Poll Ubu! (See What I Did There?) The Modern Dance

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"

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 latest album by these guys is fast becoming my album of the year.

has there been a new one after "why i hate women?". what i heard of that album wasn't very thrilling.

Luv this album. "Street Waves" is that dream Velvets/Beefheart fusion that all those mid-70s Ohioans tried to achieve

Peter Laughner lives!

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.

dog latin are you talking about the album of songs for the stage production?

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.

Thanks that sounds great will be picking it up when I can find it

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

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!!!

Hearthan I mean

Get your Ps and Thorns right

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.

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.

Didn't realise "Humor Me" was so popular!

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!

Didn't realise "Humor Me" was so popular!

It's one of the great final tracks.

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...

Final Solution rules, u crazy.

yeah that is nutty! NUTTY!

So.... is it worth me catching these guys in February?

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.

final solution is one of the greatest songs of the 20th century.

Buy me a ticket to a sonic reduction

So.... is it worth me catching these guys in February?

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.

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.

Shame there wasn't much love for Chinese Radiation, it's just so sad and the crowd noises are just so unexpected.

If Thomas was telling the truth, those audience sounds were recorded at a legitimate Grand Funk concert.

God now all I want to hear is Chinese Radiation.

U.S. dates expected at all?

final solution is one of the greatest songs of the 20th century.

This should be repeated.

word.

final solution is one of the greatest songs of the 20th century.

― scott seward, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:08 (2 hours ago)

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.

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.

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)

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

So, unless someone has the original single, I believe they well may be the same version anyway.

I do now.

It is a different noise. "Twiww" as opposed to "Dink"

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.

"Street Waves" owns