpen singles box different from Terminal Tower? different music-wise, i mean ...
― tylerw, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not sure, I don't have the singles box.Maybe they are the same?
― Trip Maker, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I believe so.
― Mark G, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:37 (fourteen years ago) link
I think it's Non-Alignment Pact for me as well, slightly boringly. But whenever I listen to it, a bit like The Fall's Stepping Out, it reminds me strongly of how I used to feel about things, things that through a mixture of jadedness and social assimilation I perhaps no longer feel as strongly, but wish I did.
Sorry, that's vague and perhaps rather silly, but there it is.
Put it another way - it feels like a much-needed kick up the arse whenever I listen to it. This whole album's great though.
― GamalielRatsey, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:40 (fourteen years ago) link
"Non-Alignment Pact"
Second place: "Life Stinks". I think.
Their best album (unless Datapanik In Year Zero or Terminal Tower count.)
― xhuxk, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:46 (fourteen years ago) link
i have the tim/kerr 45 reissue box of singles and i can't even tell you how many times i've played those things over the years. and when i'm listening to it i can't imagine anything on earth as wonderful and glorious as final solution so its no mystery what i would vote for in a singles poll.
― scott seward, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:47 (fourteen years ago) link
I have the Hearpen box, too. Was talking to a friend about it last night, and he sez that the version of "The Modern Dance" on the 4th 45 is not the version originally released as a single, but rather just the LP track. Anybody got the inside story?
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:54 (fourteen years ago) link
when i'm listening to it i can't imagine anything on earth as wonderful and glorious as final solution
OTM
― Roman Polanski now sleeps in prison. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Funnily enough I played this album today for the first time in probably a decade! I'd forgotten how spooky, creepy and amazing Sentimental Journey is so there's my vote.
― The people of Ork are marching upon us (Matt #2), Sunday, 11 October 2009 22:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I think I'll vote "Sentimental Journey" -- one of the band's best songs, period. Maybe one of the best songs of the 70s, nothing else really like it.
― tylerw, Sunday, 11 October 2009 22:08 (fourteen years ago) link
The version on "Datapanik in the year zero" on Radar was a demo, not the single.
So, unless someone has the original single, I believe they well may be the same version anyway.
Unless the "Terminal Tower" version is different...
― Mark G, Sunday, 11 October 2009 22:31 (fourteen years ago) link
"Non-Alignment Pact," although the intro still gives me a headache (which, I presume, is entirely by design ... which makes it all the more awesome).
― Alex in NYC, Monday, 12 October 2009 00:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Breaking with critical consensus and going for the title track. So there.
― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 12 October 2009 00:49 (fourteen years ago) link
i've got a soft spot for "Life Stinks" ... Comes into my head ... probably too often!
― tylerw, Monday, 12 October 2009 00:52 (fourteen years ago) link
oddly enough, i was thinking about how much i liked this album while i was at work today. such a kickass record, and so fucking weird...but, um, organically weird? it just doesn't feel put on at all to me; like it's really just the sound of some total antisocial freakazoids coming up with something beautiful and unique and iconic. don't wanna vote yet, but it's between "laughing" (the bleeplededoop fake jazz part --> catchy chorus --> rock riffin progression is seriously wowsville) and "street waves" and "humor me" (although i sorta agree that the live version is better) and of course "non-alignment pact"
― pretzel walrus, Monday, 12 October 2009 00:54 (fourteen years ago) link
so would it be totally hyperbolic of me to describe this album as a fine work of art. i mean, i'd put it on the same artistic level as any movie or painting or book that might have come out that same year (not that i can think of any at the moment). or even that decade. it feels complete to me too in the same way a good movie or book might. it has such a wonderful flow. it starts out strange and gets stranger and then ends on some sort of doomed grace note.
thinking of final solution, it's hard for me to think of a more genius expression of male adolescent masturbatory fury. and it makes me wonder how many female fans this band has ever had. maria likes them! but she's a geek from way back.
― scott seward, Monday, 12 October 2009 01:38 (fourteen years ago) link
okay, after much mulling over, I've decided on "Sentimental Journey", simply because the tension it builds and releases is incredible. Absolutely remarkable.
similarly remarkable: piano/Dave duo that closes out "Chinese Radiation" ...
