St Arkansas

Pere Ubu | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cooking Vinyl
• ASIN: B000066JE2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357,703 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Fevered Dream of Hernando DeSoto

2. Slow Walking Daddy

3. Michele

4. 333

5. Hell

6. Lisbon

7. Steve

8. Phone Home Jonah

9. Where's the Truth

10. Dark

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

More dark yet jovial noise-pop about life on the road from the subgenre's old masters. Vocalist David Thomas and guitarist Tom Herman are the remaining original members of the legendary Cleveland group, whose blurping synth tones, nervous vocals, and squalling guitar created American punk rock with art-school self-consciousness, leaving groups such as the Fall and the Pixies in their wake. St Arkansas follows 1998's Pennsylvania, leaving room for one more geographical effort to complete the trilogy.

Ubu's latest iteration rocks hard for newbies, with Thomas incanting over crashing drums, synth moans, and tinkly percussion like the last lonely shaman of the interstate system. "The Fevered Dreams of Hernando DeSoto" reprises the band's ongoing interest in inland surf music, "Hell" decelerates to the timeless inner landscape of Ubu masterpiece Dub Housing, and "Dark" is nine minutes of David Lynchian lost-highway dread. The hit is "Slow Walking Daddy," five minutes of yeah-yeah pop sung by an insane traveling salesman. --Richard Gehr

Product Description

12th studio album and the 18th album overall in the group's illustrious history. On St Arkansas, Pere Ubu's blend of Midwestern hard rock, 'found' sound. Analog synthesizers, collapsing song structures, and careening vocals are brought into sharp focus. Perhaps their darkest and most dramatic statement yet! 2002. Spin Art.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ornette Coleman of pop music, January 21, 2003

By 

M. Auerbach (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: St Arkansas (Audio CD)

The creak and wobble in your speakers can only mean two things: 1. They're worn out - turn down those hits from the 80's!; or 2. The boys are back in town, but it's not OUR TOWN, and the neon above the bar will fry your brains. Pere Ubu, lead by the locomotive once christened Crocus Behemoth, reincarnated as David Thomas for the past 25 years, has again pulled into the station with this new album, and it's anyone's guess what happened to the caboose. This is the album to play when you want to annoy your neighbors at 4 a.m. This is the album to play when you need an excuse to check your door and window locks. This is the album to play whilst balancing on a unicycle with a Princess cake in one hand and a quart of rubbing alcohol in the other - it's sweet music, but you may sustain a flesh wound as you listen. With its Nathaniel West-esque title, "The Feverered Dream of Hernando DeSoto" is the sonic equivalent of passing time in a barrel full of monkeys. "Hell" is about as hushed and seductive as a David Lynch interlude - this should be the theme for that ubiquitous dwarf, whether he's in a red room or a blue storage closet. It makes you wonder how overrated heaven probably is. Pere Ubu's answer to "Desolation Row" (less a few hundred verses) and the last departure on this album, "Dark", in fact, may be that lost caboose, longer than the train that preceded it, with that clown David Thomas steering and waving (for this train is certainly running backwards). You wave back at him, knowing he could blow some righteous animal balloons, but remembering that John Wayne Gacey could, too.(Some will invariably compare this and other later Ubu releases to "Dub Housing"; beware that the music graveyard has now added security since The Pixies continue to be exhumed every time Frank Black puts out a new, great solo album. Please let the dead rest - what would their mothers say?).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More dark travelogues from Ubu, July 29, 2007

By 

M. L. Johnson (Auburn, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: St Arkansas (Audio CD)

This third installment of Pere Ubu's latest incarnation finds the avant garage rockers soldiering on into the new century with confidence and purpose. The music is much less varied here than with the previous two efforts, and almost sounds like it could have been recorded in one live basement session. Although certainly less spectacular than "Ray Gun Suitcase" or "Pennsylvania", "St. Arkansas" definitely has a satisfying quality to it that makes it a recommended addition to your collection. Things start off with the jaunty and up-beat (but, don't worry, still plenty skewed) "The Fevered Dream of Hernando DeSoto" and "Slow Walking Daddy". Then, we get into my favorite part of the album, which is the middle section - the meat in the sandwich, if you will. "Michele" and "Steve" are just gloriously crazed and menacing - my votes for best songs on the album. "333" and "Lisbon" are also great, and emerge as bizarre little travel vignettes (travel, especially of the road-trip variety, has always been a favorite Ubu topic). "Phone Home Jonah" is a fun surprise in that it's pretty much a straight-forward rocker, and actually rocks harder than anything they've ever done - ever! Things wane a bit at the end as the album seems to run out of steam, and that's probably why I can't give it a higher rating. However, there's still enough good stuff here to make it worth checking out. As a side note, when I lived in the northeast section of the land, I used to frequently ride the motorcycle over the wilds of western Pennsylvania. I'm sure I've been down US-322 numerous times, but I can't specifically recall the Moose Lodge (#2505, that is) 6 miles south of Meadville. If I'm ever back that way, I'll have to check and see if it's still there. I hear that they have a good cod dinner on Fridays, and a good steak dinner on Saturdays, each for only $5.95. My understanding is that I would be welcome. In fact, I hear-tell that YOU are also welcome.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More dark travelogues from Ubu..., July 29, 2007

By 

M. L. Johnson (Auburn, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: St. Arkansas (Audio CD)

This third installment of Pere Ubu's latest incarnation finds the avant garage rockers soldiering on into the new century with confidence and purpose. The music is much less varied here than with the previous two efforts, and almost sounds like it could have been recorded in one live basement session. Although certainly less spectacular than "Ray Gun Suitcase" or "Pennsylvania", "St. Arkansas" definitely has a satisfying quality to it that makes it a recommended addition to your collection. Things start off with the jaunty and up-beat (but, don't worry, still plenty skewed) "The Fevered Dream of Hernando DeSoto" and "Slow Walking Daddy". Then, we get into my favorite part of the album, which is the middle section - the meat in the sandwich, if you will. "Michele" and "Steve" are just gloriously crazed and menacing - my votes for best songs on the album. "333" and "Lisbon" are also great, and emerge as bizarre little travel vignettes (travel, especially of the road-trip variety, has always been a favorite Ubu topic). "Phone Home Jonah" is a fun surprise in that it's pretty much a straight-forward rocker, and actually rocks harder than anything they've ever done - ever! Things wane a bit at the end as the album seems to run out of steam, and that's probably why I can't give it a higher rating. However, there's still enough good stuff here to make it worth checking out. As a side note, when I lived in the northeast section of the land, I used to frequently ride the motorcycle over the wilds of western Pennsylvania. I'm sure I've been down US-322 numerous times, but I can't specifically recall the Moose Lodge (#2505, that is) 6 miles south of Meadville. If I'm ever back that way, I'll have to check and see if it's still there. I hear that they have a good cod dinner on Fridays, and a good steak dinner on Saturdays, each for only $5.95. My understanding is that I would be welcome. In fact, I hear-tell that YOU are also welcome.