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PERE UBU

Pere Ubu

The Modern Dance - 2025 Repress

    “It's a devastating debut...this album has struck me with a vengeance. Because it delivers such a powerful, complex and open-ended punch, it's almost impossible at such an early stage to explain why or how in full detail.” Melody Maker. // “I would be willing to sit down and argue that modern-day rock ‘n’ roll reached its peak in 1978 with Pere Ubu’s The Modern Dance and has declined ever since." Rolling Stone // “Peru Ubu’s full length debut fancies itself a fusion of musique concrete and The Stooges. Shrill and ugly it crystallises their original version of industrial rock” Uncut // The Modern Dance’ is the first studio release from Pere Ubu. Following their self-released first singles on Hearpen Records, the uncompromising complex debut has continuously stirred critics. Today the record is still as direct and powerful as it was first heard. Exploding onto the scene with a handful of releases behind them, Pere Ubu’s ‘The Modern Dance’ stunned the music world and quickly began appearing on ‘Most Influential’ album lists. Pere Ubu originally formed as a studio project drawing on a body of musicians who were involved in the Cleveland underground music scene that had, by August 1975, seemingly run its course. The main objective of the band at that time was to document their work and then disappear. Luckily for us they were on the cusp of changing the face of rock forever. For this reworking, Paul Hamann at Suma has transferred from the original 2-track analogue mix tapes to digital at the highest resolution available which, is at least four times the resolution of the original. The tracks have carefully been re-mastered by sonic architect Brian Pyle so as to capture the unique qualities within.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Non-alignment Pact
    2. Modern Dance
    3. Laughing
    4. Street Waves
    5. Chinese Radiation
    6. Life Stinks
    7. Real World
    8. Over My Head
    9. Sentimental Journey
    10. Humor Me

    Pere Ubu

    Architecture Of Language: 1979-1982

      ‘Architecture Of Language 1979-1982’ is a four disc CD bookback set with excerpts from the Pere Ubu scrapbook 75-82, written by David Thomas, including historical photos. It features the ground-breaking ‘New Picnic Time’ described by one critic as the “scariest album ever recorded”. Plus ‘The Art Of Walking’ featuring Mayo Thomson of Red Crayola, ‘Song Of The Bailing Man’ and a further CD of glorious out-takes and oddities, ‘Architectural Salvage’. This release features Ubu approved notes and memorabilia.

      Reinventing rock music from the ground up, Pere Ubu are equally at ease with Sun Ra and The Monkees, Glen Campbell and The MC5, Can and The Raspberries, they are the white Funkadelic.



      “Inspired, invigorating, confounding, disturbing…” Rolling Stone.

      As vital as ever, no band before or since has ever sounded like Pere Ubu - period.

      TRACK LISTING

      Disc One - New Picnic Time
      1 The Fabulous Sequel (Have Shoes Will Walk)
      2 49 Guitars And One Girl
      3 A Small Dark Cloud
      4 Small Was Fast
      5 All The Dogs Are Barking
      6 One Less Worry
      7 Make Hay
      8 Goodbye
      9 Voice Of The Sand
      10 Kingdom Come
      Disc Two - The Art Of Walking
      1 Go
      2 Rhapsody In Pink
      3 Arabia
      4 Misery Goats
      5 Young Miles In The Basement
      6 Loop
      7 Rounder
      8 Birdies
      9 Lost In Art
      10 Horses
      11 Crush This Horn
      Disc Three - Song Of The Bailing Man
      1 The Long Walk Home
      2 Use Of A Dog
      3 Petrified
      4 Stormy Weather
      5 West Side Story
      6 Thoughts That Go By Steam
      7 Big Ed's Used Farms
      8 A Day Such As This
      9 The Vulgar Boatman Bird
      10 My Hat
      11 Horns Are A Dilemma
      Disc Four - Architectural Salvage
      1 Humor Me - Live
      2 The Book Is On The Table
      3 All The Dogs Are Barking (alt Mix 4)
      4 Arabian Nights
      5 Tribute To Miles
      6 Horses (alt Mix 3)
      7 Rounder (alt Mix 1)
      8 Not Happy
      9 Lonesome Cowboy Dave

      Pere Ubu

      Elitism For The People: 1975-1978

        ‘Elistism For The People 1975-1978’ is a four-disc ‘bookback’ set featuring excerpts from the Pere Ubu scrapbook 75-82, written by David Thomas, including historical photos. It features the seismic debut album ‘Modern Dance’, it’s follow up ‘Dub Housing’ and ‘The Hearpen Singles’ and the incendiary ‘Live At Max’s Kansas City’. The set collects the bracing and brilliant Pere Ubu in their earliest incarnation, with the devasting one-two knockout blow of 1978 studio bookends.

