Reviews (page 2 of 7)
Mixed bag, men här och där lite coolt
No private session used for Spotify. I have heard a few Pere Ubu songs previously. It's weird, proto noise rock, that goes out of its way to not be vanilla and not be boring. It is right up my alley.
first two songs were fine the rest was bad
Oh my god. Please. Why must god smite me with another pere ubu album.
just awful. really really awful. somehow hated it more than the first and I can't find any way to defend it. they would make the worst sounds ever (purposefully squeaking clarinets, breaking glass, etc.) in an effort to build up to something... and then just go nowhere. my ears are crying and so are my eyes. I sure hope they had fun making this album because I did NOT have fun listening to it. longest 36 minutes of my life
Okay not music I would listen to but I lowkey really love the production in it and how it’s different from a lot of albums
Fucking awesome. It’s incomprehensible, strange, purposefully awful in the best way. It’s a piece of metal that bends and twists and breaks and fragments and transfigures itself every moment. Sickness
Non-Alignment Pact is an all time classic.
Humor Me did humor me
Some of this is really hypnotic, chaotic, fun as hell. The rhythm section makes it.
I know this artist by name, but don't recognize any of these tracks. I'm mostly going into this blind though. I feel like I just don't get this. And I have a degree in music. There's large swaths of my music library which I would categorize as "an acquired taste." Why _do_ people like this? As for the track "Sentimental Journey": I can't remember the last time I listened to a track where I felt like I needed eye protection.
Ah, Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance. This is always a refreshing, wild ride of sorts. From Cleveland, OH, yet unlikely to ever be added to the city's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not that they would really care! What I've gathered from doing this challenge is that most listeners are not willing to leave their comfort zone of mainstream music and explore new ways of making music or writing songs. The Beatles and Bowie keep winning (even though their approach to songwriting was different), and the "freaks" and punks get sidelined, no matter how visionary they are. I guess what seems like noise and sloppiness to one person seems groundbreaking and revelatory to myself. To this day I've never heard anything like this album. It seems weird and off, but these are solid, tight compositions and the playing is out of this world! I first discovered it in college and found the mix of styles to amazingly refreshing and new. Garage and punk rock, free jazz, noise, musique concrète, and elements of pop, even? While David Thomas and his bandmates never again reached the same dizzying heights of this album (a statement he would have fully disagreed with), they continued to amaze and confuse people throughout their career. Like with the feedback on the opening track, or the weird sax call and response in "Laughing", or the fact that they would break bottles in a fieeplace on "Sentimental Journey" just because it was in the studio. These guys knew no boundaries. I gladly got to catch them years ago at a free jazz and experimental music festival and it was beyond cool. Anti-rock and post-genre, coated in dark humor. They are perhaps the ultimate hipster or art rock band in the American underground (maybe after Sun City Girls), but here they really used a great mix of everything they could work on to create a weird, f'd up, but often fun and silly evocation on everything mundane and disturbing about living in modern industrialized society (what Devo would continue to do later, also from Ohio). Actually, a lot of really weird bands hail from Ohio, especially starting in the 70s. What's up with that? I honestly love this album but I don't listen to it often. It's a lot to take in: like dada poetry if it were music, with engines and televisions and household appliances running in the background, with random prankster musicians joining either for fun or for whatever serious message they were trying to bring to the table. (Who's table, though? Not the one belonging to pop music.) It's funny, but often unsettling. It still has the ability to shock and confuse after all of these years as a result. Thomas was a bit of brilliant lunatic of sorts. You never knew if he was joking or being serious, but he was serious about his art. As he sings in the final track, "Humor Me": "It was a world, what a world! What a world? What a big world What a world to be drowned in It's just a joke, mon! It's just a joke, mon! It's just a joke, mon!" RIP David Thomas. Thanks for your odd singing timbre and surreal vision, and thanks for showing us the importance of having the balls to produce whatever music you wanted, not caring what people thought about it. This album influenced so many great bands in the underground and beyond, and happy that the book's editors also were brave enough to add this to the list. Two Pere Ubu albums certainly cancel out those two Stephen Stills albums. Ha!
This list legitimately needs more scaring the hoes music.
People sleep on the Midwest in the 70s. This is the same circle as The Stooges and Devo. Experimental, pushing boundaries with Midwest weirdness thrown in. You can just feel the grit through the speakers.
i think fine, i have already forgotten it honestly
I like this band, very odd. Good job list, finally pulling one out that's worth my time.
