Actually, I just checked the Ubu web site & found this:The left & right channels are reversed and the tape transfer left all songs running at a slower speed. All Rough Trade / Twin Tone cd & vinyl releases are affected. These faults were corrected by the 1994 digital transfer & eq. The 1998 cd reissue features the Mayo Thompson / Geoff Travis mixes of "Not Happy" and "Lonesome Cowboy Dave" as released on the 1981 Rough Trade single. The 1985 Twin Tone / Rough Trade releases use the David Thomas mixes done at Suma.
.. So I guess the CD is better than the LP.
― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 11:05 (twenty years ago) link
I've never heard anything after "Raygun Suitcase" are the "Pennsylvania" or the "St. Arkansas" albums any count?
At least from the reviews, it seems if you like Pere Ubu, the last two albums will be to your liking. They are on my list and I probably will look for them when I go up to Bloomington/Indianapolis at the end of August.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 13:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Fastnbulbous (Fastnbulbous), Thursday, 8 September 2005 03:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― js (honestengine), Thursday, 8 September 2005 04:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 8 September 2005 04:51 (eighteen years ago) link
Dub Housing is so classic. Total paranoid schizo vibe. I suppose buying more albums of theirs isn't strictly necessary but surely if you like the box set you'd like others?
― dar1a g (daria g), Thursday, 8 September 2005 05:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 8 September 2005 05:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 8 September 2005 07:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 8 September 2005 10:24 (eighteen years ago) link
Modern Dance > Dub Housing >>>>>>>>> everything else
― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 8 September 2005 10:26 (eighteen years ago) link
The Wooden Birds - "Blame the Messenger"Rockets from the Tombs& the Peter Laughner disc.
-David Thomas solo records are also great, if you like 'Sentimental Journey'-Home and Garden records are spotty, but I really love some of em.
― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Thursday, 8 September 2005 11:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 8 September 2005 11:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:00 (eighteen years ago) link
xpost...
― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:21 (eighteen years ago) link
Pere Ubu = teh classik.
― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Thursday, 8 September 2005 13:06 (eighteen years ago) link
The later stuff varies from meh (Cloudland) to very good (Ray Gun Suitcase), with The Tenement Year being a personal favourite, even tho nobody else seems to like it much - too prog or something, with the doubled drums and accordion and all.
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 8 September 2005 15:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 8 September 2005 15:20 (eighteen years ago) link
Uh, if you don't count Mushroomhead....
― PB, Thursday, 8 September 2005 15:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 3 July 2006 02:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Monday, 3 July 2006 02:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Monday, 3 July 2006 11:14 (seventeen years ago) link
Love the more "rawk" oriented early stuff like Final Solution and Heart of Darkness. And the funky shit that came after, circa The Modern Dance and Dub Housing. Fact, I love both them two records about the same. Dub Housing is darker and woozier, but it totally rules all the way through. Funny, scary and fascinating.
I've got The Terminal Tower and a boxed reproduction set of the first four singles on vinyl (put out by T/K records a decade or so ago). Terminal Tower sucks in comparison.
After "Dub Housing" I dunno that anything the band did is truly essential. I like "New Picnic Time" and "The Tenement Year" well enuf, but almost never play 'em. On the other hand, I spin the early stuff all the time...
― fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Monday, 3 July 2006 11:34 (seventeen years ago) link
only saw them live once, doing the music for roger corman's the man with the x-ray eyes. interesting and funny, especially how they slotted in some of their better-known songs (e.g., playing "the modern dance" during a shot of people dancing at a party). david thomas attempted to "conduct" the band, which meant he made flailing arm movements that they completely ignored. great show, though.
― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Monday, 3 July 2006 11:44 (seventeen years ago) link
The "reunion" show I saw in 1987 was indeed a return to form for DT but I sorta lost track of all the albums released since then.
what's the ILM buzz on the Rocket from the Tombs reunion? I've got bootleg tapes of RFTT from 1975 that are crazed takes on metallized proto-punk. But my favorite UBU is another bootleg tape from 1976, the last gigs with Peter Laughner. from his bedroom to the baroom.
ah the avant-garage. so many people followed in these guys footsteps it's hard to imagine just how isolated/unique it all was at first.
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Monday, 3 July 2006 11:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 3 July 2006 12:35 (seventeen years ago) link
My favourite moment on Night Network...
― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 3 July 2006 13:11 (seventeen years ago) link
more exciting are the Home & Garden Mp3s and these websites:http://www.homeandgardenmusic.com/index_main.asphttp://www.homeandgardenmusic.com/index_multimedia.asphttp://myspace.com/homeandgardenmusic
and the release of History & Geography on CD ..
― DAVE's secret to fortu-Oh look! Shiny! (dave225.3), Monday, 10 July 2006 12:45 (seventeen years ago) link
after the insufferable mayo thompson joined (did adrian belew really need to be cloned?),
I may not love the Pere Ubu stuff with him on it, but insufferable? Forget the version of Horses done with Pere Ubu and listen to the original. Amazing.
