Pere Ubu - Dub Housing

Ubu Dance Party!

"Caligari's Mirror." They never made a flawless album, thank goodness.

caligari's mirror is probably the one that jumps into my head the most "whaaaaat dooo yoouu dooo with a druuunkeen saaaaaailor ... whhaaat dooo youuuu seeeeeeeeeeeeeee in caligari's mirrorrrrrrr"

^^^ yeah. They made expert Muppet music -- I'd play them for my kid if I had one.

"Ubu Dance Party!"

a party i'd like to go to

"They never made a flawless album"

otm, but the flaws (at least in Dub) are interesting as well.
also, who did?..

The guys recording the Lou Reed-Metallica tribute record.

I can think of a few flawless albums

lol Alfred

i got these arms and legs they flip flop flip

Here come my shoes.
Here comes me!

walked around, took a bus

I think of you all the time...

Navvy. Boy that sounds swell.

Mark Arm's favorite album, according to some old Guitar World profile.

Ubu Dance Party all the way. Navy would be my second choice, I never tire of him singing "That sounds swell" the way he does.

This is a solid 10/10 record for me.

I could listen to "Blow Daddy-O" all day.

"On The Surface"! Best mondo monster beach party song in feel without any actual accompanying related content that I can think of. It sounds to me like the soundtrack to them just about to throw down the gauntlet and have a peacock-feather jacket strutoff with Roxy Music ('expert Muppet music' OTM).

(Well, they do mention it being a day like a beach, but still.)

Codex

Cheers for this thread making me revisit the first two discs of the "Datapanik In The Year Zero" box set. In the 5 years since I last listened my ears have clearly mellowed as it all went down much smoother than last time.

I could listen to "Blow Daddy-O" all day.

My vote as well.

A brilliant album - went for On The Surface.

Me too.

Shit, just listened to it, and at every song I thought, well I can just vote for [what ever was playing at that particular moment]. Now 'Codex' has just finished and I have to re-evaluate everything again. Maybe 'Blow Daddy O', but that seems like a bit of a slight on Mr. Thomas.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I know the first 3 albums and EP are generally considered their best work, but I'd think you could make a killer 2 or 3 disc anthology by picking the best tracks from later albums.

^^^ Starting with Ray Gun Suitcase, this is my favorite era of the band (especially if you throw in David Thomas's albums w/ Two Pale Boys too).

voted navvy, but man on the surface is great, not to mention dub housing, i will wait, and drinking wine...

Starting with Ray Gun Suitcase, this is my favorite era of the band (especially if you throw in David Thomas's albums w/ Two Pale Boys too).

Poking around ILM and the web it looks like no one's even attempted to suggest a good anthology tracklisting. If you're familiar with the breadth of their output, howzabout giving it a go? I never went past the Datapanik box myself.

Terminal Tower and Cloudland remain my favorites.

If you're familiar with the breadth of their output, howzabout giving it a go?

Sure! Well, not too familiar with the middle years, but I'll try putting together a good compilation of Ubu/Thomas stuff from say 1995 on. Will post on a more all-purpose Pere Ubu thread.

This is really difficult. I find it difficult to single out a track from an album that I think is remarkably cohesive.
Ended up picking the song that I feel is most different, in some way (I will wait)

As a capsule of the time, "Dub Housing" is such a perfect conflation of Devo and the Talking Heads.

ended up voting for "on the surface," so fun.

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

Never expected "Codex" to tie for first! Woo-hoo!

Awesome!

yeah, Codex as 2nd is a surprise.
other than that - poll makes perfect sense.

Always the sign of a GREAT album when just about every track gets a vote. Well done, ILM!

David Thomas sings like someone who's just had a hot iron land on their foot. I mean that in a good way.

I will still rep for that "Long Live Pere Ubu!" project from a year or two back.

I originally picked this album out of a used bin. It had no cover, so I assumed it was reggae.

Well, I was at a local radio sponsored disco back in 1978 or thereabouts. The LocalDJ guy was awarding LPs to people dancing on the disco floor. Wasn't bothered by the sounds or what was being handed out, until I saw Pere Ubu's "The Modern Dance" being awarded to one small girl.

She ran excitedly back to her family, and the grandma saw the album and title and went "ooh, I like disco!"

See, I could hav told them, they woudn't have believed me. I wonder what they made of the record? (did they even get past track 1 intro?)

Here come my shoes.
Here comes me!

― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Friday, October 7, 2011 1:45 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

codex is such a great crush mixtape trakk

Bit crepey though, non?

I got these arms and legs that flip-flop flip-flop!

I was going to start a poll for this, then realised it already existed. It really is an incredible record.

For a long time I just heard this as a slightly sinister take on the B52s or the Ramones or whatever, but there's some REALLY REALLY weird shit going off all the way through. Big long passages where it's just odd noises or atonal interplay between instruments or whatever. Incredible.

Fascinating interview with Allen Ravenstine here.

cheers tarfumes

"Navvy" still sounds swell, as of April of last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MQCBGaPWpE&feature=related

i love how close the voting comes to symmetrical on this

I think I voted Caligari's Mirror, but I might be tempted to go for On The Surface now.

Man, David Thomas looks much better than he did last time I saw an Ubu-related show. Glad to see it, and that clip is pretty great.

It does look like he's lost weight. I've seen two Ubu shows in the last six years and they were both fantastic.

Heyy heyy boozy sailors! Listen up! What to do?

I've come to terms with the fact this is one of my top ten all time albums. I just can't figure out how something like this could ever have got made.

I would probably have voted Blow Daddy-o in this poll, that track's the fuckin' business.

Sometimes when I listen to early Ubu I think it's the coolest music ever made, totally aligned with my tastes, but fortunately (ironically?) I don't listen to it that often, so that when I do listen to it it remains fresh and inspires the same reaction.

Just realized that the "Dub" in "Dub Housing" is probably a Jehovah's Witness reference! (I always thought of it as referring to dub reggae)

? I always understood it as reference to the endless and repetitive nature of row housing in the Flats

^^^me too
It’s in an interview somewhere