This is one of those albums that had to take a little time to grow on me in order to fully appreciate it, but these guys were definitely ahead of their time. It's early post punk with an almost industrial sound, before either of those genres had really fully solidified. You also have strong avant-garde and garage rock elements as well. I especially love how the electronic side of the music is more about sporadic noise than the typical synthesizer melodies you'd associate with synth-pop, which was beginning to evolve around that same point in time. The electronics almost feel like random bursts of machinery and noise rather than traditional keyboards.
Rock music. Good
i remember being a teen and this band being like the coolest group ever ......... thinking i would be unlocked as an adult once i listened to these guys. turns out i really like them but thats kinda all ... good work boys but you didnt change my life or anything
Cool bass grooves but that does not overcome the squeaky horn
Jesus Christ this was terrible. Borderline unlistenable in places.
so much breaking glass I was worried someone in my apartment complex would think I was crazy!
Me senti sob uma profunda lavagem cerebral ouvindo este álbum. Sonoridade excêntrica, com instrumentais doidos e vocais porcos. Disco eletrizante e inusual. Fui filtrado, mas não inteiramente. Muitos momentos aqui ainda se destacaram proeminentemente, especialmente no quesito instrumental, que possui aquela essência punk do final da década de 1970. Disco selvagem e difícil de digerir, mas há em si uma alma fascinante e cativante. Gostei de ter ouvido. 4/5
Kinda rough round the edges clanging punky stuff. It was alright.
I enjoyed this and have definitely never heard it before.
Pere Ubu, 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio, aus den Trümmern der Protopunk-Band Rocket from the Tombs entstanden, veröffentlichte mit The Modern Dance im Februar 1978 ihr Debütalbum – aufgenommen zwischen Oktober 1976 und November 1977 im Suma Recording Studio in Painesville sowie bei Cleveland Recording, produziert von Ken Hamann und der Band selbst, erschienen auf dem kurzlebigen Mercury-Sublabel Blank Records. Das Ergebnis ist ein Album, das sich jeder bequemen Schublade entzieht: Rockmusik, die sich selbst zerlegt und aus den Bruchstücken etwas Neues zusammensetzt. Bereits der Opener „Non-Alignment Pact" macht die Spannung des Albums hörbar – ein schrilles Feedback-Kreischen mündet in Tom Hermans verzerrtes Chuck-Berry-Riff, während David Thomas' unverwechselbarer, zwischen Klage und Komik pendelnder Gesang das Zentrum bildet. Allen Ravenstines Synthesizer-Texturen fungieren weniger als Melodieinstrument denn als Störgeräusch-Generator, der Krauss/Maimone-Rhythmus dagegen bleibt erstaunlich funktional und trägt die vermeintlich chaotischen Songstrukturen. Stücke wie „Street Waves", „Chinese Radiation" und das beklemmende „Humor Me" zeigen, wie präzise diese Unordnung eigentlich komponiert ist. Was The Modern Dance bis heute auszeichnet, ist die Weigerung, Punk als bloße Beschleunigung von Rock zu verstehen – hier wird er zur Dekonstruktion, zum Rust-Belt-Blues mit Industrienoise als Begleitinstrument. Kommerziell blieb das Album folgenlos, seine Wirkung auf Post-Punk und Noise Rock jedoch ist kaum zu überschätzen. Ein Album, das Cleveland klingen lässt wie eine kollabierende Fabrikhalle – und genau darin seine Größe findet.
Pre Listen: I can't believe this is my 100th album. Fuck this shit man. Got the singular other Pere Ubu album on here like 10 or so albums back, and it was among the absolute worst pieces of shit I've ever head. I've been putting off listening to this. Expectations are so low they've reached hell. Notable Tracks: Nonalignment Pact - Instantly met by ear-splitting noise in my right ear. This band is so fucking stupid man, anyone who claims to actually like this needs to see a therapist. Post Listen: I'm just going to copy-paste my review of their last album on here. They're just not worth any more effort than I've already spent. Fuck this stupid band. What a miserable piece of work. The vocalist really outdid himself making the worst possible noises a human can make and passed it off as "singing". The instrumentation was ok I guess a quarter of the time, for the first 15 seconds of each song until they are entirely drowned out by the worst drunken karaoke you've ever heard. The vocalist sounded like a washed-up Temu-brand David Byrne wannabe. He completely took any merit out of any song within moments of making a sound. I couldn't understand 80% of the slop coming out of his mouth either. Just awful, truly. 99% shit, 1% post type album. 1/5
Instrumentals are a 4 but unfortunately the vocals are pretty crap. I thought I was gonna like this after I kinda enjoyed Dub Housing but that voice just gets more and more grating and they seem especially proud of that fact in this album. Probably a 4 with a talented vocalist. Alas.