        “The Modern Dance is one of the first and greatest art-rock records.” The Guardian

        Reinventing rock music from the ground up, Pere Ubu are equally at ease with Sun Ra and The Monkees, Glen Campbell and The MC5, Can and The Raspberries, they are the white Funkadelic.

        “Harsh and willfully ugly, yet always mindful of certain rock & roll imperatives: a solid beat, snappy lyrics and engaging themes” Rolling Stone

        As vital as ever, no band before or since has ever sounded like Pere Ubu - period.

        TRACK LISTING

        Disc One - The Modern Dance
        1 Non-Alignment Pact
        2 Modern Dance
        3 Laughing
        4 Street Waves
        5 Chinese Radiation
        6 Life Stinks
        7 Real World
        8 Over My Head
        9 Sentimental Journey
        10 Humor Me
        Disc Two - Dub Housing
        1 Navvy
        2 On The Surface
        3 Dub Housing
        4 Caligari's Mirror
        5 Thriller!
        6 I, Will Wait
        7 Drinking Wine Spodyody
        8 (Pa) Ubu Dance Party
        9 Blow Daddy-o
        10 Codex
        Disc Three - The Hearpen Singles
        1 30 Seconds Over Tokyo
        2 Heart Of Darkness
        3 Final Solution
        4 Cloud 149
        5 Untitled
        6 Street Waves
        7 My Dark Ages
        8 Modern Dance
        9 Heaven
        Disc Four - Manhattan: Live At Max's Kansas City 1977
        1 My Dark Ages
        2 Heaven
        3 Sentimental Journey
        4 Over My Head
        5 30 Seconds Over Tokyo
        6 Life Stinks

        Pere Ubu

        390 Degrees Of Simulated Stereo V2.1 - 2022 Reissue

          Originally released on vinyl in 1981. Long lost and simply breath taking live Ubu classic culled from 1981 recordings in Cleveland, London and Brussels featuring the band’s original line up. An essential pressing for all fans of the the celebrated post-punk innovators.

          TRACK LISTING

          Side A.
          A1 Non-Alignment Pact
          A2 Street Waves
          A3 Real World
          A4 My Dark Ages
          A5 The Modern Dance
          A6 Humor Me.
          Side B.
          B1 Heart Of Darkness
          B2 Laughing
          B3 Can't Believe It
          B4 Over My Head
          B5 Sentimental Journey
          B6 30 Seconds Over Tokyo 

          Pere Ubu

          Nuke The Whales 2006-2014

            Rewriting the history of music, Pere Ubu continue to confound convention and shift personnel. The next box set in Fire Records’ reissue series, ‘Nuke The Whales’ houses 4 LPs originally released between 2006 and 2014 –
            'Why I LUV Women’, 'Carnival Of Souls’, ‘Lady Of Shanghai’ and Long Live Pere Ubu!’

            ‘Nuke The Whales,’ is a nod of respect to a couple in Cleveland who would daub such messages over the big news stations’ advertising boards. “Very few bands display such dedication to constant self-reinvention as Pere Ubu” The Quietus.

            All four albums have been remixed and remastered by original Pere Ubu member David Thomas. ‘Why I LUV Women’, originally released on Glitterhouse in 2006, gains its first vinyl release. "Spews 11 tunes of arcane lyrics and dense music” shrieked The Cleveland Gazaette.

