Pere Ubu: Classic Or Dud

sorry, kinda fun stories: saw PU twice around 1991. first show at a small club in L.A. someone was heckling David throughout. he cut the set short saying "i'm sorry we couldn't be friends". sounds lame but was brilliant. then a few months later i moved to SF and saw Norm from Cheers at a PU show @ Slim's (blanking on his name right now) at the bar. i thought to myself maybe he thought they said Beer ubu

― epigram addict (outdoor_miner), Thursday, March 1, 2012 2:22 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

semi surprised you recognised it was him. George Wendt's a lot taller than he seems in Cheers.
I did hear he was a big fan of bands like Husker du. So these possibly aren't that wild a jump.

Plus he's physically like ol' Crocus...

only saw him sitting so i had no idea he had height to speak of. must've been the fact that he was sitting at a bar that made me instantly recognize (?)

http://louderthanwar.com/pere-ubu-announce-new-album-lady-from-shanghai/

I'm seeing these guys on Wednesday. The venue makes sense for them, but I don't really like it.

Pere Ubu has finally clicked for me, in a big way. Tracked down the original 5 disc box (the reissue ditched the live disc!) and love it all much to my surprise, because in the past disc 3 really grated whereas now the best bits shine and the wonky stuff amuses me.

And actually the live disc is shockingly enjoyable - how do the other live albums from this period ("390 degrees of Simulated Stereo Vol. 1" and "One Man Drives While The Other Man Screams") compare?

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, March 1, 2012 12:31 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The reissue definitely ditched the compilation of contemporary Cleveland bands I thought it still had teh live disc. Not played it from disc through recently but pretty sure all teh PU stuf that was on the original box is there.

Wish I could recover the drive i had that had several live sets on it. Not been able to so far.

anybody have this thang? http://www.neros-neptune.com/pere-ubu-live-at-the-longhorn-3-sided-lp-cd/
is it a bootleg? orrrrr what?

Interesting! It'd be nice if there were sound clips, though.

Discogs sez official - I have some good sets from DIME including a 78 one, but have not heard this show. Pirate's Cove show from '76 (?) is great.

pirates cove is the shape of things release right? that one is so great (even if it's not the best recording quality).
yeah the longhorn thing looks good - some samples here: http://www.squidco.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&Product_Code=17658

Sounds good! I was just worried that it was some non-soundboard cassette dealie. Will likely get this.

yeah seems like a great recording. reason i ask if it's a bootleg is that it's not up on the pere ubu projex site (where they sell a lot of this kinda thing)

Hah, just listened to discs 1-3 the other day, still loving it. Also thanks for the cool Spotify playlist of later material, such a fascinating band.

Stevo - regarding the Datapanik box set reissue, this is from Discogs.com:
Reissue of the 1995 box set, with the studio albums remastered from the 192khz/24-bit digital transfers of the original 2-track tape masters in 2005 (The Modern Dance) and 2008 (Dub Housing, New Picnic Time, The Art of Walking, and Song of the Bailing Man). This version restores 'Use Of A Dog' missing from the original 1995 box set. The rest of the tracks were remastered in 1994, i.e. for the release of the 1995 box set.

The box set also contains early singles and B-sides, a CD with rarities and unreleased Pere Ubu related material (Terminal Drive), and a 38 page booklet. However, the CD with live recordings, 390° of Simulated Stereo Vol 2, present in the original 1995 box set, is not included.

just ordered the 2009 reissue to replace my scratched up '90s discs. i think i'll hang onto that live disc tho.

Are you still out there, Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs? I love your anthology picks, howabout epanding them to cover Long Live Pere Ubu! and Lady From Shanghai!

Oh wait, "Love Live Pere Ubu" is a soundtrack. "Carnival Of Souls" is out any day now, though!

Sure! Yeah, Long Live Pere Ubu is worth checking out, but it doesn't really fit in with the rest of this stuff. Here are my picks from Lady From Shanghai (which is kind of hit-and-miss):

Mandy
And Then Nothing Happened
Musicians Are Scum
The Road Trip of Bipasha Ahmed
414 Seconds

Eagerly anticipating Carnival of Souls. "Irene" is up on Spotify now -- I added it to the playlist.

I need to hear d Thomas' new re-remix of More Places Forever. What he did with it for the old Monster box set was not good compared to the vinyl.

Wish they'd release a set of decent lossless live sets from the period of the first singles & couple of lps so '76 to around '78 possibly '79. Would love another Shape of Things or a box set of similar.

Also really wish I could access the harddrive I had my live sets on but it crashed taking with it a lot of Loop and Henry cow and a couple of other semi-avant garage/punk type bands.

Thanks! While you're at it, please pick from The Tenement Year / Cloudland / Worlds In Collision / Story Of My Life! I love compiling anthologies where none exists.