Bad vocals, bad music
Simultaneously, America’s answer to Roxy Music and the Midwest’s answer to the New York punk scene, and thus a sweatier, fatter musical concoction, propelling forward with a pinkish hue. Also in conversation with Jonathan Richman and his ironic incel lyrical content. Brilliant stuff.
Typische jaren 70 rock. Die electronisch geluiden ertussen
Veel te chaotisch
This is fucking awesome, everything you would want in a great punk album! Fantastic energy, crazy vocals, great experimental elements, and (as evident in the reviews on here lol), actually provocative, even nearly 50 years on. This I (“post”)punk at its very best, absolute classic in my opinion, listened three times in a row 10/10
Masterpiece
This album wasn't for me BUT if I heard an artist say that they were influenced by this band I would totally get it. There is some WILD stuff on this album. I would also recommend listening to it with headphones because where they place some of the instruments in the mix only add to the bizzare listening experience. Again didn't love it, would not listen to it again after today, but I get why its on this list. 3/5
1978 art punk Nonalignment pact Life stinks
I like when it sounded good a times. The riffs were sick. Low end was insignificant, and the noise and progressive elements didn't phase me much. If this is your bag then keep it. Me nun wan dis.
Definitely different. I actually enjoyed it a fair bit. Regretting giving “Elvis Presley” a 3.
This started to border on too weird for me—but ended up being just right. Let’s go Cleveland I guess.
If your pitch is that punk is about stripping everything back, why would you stop at leaving four chords and the rest of it? Why not pull it back and stick the pieces back together in your own weird expressive way, and bring some other weird shit in for good measure? It’s undeniably got the bones down well, there’s some great rhythm in here and the guitars and vocals sound sharp with them, but the magic is in all the other weird artistic shit you can put over it, like the free jazz horns on some songs, or genuinely taking everything out and fucking around in the garage on Sentimental Journey. It all winds up like a divergent evolution from Talking Heads, where they went more controlled and hooky, and Pere Ubu went running away in the opposite direction. I’m sure I was sort of primed to like this, seeing some of its apparent influencees, but also, it’s just cool. That’s the modern dance right there.
Hehe. This (whatever genre thingy) is great. Granted, not everything hits as hard as the opening couplet, Non-Alignment Pact (this abrasive little record, btw, is the exact opposite of that) & Modern Dance (this, on the other hand, fits quite well as a descriptor). Oh, but it's FUN to listen to! Throw away your bougie, snobby attitude towards music that can accompany an evening of fine dining and immerse yourselves into The Modern Dance. It smells like beer and sewers, but it sure isn't as gnarly as it pretends to be at first sight. You might even give it a hug to say goodbye once your ways part after a night spent roaming the darkest corners of your city together. Stil have no clue, however, how to dance to songs like Laughing or Sentimental Journey. But I guess, that's not the point at all.
The piercing noise at the beginning just put this one not a great note. Then it was like he was singing the songs with marbles in his mouth. Not bad, but nothing really great. It had a lot of elements of other musical genres which made it feel everywhere but nowhere.
I've certainly heard worse, but it's a rare post-punk album that will give me much enjoyment. This one did not break through.
While I think this album has a pretty rough start, somewhere around the midway mark this really takes a turn into some interesting sounds. It's very minimalist, there's a lot of sort of empty space in it, but I think it's pretty cool. I just think it takes the album too long to get there, it would've improved by maybe a track list reshuffle. Great cover though. Favorites: Chinese Radiation, Sentimental Journey, Humor Me
I assume these guys are cool because they are from Ohio. But man this bit the big one.
I think you had to be there. I could see myself getting into this had I been there. It goes without saying that the vocals take some getting used to. Reminds me of what I don't like about the Talking Heads. At least two stars for recognition of artistic merit but I couldn't wait for this to be over.