            It’s joined by ‘Long Live Pere Ubu’ a soundtrack to a musical adaptation of the play. “Skronking, squalling rhythms and melodic snippets undulating round a pulsating soundscape." Record Collector

            And ‘Lady From Shanghai’, their Fire debut for Fire in 2013. Originally released on the 35th anniversary of the group's debut, ‘The Modern Dance’, a latter day re-evaluation of the unprompted dance genre.

            And its follow up ‘Carnival Of Souls’, a haunting “underscore’ to a tale of alienation, it “combines metallic percussion, spare guitars and David Thomas' muttered vocals into something rustic and rickety, yet threatening at a moment's notice.” AllMusic.

            TRACK LISTING

            Disc 1 - Why I LUV Women
            A1 Two Girls (One Bar)
            A2 Babylonian Warehouses
            A3 Blue Velvet
            A4 Caroleen
            A5 Flames Over Nebraska
            B1 Love Song
            B2 Stolen Cadillac
            B3 Mona
            B4 Synth Farm
            B5 Texas Overture

            Disc 2 - Lady From Shanghai
            C1 Thanks
            C2 Free White
            C3 Feuksly Ma'am, The Hearing
            C4 Mandy
            C5 Musicians Are Scum
            C6 Another One
            D1 And Then Nothing Happened
            D2 Road Trip Of Bipasha Ahmed
            D3 Lampshade Man
            D4 414 Seconds
            D5 The Carpenter Sun

            Disc 3 - Carnival Of Souls
            E1 Golden Surf II
            E2 Drag The River
            E3 Irene
            E4 Road To Utah
            E5 Throb Array
            F1 Visions Of The Moon
            F2 Dr Faustus
            F3 Bus Station
            F4 Carnival
            F5 Moonstruck

            Disc 4 - Long Live Pere Ubu!
            G1 Ubu Overture
            G2 Song Of The Grocery Police
            G3 Banquet Of The Butchers
            G4 Tear Your Eyes Out
            G5 March Of Greed
            G6 Big Sombrero
            G7 Bring Me The Head
            G8 Alienating The Audience
            H1 Road To Reason
            H2 Slowly I Turn
            H3 Watching The Pigeons
            H4 The Story So Far
            H5 Snowy Livonia, Pt 1
            H6 Elsinore & Beyond

            Pere Ubu

            Pennsylvania - Reissue

              From the turn of the millennium, ‘Pennsylvania’ was the eleventh studio album from this uncompromising and influential group, presenting their dark take on pop music. This edition is newly remixed by David Thomas in 2021 and reissued on Fire Records. “Everyone talked about our artiness and our unlikeableness, people completely ignored for decades me saying, ‘We’re a pop band’.” David Thomas. With ‘Pennsylvania,’ Pere Ubu welcome you to a barely recognisable secret country drawn out of its own spectral geography... This is much more than just music.

              “[Pere Ubu] were still creating great works of abstract art, pushing the limits of rock ‘n’ roll to twist into avant-garde explorations of the darkest recesses of the human mind” Classic Rock // “From the beginning they obviously understood the nuts and bolts of popular music, and then loosened them.” Mojo

              TRACK LISTING

              Side A
              A1 Woolie Bullie
              A2 Highwaterville
              A3 SAD.TXT
              A4 Urban Lifestyle
              A5 Silent Spring
              A6 Mr Wheeler
              A7 Muddy Waters

              Side B
              B1 Drive
              B2 Indiangiver
              B3 Monday Morning
              B4 Perfume
              B5 Fly's Eye
              B6 Wheelhouse

              Pere Ubu

              St. Arkansas - Reissue

                Pere Ubu's darkest and most dramatic statement, ‘St Arkansas’ remains a work of offhand brilliance by a band who often seem capable of miracles. This edition is newly remixed by David Thomas in 2021 and reissued on Fire Records. Following ‘Pennsylvania’, ‘St Arkansas’ (2002) was Pere Ubu’s next studio album featuring a travelogue of characters encountered on the Mighty Road from Conway Arkansas to Tupelo Mississippi, I-40 to US 49 to State 6. “I drove the route and wrote down what the Road was telling me.” David Thomas. Pere Ubu are the mainstream.

                “Immediate, energised and claustrophobic.. It's difficult to think of a more important band.” Mojo.