Tenement Year:

The Hollow Earth
George Had A Hat
Rhythm King
We Have the Technology
Busman's Holiday

I really need to spend more time with Tenement Year and Cloudland, but here's what I'd pick from the other two.

Worlds in Collision:

Oh Catherine
I Hear They Smoke the BBQ
Goodnight Irene
Worlds in Collision
Life of Riley

Story of My Life:

Wasted
Come Home
Fedora Satellite II
Kathleen
Last Will and Testament

Bizarre memory: hearing the intro to "Wasted" in an insurance commercial circa 2003

Goodnight Irene is one of their best ever non-experimental songs

So I compiled all the suggestions into one 3.5 hr playlist. My observations:

- I can understand why you originally started the "Modern Era" playlist with "Raygun Suitcase". The previous 4 albums are ok but lack the outright weirdness that makes Ubu so compelling.

- Speaking of which, EXCELLENT choices from each album, it all flowed really well and was strength-to-strength. The Raygun material is particularly fantastic as well as some of the side project stuff from Surf's Up and 18 Monkeys. I'm going to dig deeper into some of these on Spotify.

- Lastly, shall we complete our picks by pulling the highlights from the albums that make up Dave Thomas' "Monster" box set?

We should. Monster Walks The Midnight Lake and More Places Forever can both contend with the best Ubu.

New D Thomas interview on The Quietus today. DT himself seems to date the modern era from Raygun Suitcase!

Cool, glad you're enjoying it! The band itself actually describes Raygun as the start of the modern era, which makes total sense -- it was a huge departure from the slickness of the previous handful of albums. It's cool that they've continued to play that stuff live in more recent configurations of the band.

Variations on a Theme is the only album from Monster that I've listened to much. I'd go with these:

A Day At The Botanical Gardens
Bird Town
Pedestrian Walk
Hurry Back

Would love to hear some suggestions from the other albums.

More Places Forever:

Whale Head King
Enthusiastic
Through the Magnifying Glass
Song of the Bailing Man
Big Breezy Day

Basically side A of the record.

Monster Walks... is a cohesive song cycle and very hard to cherry pick.

Also the solo albums prior to the Two Pale Boys stuff are not on spotify

Ok, new album is out, what's your picks, VTC?

really didn't enjoy lady from shanghai so i'm not holding out for this one but who knows? will get back.

New album is the bee's, but I loved "Lady From Shanghai", hell I loved "Long Live Pere Ubu!"

Yeah! I like it more than Lady From Shanghai. Here are my picks:

Golden Surf II
Visions of the Moon
Bus Station
Road to Utah
Irene

I was thinking this album hews a little closer to the stuff with Two Pale Boys, and there are even more lyrical callbacks than usual. Then I read that it's actually meant to be a companion piece to 18 Monkeys, by DT & TPB. The last track especially is kind of a reworking of the last track on that album, and I'd say it suffers a bit in comparison. Golden Surf II, on the other hand, has the same set of lyrics as the first Golden Surf, but they're in totally different context and it stands ably on its own.

"Golden Surf II" reminds me of the latest incarnation of The Fall.
"Irene" is great.

I was thinking this album hews a little closer to the stuff with Two Pale Boys, and there are even more lyrical callbacks than usual. Then I read that it's actually meant to be a companion piece to 18 Monkeys, by DT & TPB. The last track especially is kind of a reworking of the last track on that album, and I'd say it suffers a bit in comparison. Golden Surf II, on the other hand, has the same set of lyrics as the first Golden Surf, but they're in totally different context and it stands ably on its own.

― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Wednesday, October 15, 2014 2:37 PM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This for sure, but, probably because of the clarinet I was reminded a bit of "Bay City" as well.

And actually some of the moon references seem to be call backs to "Butcherhouse 4" from the Rocket From the Tombs record "Bar Fly"

Or maybe he's just thinking about the moon a lot

Favourites of the most recent one are

Golden Surf II
Road to Utah
Carnival
Irene
Brother Ray

but i've just started listening to his re-release/remix of 18 Monkeys NOW, and it's fantastic. will be returning to this more than to CoS I suspect. Recent live gigs I've been to have been really really good (they're generally v solid imo, but the last one or two have been something else).

Fizzles have you heard the rerelease/remix of More Places Forever? Which I am hoping is an undoing of the fuckery he applied to it for its first CD issue on the Monster box set?

hey. no, i haven't - but hadn't heard the 'original' either. probably going to have a listen over the next couple of days tho as am meeting up with big DT fan and we'll almost certainly be spinning some of this stuff.