I only know Pere Ubu's name and that they were vaguely punk-aligned, so this was much weirder than I expected. "Non-Alignment Pact" got my hopes up, but the rest of the album didn't do a whole lot for me (especially the interminable "Sentimental Journey"). Glad to hear it, but moving on.
I can appreciate the experimentation, but that's about it. 2.4/5.
1.2/5 - Pleasant to listen to? No. A genuinely interesting abstract album with a variety of uniquely interesting musical experimentation? Also no.
Pere Ubu wanted nothing more than to destroy rock n' roll as they knew it. And while in their time barely anyone was aware of it, they did just that. It's probably a testament to their efforts that they were unheralded in their time because even now this is still a fresh, unique sound that many have flirted with but never fully embraced. Even more than Dub Housing, The Modern Dance attacks punk rock with wild art abandon and experimentation, going so far as to push performance art as the penultimate song. There's opera, there's jazz, there's noise, and in between there's nuggets of pure post-punk bliss. It's a crucial album, never perfect, but always powerful.
Art/Punk rock sensibilities. Can see where this may have been an early influence.
Love ya man, that was weird. I’m not listening to that again.
Painful. "Experimental" is not the same thing as "good."
The album started off with what I presume was the fire alarm, then continued with some chickens being strangled and cats in heat. I wouldn't say it's complete noise, but there's definitely a lot of it.
What a cool freaky punky little bit of art. From this relatively early point in punk, it seems like such a fun innovative use of abstract noise. The instrumental jams are awesome. The conventional song structures that creep in might be my least favourite bit!
Their last album I rated of theirs, I had high expectations and was severely disappointed. This one, I expected it to be as bad as the last one. Kinda enjoyed this one the whole way through. 4.5/5
Bruh wtf are these sound effects. First song was literally unlistenable at the beginning. I fuck with the actual band tho, they sound good. Although to be fair, just when I'm like ok I can't listen to this anymore they do manage to pull me back in. This album is pretty ahead of its time.
Slightly more listenable than Dub Housing!
A rock band from Cleveland in 1975. These guys either drank a whole bottle of Jack or did a hit of blotter acid before playing. Something I would have had to do to stick around and listen to them. Happy i didn't run across this group back then.
When I was a kid, I bought some CDs and my uncle Mark asked me, “What do ya got there? Are those music or are they noise?” This album, Uncle Mark, is noise.
This was rough if I'm honest. There were very rare, 30 second snippets that sounded nice. Then it would go back to being painful.
This kind of thing makes it, but there’s no George Jones or Chick Corea on this list.
No standouts
I went from hating it to really enjoying it back to hating it. The songs are so good but then they add the horrible ear splitting noises. Very conflicting but the noises won out.
What's with the crazy low rating on this one? Sure the vocals are garbled at times, and there's definitely a lot going on musically, but there were so many moments when it made me grin from ear to ear. It's a really interesting time to discover this band and album. Geese blew up last year with a very similar sound, and post punk generally has been having a resurgence for a while now, and the influence of Pere Ubu (and those they in turn influenced) is crystal clear. Does go off the rails a bit in the second half. Might have to give it a relisten to see if that drops it from a 5
Very odd at times but some cool experimental sounds
emphatic in all the wrong ways
Nathan waz here ^^^???? Wtf Nathan Listening notes: Innovative use of the chalkboard-and-nail as a backing instrument here I wonder if I can be arsed to look at the lyrics. I guess it is my only chance to know what the fuck the singer's saying What the fuck is this fucking dehydrated bagpipe-ass song Was that a fucking parrot or something This song sounds alright. I wonder what they'll do to make it absolutely unlistenable Turns out they didn't do anything and it's a decent song. Why do they have to make my job so hard man Lmfao they put applause in the song cause that's the only way they're going to get any This album is making me hate art If I put a lot of effort into making myself like this I might be able to manage Mr incredible becoming uncanny ahh intro Why are they smashing fucking bottles now Pompompompompompompompompom I'm fucking losing it Is there a motherfucking clown approaching now why is someone walking around in fucking squeaky shoes What the fuck what why can I understand what he's saying What if I don't want to humour you Oh my god it's over This album makes me feel like logging onto reddit and ragebaiting people about how art has been worthless since the beginning of the 20th century whilst caressing the slightly sticky genshin impact funko pop standing on my desk next to the huge pile of Richard Dawkins books. The really irritating thing is when the singer shuts the fuck up and there's not an angle grinder being used in the background, the music is actually good. In spite of all this, I can conceptually enjoy the crazy mess that is this album in its entirety as a piece of art, albeit one I don't understand in the slightest. All this means is it's getting 2 stars instead of 1 though.