                “Straddling the extremes of pure, uncompromising modern art and pure, uncompromising loud rock.” The Sunday Times.

                TRACK LISTING

                Side A
                A1 The Feverered Dream Of Hernando DeSoto
                A2 Slow Walking Daddy
                A3 Michele
                A4 333
                A5 Hell

                Side B
                B1 Phone Home Jonah
                B2 Lisbon
                B3 Mr Steve
                B4 Where's The Truth
                B5 Dark

                Pere Ubu

                20 Years In A Montana Missile Silo



                  Fronted as ever by David Thomas, Pere Ubu unveil their new album, 20 Years In A Montana Missile Silo, which opens the doors of the avant-garage to reveal the hardworking mechanics hammering away at the fundamentals of blue-collar rock.

                  A three-guitar revision sees Keith Moliné, Gary Siperko and Kristof Hahn (The Swans) expand the established orchestra of analog and digital synths (Wheeler, Gagarin), clarinet (Boon), drums (Mehlman) and Thomas’ unique vocals.
                  20 Years In A Montana Missile Silo follows their 2015 release Carnival of Souls, which was widely praised by the media and used by cult series 'American Horror Story' in Season 4.

                  David Thomas: “The new album is The James Gang teaming up with Tangerine Dream. The Chinese Whispers methodology we worked on the last two albums has been replaced by the Dark Room. Put musicians in a lightless room and by feeling one small section of an unknown object have them figure what it must be.”

                  The album was recorded and mixed at Suma, Painesville Ohio. Engineer Paul Hamann, and his father before him, have been part of almost every Pere Ubu album since 1976.

                  Pere Ubu

                  The Art Of Walking

                    Released in 1980, ‘The Art Of Walking’ sees Pere Ubu ‘moving even further from the conventions of rock music - and from their own past - but still moving forward, without a doubt, and losing none of their integrity as a group.’ (Melody Maker, Chris Cutler). The album features in new box set, ‘Architecture Of Language 1979-1982’, released in March. It gathers together ‘New Picnic Time’ with its companion releases, ‘The Art Of Walking’ and ‘Song Of The Bailing Man’ plus LP of extras, ‘Architectural Salvage’. Coed Jail! Live dates mark the release of the box with a set list drawn exclusively from the recordings of 1975-1982. Tom Herman, guitarist from 1975 to 1979 and from 1997 to 2002, rejoins the band for the tour. The line-up is David Thomas, Tom Herman, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Steve Mehlman. Wheeler and Temple have been in Pere Ubu since 1994, Mehlman since 1995. 

                    TRACK LISTING

                    01 Go
                    02 Rhapsody In Pink
                    03 Arabia 04 Misery Goats
                    05 Young Miles In The Basement
                    06 Loop
                    07 Rounder
                    08 Birdies
                    09 Lost In Art
                    10 Horses
                    11 Crush This Thorn 

                    Released in 1982, 'Song of the Bailing Man' is an ‘inspired, invigorating, confounding, disturbing... yeah, one hell of a swinging way to go. Still the futility Ubu must have felt making far sighted music in a chronically near-sighted world is pressed hard into these grooves.’ (Melody Maker, David Fricke).

                    The album features in new LP box set, ‘Architecture Of Language 1979-1982’, released in March. It gathers together ‘New Picnic Time’ with its companion releases, ‘The Art Of Walking’ and ‘Song Of The Bailing Man’ plus LP of extras, ‘Architectural Salvage’. Spring dates mark the release of the box with a set list drawn exclusively from the recordings of 1975-1982. Tom Herman, guitarist from 1975 to 1979 and from 1997 to 2002, rejoins the band for the tour. The line-up is David Thomas, Tom Herman, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Steve Mehlman. Wheeler and Temple have been in Pere Ubu since 1994, Mehlman since 1995. 

                    TRACK LISTING

                    01 The Long Walk Home
                    02 Use Of A Dog
                    03 Petrified
                    04 Stormy Weather
                    05 West Side Story
                    06 Thoughts That Go By Steam
                    07 Big Ed’s Used Farms
                    08 A Day Such As This
                    09 The Vulgar Boatman Bird
                    10 My Hat
                    11 Horns Are A Dilemma


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