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 10 July 2006 13:21 (seventeen years ago) link
Wow, Tom Herman, haven't thought about him in about 20 years. I auditioned for him around the time of "Long Walk Off a Short Pier". He played some very nasty slide guitar. I wasn't called back.
Saw Ubu on the Urg tour w/The Members, Dead Boys, and Magazine. Devoto was a putz. Thomas should get over himself but I still dig his work. He makes himself such an easy target... and I ain't talking about his size.
― factcheckr (factcheckr), Monday, 10 July 2006 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link
Mercury UK has reissued the long OOP first bunch of Ubu Mk II albums. (Tenement Year, Cloudland, Worlds In Collision, Story Of My Life).
I can take or leave the other three, but I've always loved Tenement Year, which IMO yields only to the early singles and first two LPs. But it always sounded like shit, gray, cluttered and muddy. Got the remaster and it sounds fucking marvelous, all the fidgety detail of the double drummers exposed, Ravenstine's synth disclaimers sounding thick and rich, etc etc. I'm very happy to have this album un-lamed.
― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 14 June 2007 15:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Cool! That's good to hear. The only time I saw them they were touring that record iirc. Thompson deliberately ruined "Final Solution" by wailing all of the lyrics in an incomprehensible yowl, which was at least, uh, interesting.
No mention of Tripod Jimmie on this thread that I see... Tom Herman's post-Ubu band. They have at least one fantastic album that I still own, archival stuff that came out in the 90's, but I am 2000 miles away from my records right now so I can't look it up.
I like some of Dub Housing, almost none of New Picnic Time. Tenement Years and Ray Gun Suitcase are pretty good also, I imagine Ray Gun is oop after the meltdown on T/K Records (also home of the needs-so-bad-to-be-reissued Peter Laughner double LP).
― sleeve, Thursday, 14 June 2007 16:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Ray Gun Suitcase has been reissued on either Smog Veil or Hearpen, can't remember which. It's on eMusic, too.
Someone upthread implies that they auditioned for Tripod Jimmie, actually! I was a big fan of TJ's Warning To All Strangers LP. I'd buy that in a minute if it was on CD. "There ain't NO WAY I'm gonna put MY HAND in THERE without my box."
Luckily Tom Herman was back in the lineup when i saw Ubu in 2003; it was really nice to see him in action.
― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 14 June 2007 16:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Pere Ubu is one of those bands that I've wanted to like for quite a long time, but I can't really get past Thomas' voice.
I resemble that remark. It amazes me that people can like this but hate, for instance, Phish, because of their squeaky voices and endulgent "noodling." How do these criticisms not apply to PU (good abbreviation!)? Beats me (and I'm sure many of you would like to right about now). Oh well, I don't have to like or understand everything.
― dean ge, Thursday, 14 June 2007 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link
I've never owned Cloudland and have wanted to for years. This is good news.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 14 June 2007 17:13 (sixteen years ago) link
I interviewed Thomas for a Wire cover story last year, and he mentioned there was some talk of reissuing those discs. Glad to hear they're back out there.
A very enjoyable interview, too. Fun guy to talk to about the mechanics of record-making and live performance, etc. Philosophical "meaning of rock" stuff, not so much. Keep it quotidian and you'll get a great conversation out of the guy. Try to get arty, or fetishize the past, and he'll slap you down in a heartbeat.
― unperson, Thursday, 14 June 2007 17:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Alfred, a phonograph player and a three dollar copy off ebay could have done the job nicely! : D
― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 14 June 2007 17:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Ok, slight tradeoff for the much-improved sound on Tenement: A very different mix of one song, "Dream The Moon," is used this time. Bass/Drums/Guitar sound the same, but totally different vocal track. Can't tell yet how I feel about the alt. mix, just 'cause I'm so imprinted on the old one. I'll probably tag the original mix onto the end of the reissue in my library for good measure.
The two B-sides included as bonus tracks are really fun. Two Peel sessions as well.
― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 14 June 2007 17:41 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost to unperson-- I read that! Really good article, man.
(Wow-- Peel version of "Miss You" kicks ass...)
― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 14 June 2007 17:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Alfred, here's the lowdown on the Cloudland re-ish/remaster.
The album was originally mixed by Paul Hamann at Paisley Park Studios, Minneapolis MN. Subsequently four tracks were re-recorded in London and the others remixed for the 1989 Fontana release. This reissue substitutes in the running order the following Paisley Park mixes by Paul Hamann: Monday Night, Lost Nation Road, Nevada!, The Wire, The Waltz, and Pushin. Five extras have been added: the UK b-sides Wine Dark Sparks and Bang The Drum, the Paisley Park mix of Breath (never previously released), Bus Called Happiness recorded live in the studio for the John Peel Show (never previously released), and a dance remix of Love Love Love.
― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 14 June 2007 18:28 (sixteen years ago) link
CLASSIC! Just saw them live over here in Oporto, and they were fucking amazing - some sound problems in the begining, and Dave Thomas seemed sort of SCARY, running offstage and barking at his backing players, but it all got sorted out and he seemed to realise the absurdity of his own position - total charmer through the rest of the set.
― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 17 February 2008 03:44 (sixteen years ago) link
The latest album, 'Why I Hate Women' is totally worth getting. Great title too.
― S-, Saturday, 12 July 2008 10:13 (fifteen years ago) link
I think I lost that album or something. I went looking for it as I'd been doing periodically since I got it and it was nowhere.
I liked it but couldn't totally make up my mind how much. Nothing seems to come close to the Modern Dance and as a result is skewed by it's shadow.
― RabiesAngentleman, Saturday, 12 July 2008 11:06 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― S-, Saturday, 12 July 2008 12:04 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Fastnbulbous, Saturday, 12 July 2008 17:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh boy, Cloudland.
― RabiesAngentleman, Saturday, 12 July 2008 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link
just got ray gun suitcase
damn this is great! i think i like it as much as the real early stuff
― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 19 September 2008 19:10 (fifteen years ago) link
though there are bits of them appearing on youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83xzLp_YSsU
― Stevo, Sunday, 4 June 2023 11:55 (ten months ago) link
Will have to check out those bits, thanks.Fizzles, your description is perfectly valid, going toward the xpost rock & improv, also jazz, ideal: "The song turning into itself," as the poet Al Young puts it.
― dow, Sunday, 4 June 2023 19:52 (ten months ago) link
And your report on the album is even more appealing.
― dow, Sunday, 4 June 2023 19:55 (ten months ago) link
Yeah good write-up Fizzles. I like the new album too. There are moments that remind me of specific elements from past Ubu/DT projects: "Love Is Like Gravity" starts off sounding exactly like something from one of the DT + Two Pale Boys albums, "Crocodile Smile" makes prominent use of an actual sample of "Drive" from Pennsylvania, the creepy whispered vocals on "Let's Pretend" make me think of Mere Ubu from Long Live Pere Ubu, and "Nyah Nyah Nyah" almost feels like a darker take on some of the goofier stuff from the early 80s Ubu and David Thomas albums, but at the same time it does seem like this is a new era of the band -- I keep thinking of it as "The Pere Ubu Big Band." In that regard it's almost the opposite of The Long Goodbye, which to me felt more like an actual solo album from David Thomas than maybe anything else he's done, with Pere Ubu or otherwise. (Pretty sure it's the only album he's been involved with where's got the sole writing credit on every song.) I wasn't really able to get into that album, so this is a welcome change-up.
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 21:13 (ten months ago) link
Found this last night while I was trying to find the current tour footage from Rich Mixhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNG4QHHvOPE
― Stevo, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 21:23 (ten months ago) link
Incidentally watched the Rich MIx footage last night and does the Face in the video behind the band during Worried Man Blues morph into a load of Gerry Anderson puppet faces from Stingray and Thunderbirds or is that me? Probably a number of other notable popular culture sci fi faces too from Dr Who and Star Trek among others.
― Stevo, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 21:27 (ten months ago) link
Man I would like to see them on stage with maimone and ravenstine!!!
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 29 June 2023 01:30 (nine months ago) link
Here's a glimpse of them at LPR in NYC covering 'Kick Out the Jams' for obvious reasons.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 29 June 2023 02:26 (nine months ago) link
Don't sleep on the recent live album, "By Order Of Mayor Pawlicki (Live In Jarocin)". It's relentlessly great.
― Blood On The Knobs, Friday, 30 June 2023 06:14 (nine months ago) link
Oh yes. And highly good-natured.
Dave T is *funny*
(Always knew this)
― Mark G, Friday, 30 June 2023 08:28 (nine months ago) link
There is a guy that's PISSED on my tl about seeing a show on their current tour and calling it "creativity bankrupt"!!
― kurt schwitterz, Friday, 30 June 2023 09:43 (nine months ago) link
― Blood On The Knobs, Friday, 30 June 2023 06:14 (ten hours ago) link
Great record, greater stage banter
"I'm not yelling at you...yet"
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 30 June 2023 16:22 (nine months ago) link
been enjoying the album on this swampy uk morning. i’d been feeling it takes a worried man got in the way of the album, sucked the energy into a not particularly outstanding track, but this morning it worked. the bass provided the swampy feeling appropriate to the mood - the chains around the heart, ‘i asked the judge what might be my time’, death and love again, thomas’ psychic landscape overlaid onto the music and geographic spaces of the south. in general tackling this album i’d been turning round the view that the music is better than the DT element. A precondition or implication of this is that the music is separable from the DT element, which is ofc RONG. the interplay is complicated though, it’s almost like a (very successful) extrapolation and interpretation of the DT’s mental landscape.Anyway, good listen.
― Fizzles, Saturday, 8 July 2023 09:15 (nine months ago) link
oh and the last seven tracks really add some murk and strangeness, as a sort of side 3 coda. i don’t think they’re really intended to perform that function as such, but they feel pretty essential tbh. odd, intriguing album.
― Fizzles, Saturday, 8 July 2023 09:17 (nine months ago) link