Kinda odd guitar solo in “the modern dance” and interesting use of static. Think this music is fun to listen to but maybe not while reading a book and with piano practise in the background (my sibling). Thought the use of string instruments in laughing was cool, sounds like maybe a violin???? but also made to sound like the call of a rooster/chicken. Enjoyed the start of street waves. and the rest of steer waves. Sentimental journey sounds like a cyborg baby crying. was fun to listen to.
This one is staying up later and later as the deadline and your alarm both draw closer, so much so that you start to feel a little euphoric about it all. 3.4/5
That was trash. Anything close to redeemable was quickly erased seconds after those thoughts would occur
I’d never heard of this band or album and from name alone it was surprising to me, my brother said they’ve been named as influential to several famous bands and after listening, I get it! Definitely a must for me.
Avante Garde Post Punk with black flag style jazz - and its fine for a song or two...not an entire album.
It's not terrible, but there also isn't anything redeeming about it: haphazardly written, sloppily performed, badly recorded
weird album it has some bangers and really good but its really inconsistent and there is just some straight up weird stuff on here, the highs are very good though, I feel they have a bit of a Television sound and i much prefer Television but overall had an enjoyable enough time
This album starts out intentionally and successfully annoying, then gets better, and then just trips over itself at the end.
Mostly just awful.
I've long been aware of Pere Ubu and appreciate how influential they are, and I really love the whole post-punk sound but for some reason, I've never really sat down and listened to them. I have now though, so that's good. I get it, and I'm glad I listened, but I don't feel any pressing urge to listen to this particular album again any time soon. I'll definitely have a root around their back catalogue though, and I'm pleased to see bands like this on the list given some of the guff it churns out.
Pere Ubu seem to have passed me by and I just don't know why. I am really intrigued by this album, all the way through it kept reminding me of D Boon and Minutemen, but where they were punk Pere Ubu are more "indie". Not sure that makes any sense and probably says more about what I listen to - but suffice to say this slightly out-of-kilter album somewhere in Talking Heads realm perhaps, has got my attention. I need (and want to listen to it again) and that alone says a lot.
hm
I don't really get this album. I wish I did.
Slick pecker riding the cunt furs
This started strong and then lost me pretty quick. Too dissonant in too many places. (Says the guy who have John Zorn a five). 3
If I wanted to listen to a drunk guy smash bottles and yell I’d just go outside
The MC Donalds at home of Talking Heads Music
Gear: Abyss DIANA MR Artwork: 🩰🏳️✏️ Production: 🔪🚮💩 Music: 🧨🧪🧷 Rating: 🚯🚯(🚯)/5
Weird vocals
Un rock muy alternativo, por momento ruidoso sin sentido, hay canciones que logran cierta armonía, y otros parecen muy desordenados con ruidos demasiado saturados. No me gustó.
this album gave me an anxiety attack honestly
A human rights violation. Fuck you, man.
I seldom give 1 star ratings, but this was just… shit Punk can be shit and still be okay I guess, but this album didn’t even make me angry. I just wanted to turn it off and do anything else. Anything at all. And this was before I reached Sentimental Journey.
This is another punk/post-punk era band I'd missed while exploring the genre and its history. After hearing it, I think I appreciate its contributions to music history more than I appreciate listening to it. There's an interesting exploration of different ideas on this record that keeps it from ever feeling boring or straightforward. At its best, I enjoy the sounds and vocal delivery. Non-Alignment Pact and Modern Dance have great energy and are just the right amount of uncomfortable. Real World has some nice use of synths and sound effects. Sometimes the music almost veers into Talking Heads area... something supported by the vocal delivery, particularly on Chinese Radiation. I think it's actually Street Waves that comes closest to being a sound I really enjoy. The record does falter a few times... most notably on Sentimental Journey, which is mostly just 6 minutes of breaking glass and other noise. Laughing sounds like it's accompanied by a bunch of those noisemaking chicken toys... almost intolerable. Over My Head is a slow crawl that I don't think ever quite justifies its presence. I think it actually needed to go on longer to arrive where it seemed to be headed. I'm torn between a strong 3 and a light 4... but I think I appreciate the sounds and the energy more than how much they coalesce into an album or even into strong songs. The moments that don't work are enough to keep me from ever wanting to play it straight through again.