― Ivan, Monday, 12 October 2009 01:47 (fourteen years ago) link
This is really hard but reading the 'Humor Me' lyrics just now tipped the scales in its favor for me. Scott what you said is not hyperbolic, it's OTFM.
― adamj, Monday, 12 October 2009 02:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Silly story time:
One time I was at a charity football match hosted by our local radio station.
At the disco afterwards, the DJ was handing out spot prizes to dancers. Usually they do this to get rid off the stuff they're not going to play (again) and can't sell off. Usually disco-lite and easy listening stuff. Except I noticed that this time he had "Modern Dance" Pere Ubu and I was like "Ooh" and threw a few moves. But this got handed to a little girl who ran back to her Mum and Dad who cooed "Ooh, lovely, I like disco music!"
― Mark G, Monday, 12 October 2009 07:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Peter Laughner lives!
― Fighting words,man. Just shut up. (Ioannis), Monday, 12 October 2009 08:34 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost: I have the original Hearthan 7" single of "The Modern Dance"! And the original vinyl LP! And Datapanik In The Year Zero! I shall play all three versions of "TMD" when I get home this evening.
(Wiki says that only the original 7" has the recurring "doll squeak" noise, but my memory says that the 7" and LP versions were identical. Well, perhaps they were only near-identical.)
― mike t-diva, Monday, 12 October 2009 09:14 (fourteen years ago) link
that early version of TMD was on the Max's Kansas City compilation album and it is great. same album also has a demo version of Suicide's "Rocket USA".
― sleeve, Monday, 12 October 2009 10:58 (fourteen years ago) link
^ this but I voted "Street Waves" because it's one of the Top 10 rock songs of all time
― The Prince's choice: making a brush. (Tom D.), Monday, 12 October 2009 12:14 (fourteen years ago) link
went with Street Waves for similar reasons
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Monday, 12 October 2009 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh yeah I totally voted street waves. Last time they played in my town, David said "maybe we should play street waves?" almost rhetorically, between songs, which elicited a healthy "YEEESSSS!" from me in the audience. They complied, of course.
― Trip Maker, Monday, 12 October 2009 14:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, the Hearpen single A-sides for Street Waves and Modern Dance are not on "Terminal Tower"
http://www.ubuprojex.net/historical.html#tt
― Mark G, Monday, 12 October 2009 14:56 (fourteen years ago) link
have to be boring and go with "Non-Alignment Pact"
― een, Monday, 12 October 2009 14:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Re Terminal Tower: iirc, the rationale was that since those songs appeared on The Modern Dance (LP), there wasn't any reason to include them on the clean-up comp.
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Monday, 12 October 2009 15:01 (fourteen years ago) link
The bit about the "Datapanik" CD box admits that Street Waves is a remix on the "Modern Dance" album.
― Mark G, Monday, 12 October 2009 15:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, that's mentioned on the notes to The Modern Dance as well. Huh. Just listened to the Hearpen Box and album versions back to back and they sound absolutely identical. If the mix is different, it's too subtle for me to pick up on (esp through the haze generated by bad MP3s and earbuds).
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Monday, 12 October 2009 15:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, the one on Terminal Tower lacks the background vocal chant (what the hell is he saying, "Maker Maker"?) and is clearly a different performance.
― Trip Maker, Monday, 12 October 2009 15:37 (fourteen years ago) link
haha yeah. but of course the current incarnation has a woman in the band, right?
― tylerw, Monday, 12 October 2009 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
My GF likes Pere Ubu more than most of the stuff I play around the house. As in actively likes. And I know at least one other woman who's a fan.
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Monday, 12 October 2009 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
My buddy got a female caller when he played Ubu on the college radio station and that led to a date. They were together for a few years.
As far as the Witness thing, I know that Thomas refused to perform "Final Solution" for quite a while but the last time I saw Ubu they played it and I was thrilled.
― Trip Maker, Monday, 12 October 2009 19:54 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, and he sure played the hell out of it with the reunited Rocket From the Tombs ...
― tylerw, Monday, 12 October 2009 19:55 (fourteen years ago) link
I've just played the original 1977 Hearthan 7" version of "The Modern Dance" (recorded on August 7th 1977, according to the label) back to back with the LP version (from the original UK Mercury/Phonogram release). There's only one difference that I can immediately make out: the LP version omits the high pitched "doll squeak" noise (as Wiki aptly terms it), which runs steadily and rhythmically all the way through the 7" version (excepting the two solo guitar/vocal FX breakdowns), before gathering speed in the final bars. Personally, I prefer the squeaky 7" version, but it's no biggie. (I didn't pull out the UK Radar 12" Datapanik EP, as it would have involved shifting furniture around.)
