Customer Reviews

Datapanik in the Year Zero

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Forget buying all those early (1975-1982) Pere Ubu albums on CD individually. You'll save money and come out way ahead by investing in this box set. It has all the original studio albums right up to their first break up. That's 6 albums, here presented as 3 "twofers" - 2 albums per CD. It also has a live disc of previously unreleased recordings, and disc 5 is devoted entirely to side projects of all the band members, which I for one found to be very interesting. Most of these side bands are pretty obscure, and the quality of the music on this fifth disc is pretty spotty, but there are some gems to be found here and I doubt you'd have much luck finding most of these recordings anywhere else. If you think you're enough of a Pere Ubu fan that you'd want to have, say, 3 or 4 of their early albums on CD, then take my advise and get this box set. It won't cost you much more than those single discs would have, but you'll get a heck of a lot more for you're money.

One of the greatest rock bands that ever existed, with all their greatest music in one box? Breathtaking, moving, deeply felt, completely uncompromising, and just as wondrous today as it was when it was recorded over 20 years ago.

This is a story of Cleveland, and how more than a few of its residents were driven insane by the economic depression and the bleakness of the post-industrial wasteland that was the "rust-belt" of the late 60's and early-mid 70's. Having nothing better to do, they just made music, with most likely nary a clue as to how influential their experimental tinkerings would become to a whole generation of musical revolutionaries.

I had always heard the name "Pere Ubu" mentioned by many modern musical artists (and many of my personal favorites) as being a big influence, but I never actually heard any of their songs until I got satellite radio a few years ago. I was immediately intrigued by songs like "Final Solution", "Nonalignment Pact", and "Ubu Dance Party", and then I found this box set available that contained all of their early work, so I figured, what the heck? At first, I was overwhelmed by radically diverse song structures and bizarre sounds, not to mention Dave Thomas' crazed (to quote Steven Grant of the Trouser Press) "plebian warble", and I worried that I had made a big mistake. However, after a few listens, things started to gel a bit and I was able to finally get my head around the sheer brilliance and inventiveness of this groundbreaking work. Now, here's my breakdown of the 5 discs in this box set:

Disc A contains the original Datapanik EP and The Modern Dance LP. This is easily the most accessible of their work and is definitely the place you should start if you have no familiarity with this band. The song structures are pretty straight-forward in the garage-punk sense, but there is still plenty of the idiosyncrasies (both vocal and instrumental) that would virtually take over in their later work. Everything here is uniformly great, except for maybe "Sentimental Journey" and "The Book is on the Table", which aren't actual songs as much as just experiments in sound and mood (all their albums have these "soundscape" pieces - they're not really filler, but they're not music in the traditional sense either).

Disc B contains the Dub Housing and New Picnic Time LP's, and this has become my favorite of the 5 discs over time. The key here is "OVER TIME", as the music on this disc was, at first, incomprehensibly bizarre to me, and it appeared to be the nonsensical ravings of lunatics trapped in an insane asylum with musical instruments and recording equipment. I gave it a chance, though, and ended up being greatly rewarded for my perseverance. Once you "get it", the amalgamation of blues, jazz, rock, pop, and downright performance art fleshed out with reckless abandon is just amazing. The humor and the horror, along with a myriad of other emotional nuances, always leaves something new to be discovered each time I listen. Once again, everything is great, with "Thriller!" and "A Small Dark Cloud" serving as the quasi-ambient soundscape interludes. My favorite song is probably "Small Was Fast" - that one just kills me. The first two discs of this set have actually become two of my favorite CDs of ALL TIME!

For me, things wane a little bit on disc C, which includes the material from Art of Walking and Song of the Bailing Man. I like about half the songs here, with most of those coming from Art of Walking. The music from Song of the Bailing Man seems a little staid and forced when compared to their earlier stuff. This is probably my least favorite disc of the 5, but some of you may find this almost as accessible as the material on disc A, especially if you end up getting more into Pere Ubu's smoother, jazzier side.

Disc D contains selections from two live recordings, one in 1978 and the other in 1981. The sound is bootleg quality, and this is not meant to be a "best of" live recordings (as Dave Thomas explains in the vocal liner notes: "that's life, that's art"), but the performances are actually quite good and offer sometimes radically different takes on the studio versions of the songs.

Disc E is quite interesting as it is made up entirely of side projects and other Cleveland bands belonging to the Pere Ubu extended family. I didn't have any expectations for this one, but I actually ended up liking about two thirds of the songs here. I'm especially fond of the raw, garage-rock of the songs by Friction, Tripod Jimmie, Rocket from the Tombs, and the Mirrors. You can really hear how this lot were influenced by earlier pioneers such as the Velvet Underground and Television.

So, in conclusion, for those of you who are interested in exploring the roots of where a lot of today's better music comes from, or if you just want a unique musical experience, you should consider this Pere Ubu box set. Be warned, though, this is some pretty challenging stuff, and you'll have to uphold your end of the bargain by doing some work yourself - this is not ear candy that's going to reveal itself for what it is on the first (or even second) listen. However, if you give it a chance, I think you'll be deeply rewarded. Why not 5 stars? Well, I think it's almost impossible for these large box sets to ever warrant 5 stars because there's always going to be stuff that you don't like or just aren't into, but I don't think that's their purpose anyway. To me, these types of compilations are meant to be like smorgasbords, where you pick out what you like from a vast selection of delicacies, some of which you can't find anywhere else. Have I made you hungry? Well, then, dig in!