Somewhat grating; choose your moment
Two quick observations: 1. This was awful 2. This album is yet more compelling evidence that this list of 1001 albums is about ten times too long One star
Сара 1 Марко 1
More jaunty weirdness from these guys. Kind of a ln unhinged Talking Heads vibe on this one.
My ears are fucking bleeding.
Wow, this band is so influential that they have only 33k monthly listeners on Spotify. AND THEY HAVE TWO ALBUMS ON THE LIST. I’m pretty sure this site is the main thing boosting those numbers because this is genuinely one of the worst albums I’ve had to date and I have a hard time believing anyone would willfully listen to this. The most insulting part about it is the two bands that didn’t make the list because we just HAD to include Pere Ubu from Cleveland, Ohio twice
I didn’t like this
it was not my vibe
Ok WOW this is not my vibe. I like screaming music but like...what? DNF
Not for me. 40 minutes of noise.
the vocals take me out of it way too much
Not what I was expecting and pleasantly surprised overall. Figured it was gonna be French.
I don’t even rememebr
Entendi a intenção do disco, de ser uma bagunça orquestrada, claramente um punk rock mais contido, em meio a época de efervescência do próprio gênero. Mas assim, achei meio tosquinho. Tem bons elementos, qualidades sonoras inseridas, mas em sua junção, achei entediante. Talvez eu volte a ouvir no futuro, deve ser porque estou viciado em Sade, e esse álbum não caiu bem.
Both the artist name and album name made me think this was an international dance album. I was expecting Samba. Boy, was I shocked when the music started. I can tell that this was an influential album. I'm positive that Modest Mouse took inspiration from Pere Ubu. Still, I could not get into this. the loud high-pitched sound on the first track almost made me turn it off. But that's the point, right??
You can see the ideas pushing against the conventional limits of classic punk rock sounds. I can imagine this being influential to post punk. Traces of ideas later found in Talking Heads, latter day Clash etc without being as dark as Joy Division or as harsh as Public Image Ltd. An interesting historical artefact.
There were moments that I thought - that's not bad, and then it went weird. This has elements to be really good, but it is just too all over the place. There are brief moments where it is fantastic, but they get ruined by all sorts of effects. Over my head was the standout song. 2.5 stars
It was a fun and cool record but I probably have to listen a couple more times to have it click.
Avantgarde with a screaming, squeaky voice. I can hardly bear it.
This is an experience. Fascinating. Uncomfortable in a good way.
I really tried with some of this but in starting to feel like some efforts are people just farting into a tin whistle and calling it avant garde and post punk. Without sounding old, most of this is just noise conveniently given the experimental label.
I tried to be impartial but this album is near unlistenable. I liked maybe one song on this but it is so frustrating to listen to. I don't think I could listen to this again, 1.5 (2) stars.
ruined my day
just awful
Certainly an album
very interesting. a contemporary piece of rock music here, i like it.
This is very odd in many ways, but it never really got grating to me. I kind of liked it actually
Couldn't finish this one
I can see why this record is divisive. At times it's a disorganised jumbled mess - synths seemingly set to random with the wailing cackles laid atop them. It's evident that this is a groundbreaking album though. I can hear a lot of Slint in this, as well as other proto-punk bands like Squid and some art-punk it in. It's not an easy listen, but it's not unlistenable.
not woke enough for punk
Similar feelings after listening to PiL and The Residents... Not mad it's on the list and I'm glad I listened but will definitely never play it again and generally think it stinks. In the songs that are actually songs and not just avant-garde weirdness, I like the rhythm section and guitar. The vocals and everything else ruin it. I added Street Waves to my 1001 playlist because it's the most listenable track. Oh, the album artwork is spectacular!
This album sounded like an ode to alcoholism. I'm not entirely upset that we got another album from this guy, but I am a little upset. The first song starts with an unbearable screeching sound that leaves me asking why. I think that set the tone for an album that was overall a little more unpleasant in its experimenting than the last one we listen to. Again, I appreciate some of the sound design and creativity, and it's cool when there's actual music mixed in, but I strongly dislike his singing. Sometimes the messaging was appealing to me, but others I found it overindulgent in its nihilism.