― mike t-diva, Monday, 12 October 2009 22:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Never heard the squeaky toy version. Damn.
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Monday, 12 October 2009 22:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Squeaky Toy Version is the new Butcher Cover.
― Stillborn birth of a display name (Jon Lewis), Monday, 12 October 2009 22:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I put "heart of darkness" on a mix tape for an old girlfriend years back...
I'd play "Heart of Darkness" to anyone. That break is like WHOA!
I never understood why Radar faded it on the Datapanik 12"
― Mark G, Tuesday, 13 October 2009 07:05 (fourteen years ago) link
something i always wanted to talk about but i never found the occasion. what about david thomas as a jehovah's witnes? did this ever show in his music or his lyrics?
"Kingdom Come", last track on "New Picnic Time"
― The Prince's choice: making a brush. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 October 2009 09:07 (fourteen years ago) link
The latest album by these guys is fast becoming my album of the year.
― dog latin, Tuesday, 13 October 2009 09:41 (fourteen years ago) link
has there been a new one after "why i hate women?". what i heard of that album wasn't very thrilling.
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 13 October 2009 09:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Luv this album. "Street Waves" is that dream Velvets/Beefheart fusion that all those mid-70s Ohioans tried to achieve
― Race Against Rockism (Myonga Vön Bontee), Tuesday, 13 October 2009 14:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes! If he lived, this band would have had a much different career path. They needed somebody like him to balance out DT's artsy-fartsy tendencies.
― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 13 October 2009 14:47 (fourteen years ago) link
dog latin are you talking about the album of songs for the stage production?
― adamj, Thursday, 15 October 2009 06:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes I am. The album's called '"Long Live Pere Ubu!"'. It's had a fairly mixed critical reception so far, but I think it's awesome. Obviously very Dada, absurdly disturbing in only the way David Thomas can. Some tracks are just ambient soundscapes with Thomas (as Ubu) burping and belching all over them. Others are experimental synth/percussion things that somehow still manage to etch their atones into my brain. There are even a few (almost) straight-up punk tracks with rousing choruses. Apparently the input Thomas had over the music was to string together 20 decaying apple macs in his front room in Brighton, and then set up some kind of automatic phone line so that when the band were rehearsing on the other side of the pond, he would just dial a number and go "That, play that!". All the band would be able to hear would be hissing and clicking and maybe a car going past the house, but they'd play anyway and Thomas wouldn't seem to mind too much.
― dog latin, Thursday, 15 October 2009 09:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks that sounds great will be picking it up when I can find it
― adamj, Friday, 16 October 2009 00:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 29 October 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 30 October 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyway, I gave my copy of the Hearpen singles box set a listen (why is it called that, when every label has it as Hearthen, and every sleeve as well, apart from one front cover has it as Hearpan (or thereabouts))
Anyway, I can exclusively reveal that the version of "Modern Dance" sounds exactly like "Final Solution".
DAMN IT!!!
― Mark G, Thursday, 19 November 2009 12:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Hearthan I mean
― Mark G, Thursday, 19 November 2009 12:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Get your Ps and Thorns right
― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 November 2009 12:58 (fourteen years ago) link
I found out why:
http://www.ubuprojex.net/pix/hrlogo.jpg
The Story of Hearpen Records
David Thomas made Hearpen Records in 1975 to put out Pere Ubu records. The name derives from an anglo-saxon word for harp. The p is a transliteration of the anglo-saxon thorn, a letter that was pronounced th. HEARTHAN (pronounced hay-are-than, rhymes with van) gradually gave way to HEARPEN (pronounced hay-are-pen) as the label's name. The logo got designed on a day it was HEARTHAN. A rule evolved that written the name is Hearpen while integrated into a design it becomes Hearthan. Hearpen is the favored pronunciation in all cases. Confusion was the foundation on which our business grew.
― Mark G, Thursday, 19 November 2009 13:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Shame there wasn't much love for Chinese Radiation, it's just so sad and the crowd noises are just so unexpected.