To have the early Ubu opus available in a boxed set maybe the only convincing proof that God exists!! Buy this box or never complain about Garth Brooks again!!!

I would have given this album 5 stars and in fact if you're a Pere Ubu freak like I am then it warrants it in every respect however I don't think that this collection is as 'on' as the "Monster"collection (also 5 discs). I don't see "Monster" up here at Amazon though it's available from Tim Kerr records.

Newcomers to the Pere Ubu thing may not find this collection as accessible as some of the band's later albums but either way, Pere Ubu is an education as much as it is a musical experience and I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend that you give this band at least a few chances to catch you.

Pere Ubu were a legend back in the post-punk days. They were known as being very difficult. Their records were also very difficult to find. I also had problems with David Thomas's solo records since his "singing" could be difficult at times, even though he got great reviews for that stuff. However I must say that all the Pere Ubu stuff is very rewarding. It obvously had a very great influence on all the american underground music that would come out in later years. When this set came out it was quite expensive as I remember it but I decided to pick it up at Newbury Comics in Boston anyway and it was grerat to finally have these records on CD. Anyone interested in the history of alternative music and punk should try to get this box set. What they did later would be much much more mellow and commercial

This set sneaked out, at a very reasonable price, a few years ago and was presumably gobbled up by those of us familiar with Ubu's music from decades gone by. Those unacquainted with Pere Ubu's work from the 70's should consider purchase too, at least if you're interested in dissonant music and/or in progressive, complex hard rock music. Let me try to describe each disc in this (very moderately priced) set.

Disc 1 has the original "Datapanic" EP, consisting of tunes originally released on singles circa 1976 and 1977. These songs, such as the scarifying "Heart of Darkness" and "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" are dark but within their moody framework extremely well-constructed. The band starts to open it out a little on tracks like "Heaven" (sounds like the Rolling Stones circa 1976) and "Cloud 149" (sounds like some of the most brilliant utilization of rock riffs and instrumentation that I have ever heard). We are then treated to Ubu's debut LP (from 1978) "The Modern Dance" which has always been my favorite of theirs. This is the true sound of the American underground, sitting fermented in a pile of Velvets and Stooges records for years and now ready to burst out and make the world take notice. Each element of the band (Tom Herman's inside-out and always tasteful guitar, Scott Krauss's perfectly on-the-mark, fluid and creative drumming, Tony Maimone's probing bass, Alan Ravenstine's Eno-esque [circa Roxy Music] keyboard dissonance, and David Thomas' Tiny Tim-like vocal journeys) congeals into a powerful whole. The LP contains 10 songs and suffice it to say that they are all different and all worthwhile. It is a brilliant album which did deserve, and still does deserve, to be heard.

Disc 2 has the "Dub Housing" LP from 1978 and the "New Picnic Time" LP from 1979. Each of these is a classic in its own right and pursues furtherance of the band's adventurous and rhythmically dense style. "Dub Housing" is full of great instrumental interplay and fascinating stylistic maneuvers; "New Picnic Time" gets a bit dark and meandering but contains an EP's worth of stuff that probably ranks as some of the strongest and most delicious music ever to be filed under the "rock" genre.

Disc 3 is not Ubu at their best - it has most of the tracks from the two albums recorded after Mayo Thompson replaced Tom Herman on guitar - "The Art of Walking" and "Song of the Bailing Man". These LPs are unusual curiosities, especially "The Art of Walking" which has to rank as one of the strangest products ever released, but you'll probably never be motivated to get up and play them each before breakfast on a daily basis.

Disc 4 is "390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo Volume 2", actually the third live Ubu release. Like Volume 1 (still out-of-print) this collection is highlighted by material recorded live by the 1978 band. In addition to songs which were on Volume 1, there's an interesting run through "Sentimental Journey" (a dark piece which manages to be both droning and anarchic). The disc also contains some material recorded during the Mayo Thompson days.

Disc 5 is an unusual collection of tracks by Ubu-related projects or bands, or Cleveland bands that had an effect on Ubu. It's an unusual concept, but contributes effectively to showing us the "Cleveland Scene" that spawned Ubu. My favorites include Rocket From The Tombs' version of "30 Seconds Over Tokyo", Tom Herman (with Scott Krauss) doing a track called "Steve Canyon Blues", and Peter Laughner (who played with the band on their early singles) leading his band "Friction" through "Dear Richard". The Mirrors' "She Smiled Wild" is quite interesting too, as is 15-60-75's "It's In Imagination". "Syd's Dance Party" (which included Krauss and Maimone) contribute a very nice track also.

Okay. What's the bottom line on all this? Well, it's indispensably great. A great conflagration of energies. At its moderate price, you should buy it if you're interested in Ubu.

I cannot say enough good things about this wonderful box set, so I won't even try. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. It's a must for anyone who is open minded enough.

You need to love, honor, and obey these records, jointly or severally: and you might want to buy the original records for cover art and order alone, but if you are not familiar with the premise of Pere Ubu (addressing the problem of datapanik) I expect the box set might straighten you out a little bit. However, what you do not need to do is be particularly faithful to Pere Ubu's vision; although covers of Pere Ubu are frequently enough attempted, the point is to be quite singular, which they have always managed (though consider 15-60-75 and other 70s Cleveland acts included on the final disc). A lot of people don't like Pere Ubu, and although this has its consequences this is not a good reason not to listen to them; and frankly, partisans of *musique concrete* need to reconsider exactly what they are recommending to the people of the modern dance if it is not something like this. (Note: there are few partisans of musique concrete. Note that this is a note.)