Huh, this is funny, since we already reviewed another Pere Ubu album. These are the 2 albums by Pere Ubu that I remember hearing about (and that they were good, if not great), when I was in college (ca. 1981-82). I'm glad for the chance to finally hear these 2 albums (which I'd always meant to check out), and to realize that I wasn't really missing all that much (that I would care much for). My review of this one is the same as the other one: 2 stars. (See previous review for add'l comments - or not!)
I've noticed that musicians who want to be "different" often rely on adding "noise" and singing "weirdly". . . probably because those are easier and require less musical training than being inventive in the realms of arrangement, dynamics, harmony, melody. I would prefer the latter. So you can probably guess how I feel about this. The high pitched noise at the beginning is a choice. Some of the arrangements are boring. But it's entertaining and makes me wonder what they're on about. And the use of a variety of sounds and samples is enjoyable. It's just on the fringe of music. I also enjoy how silly the vocals get. They're quite successful at being unhinged
Too "modern" for me
7/10
F this. Couldn't handle that much avantgarde. 1.0
Occasional cool guitar bits saved this from a 1 star. Pretty shite.
"oh man when i get home i HAVE to listen to "Sentimental Journey" again. It's such a banger" -no one ever
Fantastic!
I completely understand why some people dislike this album, but I ended up loving it. I’m not actively looking for “weird” music, so I’m not entirely sure why it connected with me strongly. Throughout the album, I kept hearing traces of bands I already love, regardless of country or era. For example, Over My Head reminded me of The White Stripes. Whether Pere Ubu is the origin of those sounds or just part of the same lineage, I couldn’t tell, but the album felt undeniably punk in spirit. The musicianship is also great. The band sounds like highly skilled musicians deliberately pushing their music off balance. I was especially impressed by the guitar work. This is exactly the kind of band I would probably never have discovered on my own, which makes me especially grateful for the 1001 Albums project.
This album is really surprising, and completely unexpected. Sure. I didn't know what may I find in here, and it's a weird mixture of sounds and genres. But, at some point, I think I've understood it. There are actual good songs in here, and some nice experimentation. But there is also so much... weirdness going on that does not make me feel anything. So, I don't know how to feel about it. It's not a bad album, but maybe just one listen is enough. I don't know... Did I like it? I'm not sure. I'm not sure with anything about this album: I've liked it as much as I've disliked it, if that makes any sense.
My ears said no. I listened to them
Brilliant, and I’d forgotten quite how brilliant. Another of the peaks.
Its like someone took a mediocre prog rock album and then threw a bunch of dissonant sounds and background noises on top. Not pleasant to listen to. What is even more frustrating is the odd interesting bit in there, ruined by weird sound effects. 1 star
Parts of this are fun and parts of this are insufferable, and the fact that those parts sometimes occur at the exact same time makes for a very confusing listening experience. I just wish the sound was less grating? And why is there a track where it's just someone smashing bottles? I was willing to hate this album less until that point. Rating: 1.5
It was kind of old-man coded. I didn't enjoy the album or get much out of it, but I'm glad that they made it. Probably doesn't deserve to be on this list.
Not even slighlty motivated to finish listening to this. bummer. I was excited because of the first seconds of the opening song... 1 star
Part punk, part noise. Interesting to the ear.
This is a rock album for dolphins. The squeaky unintelligible lyrics are for dolphins. Recorded by a dolphin man. The vocals put me all the way off of this album. The sound overall is kinda meh but not altogether horrible. It's fine. 2 stars. I think the modern dance is me scrambling and running away from this album.
Some nice tunes but the vocals and the squealing sounds are annoying. 1,5
Best surprise in a while. Good start to finish
Surprisingly good music although I'm not a fan of the vocals
3/10 Generally terrible, only saved by the first couple of tracks
This is #day674 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… this is my second and final Pere Ubu record. Surely, it's a seminal work in the context of post-punk, art-punk, and whatnot. Also, it's not the most immediate record out there. And it shouldn't be, right? "Real World" is my personal standout. I appreciate the overall edginess and sense of experimentation. Let it be a 3 out of 5. Looking forward to #day675.
At least it is a short album. The vocals and sounds are just not good. I’m being kind and rounding up to 2.
It blurred together
This SUCKED. Can’t believe this is on here instead of another foo fighters, soundgarden, Lenny kravitz album, etc. The dude just squeals like a pig the whole time and this is art? What?