Description: This is the second revision of the original 1985 release. The original mix for vinyl release in 1985 suffered from lack of time and distractions. It was remixed at Suma in 1996 with the radical approach that David Thomas had originally planned for. A less than good post-production process, hurried again, caused Thomas to re-visit the various mixes in April 2014. All mixes were examined and, in some cases, edits were made or alternate mixes chosen. The audio was re-EQed by Paul Hamann and attention given to the post-production processing. This is the way it was supposed to sound.

apparently.

so, friend's take on More Places Forever, what I can remember of it through drink anyway:

the stripped-down version on the original vinyl had never been entirely to DT's taste, and had been toned down from what he'd intended. The Monster box set, which we got out but didn't actually play, had been an attempt to rectify this, and at least in part (friend's opinion), DT's current explanation of the end result should be taken with a pinch of salt. We also didn't listen to the new version, but as I say, that 18 Monkeys remix is superb.

I'm finding Carnival of Souls a little difficult to get in to, and we did discuss briefly whether St Arkansas, 18 Monkeys and Why I Hate Women should be seen as the apex of recent Pere Ubu, though as I say above I think some of their recent gigs where the CoS and LoS stuff was still being worked through and was more Protean were the best I've seen.

A couple of weeks before, I'd been struggling slightly with his lyrical content on Carnival of Souls, and had, coincidentally gone to Michael Faraday's carefully preserved laboratory beneath the Royal Institution. Seeing the electrical coils, early telegraph (and the consequent birth of radio), and and being in the place where new elements had been plucked from the void, was very instructive generally, but also opened up recent PU for me.

Their use of theremin, with its bristling waves and spirals of electricity, is the leitmotif for their lyrical content, the rock n roll tail end of the scientifically Edwardian - radios, electrical fire, telephones ringing in the desert etc.

The other night we'd separately been talking about how you refresh the materials of art with the modern - and it felt to me that current Pere Ubu was a curious if you like 'gothic' example of this - very potent and strong - but nevertheless of a noir america that is a cultural collage. It doesn't matter to me, but it also doesn't feel directly engaged.

At the end of the evening friend kinldy lent me his signed copy of The Book of Hieroglyphs, suggesting there some stuff that was applicable in there. I haven't really picked it up yet though.

Carnival of Souls is okay man! Reminds me a bit of Tom Waits' the Black Rider. I especially like the clarinet on Visions of the Moon.

I still need to check that out, but relating early and maybe recent Ubu to 19th Century science, tech x gothic seems very appropriate. Also, Thomas the rock writer always had a way with reviewer/editor-bait pitches, nailing the connection between their 70s sound and the environment of Cleveland's Flats, the classic rundown 70s urban industrial space---like in 70s NYC, when artists could move from their tenements to lofts and other real estate vacated by old school enterprises---as long as you were ready to "take responsibility" for living in the gritty wilds, the mean streets etc etc (don't think he got around to mentioning that Ohio was still the Wild West of early 19th Century America, and a weird powerhouse of late 19th/early 20th Century American poltical machines, but he might have). The actual sound coming out of this place and hype, though could later be taken as an early, leading indicator of the Rust Belt, even making me thing of rusty belts, creaking, rasping, rattling, seemed more about going for the gusto, as the beer commercial had it, rather than harping on decline of Western Civ ---entrophy, civic decay were givens, part of the commuter's route to the grocery store, bar, even dayjob, if absolutely necessary---though not something you could ignore (Thomas's eventual Jehovah's Witnesses-related visions of utopian picnics in the urban desert would take some getting used to).

Perfect tag for their jerry-rigged, rough-and-ready inventions: avant-garage, centered by Ravenstine's synth, which he said was left behind (another Witnesses precursor!)in a farmhouse, and forever customized, souped-up, as backyard mechanics and backstreet racers would say: the kind of steampunk that's always gaining on you---'til it stops for a while (the spaces in which Thomas began the improvised bits that later became whole stand-alone performance pieces, with mixed results). Then comes back to reality, lurching fwd.

"Avant-garage" was Thomas's tag of course.

Dub Housing is still amazing. Listened to it properly for the first time in years yesterday. Whole sections that just don't sound recognisably like anything else at the time.

But why can't I find it (or other PU albums) on vinyl anywhere? We must demand a repress now!

Discogs.com marketplace has a mint LP reissue for $20.

was just listening to the early stuff this morning. amazing.

what i like about it especially is that the electronic/musique concrete stuff isn't just random noise overlaid on new wave, but very cleverly integrated into the songs. Those eerie door-opening squonks and whoops during the quieter breakdowns on Caligari's Mirror for example.

Allen Ravenstine was probably the best single element of this band imo, great great analog synth player

Agreed. What does he do now?

ha i was just looking him up to answer that very question... via wiki:
In 2012, an invitation to contribute to "I Dream of Wires: The Modular Synthesizer Documentary" led to the recording of an impromptu duo performance on the EML-101 and 200 synthesizers, with current Ubu synthesist Robert Wheeler. Culled from this were a pair of albums and singles, entitled City Desk/Farm Report, which were self-released in 2013.

Left music and became a pilot. I always think he passed away, but that was Peter Laughner.