This is such a classic but on the whole I like Dub Housing more. I really like New Picnic Time too especially how he sings "It's me again"on The Fabulous Sequel, it's such a perfect start to the album.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 19 November 2009 14:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Didn't realise "Humor Me" was so popular!
― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 November 2009 14:58 (fourteen years ago) link
So I mentioned the mispressing to the shop I bought it from (online), and they have others and are shipping me it straightaway, don't even want the wrong-un back!
Which is brilliant of them!
― Mark G, Saturday, 21 November 2009 14:41 (fourteen years ago) link
It's one of the great final tracks.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Saturday, 21 November 2009 18:25 (fourteen years ago) link
That box:
The replacement arrived (a while back), and I recorded it onto CD, but I still can't make out any 'doll-squeak' noises.
Still, I'd forgotten how great all of it is. (Except Final Solution, which is just dumb apart from the music, really)
I played it to the kids, they .. mmmm, listened...
― Mark G, Friday, 22 January 2010 16:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Final Solution rules, u crazy.
― Trip Maker, Friday, 22 January 2010 16:57 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah that is nutty! NUTTY!
― tylerw, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:03 (fourteen years ago) link
So.... is it worth me catching these guys in February?
― dog latin, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, you should go. I've seen them twice in the last six years, both shows were great, but I'm a pretty big fan.
― Trip Maker, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:07 (fourteen years ago) link
final solution is one of the greatest songs of the 20th century.
― scott seward, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Buy me a ticket to a sonic reduction
― Trip Maker, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:10 (fourteen years ago) link
I hated the Ubu Roi play they did a while back, but the audio of it is f'ing great. Seeing them next week (songs from the play and The Modern Dance) and v much looking forward to it, as they've been extremely enjoyable whenever I've seen them.
Will report back.
― 'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Friday, 22 January 2010 17:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah I'm a huge fan of the "Long Live" album but I've heard the live version is a bit lacking. Maybe they've honed it a bit? Here's hoping.
― dog latin, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:16 (fourteen years ago) link
If Thomas was telling the truth, those audience sounds were recorded at a legitimate Grand Funk concert.
― Race Against Rockism (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 22 January 2010 18:26 (fourteen years ago) link
God now all I want to hear is Chinese Radiation.
― Trip Maker, Friday, 22 January 2010 18:38 (fourteen years ago) link
U.S. dates expected at all?
― grandavis, Friday, 22 January 2010 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
This should be repeated.
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 January 2010 18:56 (fourteen years ago) link
word.
― the not-metal one (Ioannis), Friday, 22 January 2010 18:58 (fourteen years ago) link
― scott seward, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:08 (2 hours ago)
― sleeve, Friday, 22 January 2010 19:46 (fourteen years ago) link
They played Final Solution last night!
This was an amazing gig - just the songs from the excellent audio of Bring Me the Head of Ubu Roi, and Modern Dance. David Thomas on fine form.
Makes up for the dreadful play of Ubu Roi I saw them do a year or so ago.
― 'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Friday, 26 February 2010 11:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Took the girls to/from Swimming, was playing "The Modern Dance" album..
Alice: Is is supposed to have that noise?
By the time we came back, Chinese Radiation was just starting, and Amber decided it sounded like The Killers' "All these things that I've done". Then David Thomas started singing, and they both decided it sounded a lot like it.
Just the start-off, mind.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 5 November 2013 11:56 (ten years ago) link
The applause in "Chinese Radiation" just gets to me every time I hear it
(or rather, David Thomas' unhinged yelping as he's swept away in the round of applause)
― the rockists' red glare (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 25 May 2017 19:32 (six years ago) link
I've been singing "Laughing" all day every day for the past 2.5 weeks but I still think I'd prob vote for CR
― the rockists' red glare (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 25 May 2017 19:34 (six years ago) link
I do now.
It is a different noise. "Twiww" as opposed to "Dink"
― Mark G, Thursday, 25 May 2017 22:47 (six years ago) link
tried to see them play last weekend but waited too long to show up at the venue... no advance ticket sales. heard they were pretty great, too. ah well.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 26 May 2017 00:22 (six years ago) link
"Street Waves" owns
― Paul Reverse and the rediaRs (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Monday, 9 July 2018 20:08 (five years ago) link