Pere Ubu Albums (19)
'Why I Remix Women'
Release Date 1/1/2006
Tracks 9
Label Hearpen Music
See Album Tracklist and Review
'One Man Drives While the Other Man Screams'
Release Date 4/12/2005
Tracks 13
Label Hearpen
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The second volume in the live Ubu saga, this is sonically better than its predecessor, 390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo. Covering the period from 1978-1981, the tracks on this recording were recorded during the guitarist transition from Tom Herman to Mayo Thompson. And while I prefer Herman's more assertive guitar playing, Thompson acquits himself nicely here, especially on "Birdies" and "(Pa) Ubu Dance Party." Vocalist David Thomas has some extraordinary moments here, as he is less restrained (positively manic) than in the studio. His glee is contagious, and by infusing the songs with such unrestrained joy, the band never sounds too dour and serious. Proof that art-rock can rock. ~ John Dougan, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
No band has sustained as much alt-credibility as long as Pere Ubu. While St. Arkansas doesn't divert from the paths the bandmembers have already traveled, it's worth remembering that these guys started this trip 27 years prior to this album, and noting as well that their lyrical and musical creativity is undiminished by time. Recorded dry, with a boxlike ambience, David Thomas's vocals gnarl like a weed, repulsive yet irresistible, in a garden of broken glass. While the band scatters shards of pointed sound around him, Thomas tells cryptic, twisted tales; on "Slow Walking Daddy" his strangled bleat transplants a Willy Loman character into shadows of vague but looming doom. For the song "Hell" he switches to a smoky mumble and reflects, with odd detachment, on finding himself in perdition -- a place depicted musically by a muffled, lurching drum motif, some keyboard wheezes, and a distant out of tune piano. The closing track, "Dark," wraps up the theme of the album -- tragic self-delusion in a world filled with indifference; Thomas' delivery of the key line, a hopeless mantra to "AM radio," is a masterful bit of expression. On each track he presents himself as more of an actor or a performance artist than a singer, an assumption of identity that would challenge almost any band's approach to accompaniment. In this sense, as well as in his poetic integrity and superb connection to his musicians, and in the dark majesty of his declamation, Thomas casts a dangerous spell with St. Arkansas and reaffirms his stature as a peer of Tom Waits. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Though the sound quality is less than desirable, The Shape of Things is an important release in that it adds more than an hour to the scant recorded legacy of cult figure Peter Laughner. Captured on cassette by an audience member, The Shape of Things documents an April 7, 1976, Cleveland performance at the Mistake soon after Pere Ubu's inception, and just months after the dissolution of vocalist David Thomas and Laughner's pre-Ubu band, Rocket From the Tombs (between their first two singles, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" and "Final Solution"). On this particular evening, the young band is full of wide-eyed exuberance and volatile energy. The feeling that almost anything could happen is tangible. Future Ubu classics are included on the set list, as well as covers of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog," the Seeds' "Pushin Too Hard," and Lou Reed's "Heroin." Soon after this show, Laughner quit Pere Ubu, and a few months later he was dead. It might be hard to get a hold of a copy of The Shape of Things, as it was available only at live shows and through Hearpen directly, though only Pere Ubu completists -- or cult-icon enthusiasts -- will be interested anyway. ~ Jason Nickey, All Music Guide
'Song of the Bailing Man'
Release Date 11/16/1999
Tracks 11
Label Thirsty Ear
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
David Thomas becomes more obtuse as the band heads toward breakup again. ~ Myles Boisen, All Music Guide
'The Art of Walking'
Release Date 11/16/1999
Tracks 12
Label Thirsty Ear
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The Art of Walking was the first Pere Ubu recording that wasn't completely sensational. Red Krayola guitarist/mastermind Mayo Thompson replaced Tom Herman, and while he freely indulges in pushing the envelope when it comes to soloing, he doesn't have Herman's rock sensibility, so there's less pulsating, Chuck Berry-style riffing emerging from the mix. Also, the songs are a tad more obtuse -- not that previous Ubu songs weren't, but this collection, with its focus on the pastoral, falls apart when it becomes overly precious. Such is the fate of utopian concept records. Still, this transitional (if you want to call it that) record offers many rewards, even if as a listener you have to work a little harder to find them. ~ John Dougan, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Pere Ubu's third live album is only the second to feature decent sound (the first, 390° of Simulated Stereo, was a compilation of dodgy fan bootlegs and almost equally dodgy board tapes), and it has the added virtue of offering a pretty thorough overview of the band's history, from its first album to its most recent work, including bandleader David Thomas' forays into solo work. In fact, it's Thomas' whimsical "My Theory of Spontaneous Simultude" ("Tony, complete this phrase: 'I am like...'") that opens the program. From the old band book they pull out an inferior version of "Heaven" and the epochal "Non-Alignment Pact" (and append to it an abridged version of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog"). "Caligari's Mirror" goes almost as far back, but there are also fine versions of the poppier and more recent "We Have the Technology" and "Oh Catherine." Guitarist Jim Jones is playing acoustic on this set, but he's got a Rat pedal that he can stomp when he wants to rock out, which gives the album a nice variety of moods and textures -- though the band's segue from the bludgeoning proto-punk of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" to the 6/8 lilt of "Caligari's Mirror" is enough to give you whiplash. David Thomas is in rare form throughout, warbling and hooting in that strangled-penguin voice of his, just sounding like he's having a great old time. You will, too, though neophytes might want to start with the studio albums first. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
It was not surprising that after Dub Housing, Pere Ubu couldn't get a record released in the U.S. New Picnic Time originally surfaced on Chrysalis as a British import, but when Rough Trade made it available domestically, U.S. fans could take solace in that the band had finally hooked up with a label more sympathetic to their decidedly unique approach to music. New Picnic Time was also the last Ubu record with guitarist Tom Herman, and for many Ubu fans this signals the end of Pere Ubu phase one (or phase two, depending on one's feelings for the Datapanik-era band). New Picnic Time also finds David Thomas' lyrical explorations reflecting his religious involvement with the Jehovah's Witnesses, pieties that are stated quite emphatically on the record's closing track, "Jehovah's Kingdom Comes." ~ John Dougan, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
On self-imposed exile in England yet still obsessed with industrial America, Dave Thomas looks back to his hometown and finds that it's not what it used to be. The factories are still there, still belching out smoke to the heavens. There are still vast landscapes of concrete and steel. The difference is, it's all been homogenized, run through the grinder of corporate consumer culture. Although he's half a world away, he doesn't like what he sees, and that's the essence of Pennsylvania, Pere Ubu's eleventh album in 20 years. It's a return to the clastrophobic, complex, darkly paranoid sound of their early albums; only occasionally is it graced with the relatively tamed alterna-pop stylings that marked their early-'90s records. Thomas, thankfully, hasn't abandoned his satiric wit, and that's what makes Pennsylvania provocative, not insular. It's been many years since Pere Ubu has delivered a record as sweeping in lyrical and musical scope as Pennsylvania, and it's been worth the wait. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