Started off ok-kind of Talking Heads vibe. But that was about it. After couple tracks, vocals were unintelligible.
Ouais pourquoi pas
ça allait encore jusqu'au verre brisé, je vous hais Pere Ubu Playlist pick : Modern Dance
Certainly creative and original.
Awkward listen, it sounds dated and far less interesting than their bio suggested
Starting your album off with screeching audio cutting out doesn't exactly make the best first impression.
70's rock n' rolllll 🖤
Didn't really know what to expect from this but thought it was pretty rad. Spiky, weird and a little funky - feels a little like early Talking Heads with a little krautrock thrown in.
i was waiting for it to be over the whole time
I fail to see why there is such resistance to this. It’s both really strong and really not that weird, issues which seem the source of most of the criticism. I think a reasonable comparison would be PiL who (maybe cos Lydon is present) seem to be much more broadly accepted. I love PiL but I would, for example, consider Metal Box a more challenging listen than this. Also I recently reviewed Pixies Surfer Rosa and Black Francis’ whoops and howls are equally as savage as David Thomas. As I noted in my review of that album though, the passage of time has allowed for all of the strangeness inherent within Pixies œuvre to become accepted as part of a new understanding of “classic rock”. No such accommodation for Cleveland’s Finest (deal with it Reznor). I’m not saying The Modern Dance is ever likely to be considered Dad Rock, it certainly embraces experimentation and isn’t afraid to get a bit dissonant, but there are very few occasions when it strays into actual avant garde, rather it remains firmly a rock album albeit a quirky one. I had no idea my review would end up coming across as a get-over-yourselves call-to-arms but so be it. That now covered, I want to celebrate how, not only did they make a modern, original sounding album, they also managed to take a broad palette of influences, extract their essences and subtly and successfully recontextualize them. I hear echoes of Velvets, Stooges, Zappa, Beefheart, even some Roxy and yet never do they ever end up sounding like any of them. Again I end up with comparisons! and seem to be skirting around talking about the actual music. Maybe I’m just not skilled enough to put into words their version of what has become identifiable as a post-punk sound. It’s edgy but doesn’t come across as angry. There is quirkiness, but there is also plenty of riffi-ness, funkiness, grooviness. Cheese wire thin guitars are present, but not all of them are that harsh, and the drums and bass provide plenty of warmth and oomph. On top of this are fantastic synths, occasional slithering reed instruments and of course Thomas’ idiosyncratic vocals (oh and some breaking glass). Now I’ve managed to get an attempt at describing the sound out of the way, I should move on to the songs, but I’m pretty sure I’ve reached the end of my abilities for today at least. When their second album Dub Housing is generated for me, I will try to be ready to go headlong into reviewing the songs themselves and ignore my bafflement at the great number of reviewers too easily finding barriers to properly giving this music the chance it deserves.
Very impressive.
Bro what is this crazy album. If I get to the end of this project and there’s a bunch of great albums missing I’m going to be so confused as to how ones like this made it in over them
Painful listening experience, but if you were to take out the unnecessary sound effects and the intentionally bad instrument playing and just strip it down to its bare bones, you’d still have a pretty lousy album.
3 cacophonous, enjoyable.
Nej tyvärr
Mer intressant än bra!
Ett par balla riff här och där men tyvärr få låtar jag kommer minnas. Har inte tålamod för 5 minuter glaskross.
Kan ändå förstå att någon kan gilla det här, även om jag själv inte gör det.
exakt så kändes min pms-söndag som slutade med att jag sa till min dotter att det var monster under sängen
Det trodde jag aldrig! En stark fyra.
Pere Ubu’s The Modern Dance was strange, disjointed, and exhausting to sit through. The album felt like a chaotic jumble of noises, vocal strains, and sounds created by what we can only assume were musical instruments—none of which became any more enjoyable as the record went on. That NME considered this the 11th best album of 1978 says less about the album itself and more about what must have been a remarkably thin field of contenders that year.
This just isn't music made for the masses. It's made to never sell in the $1 bin at Goodwill.
At 280+ albums into this project, protecting listening time and energy for records that have a genuine chance of connecting is not laziness — it’s honesty. A few tracks of The Modern Dance was enough to confirm that this sits firmly in a sonic universe that has consistently not connected throughout this list. David Thomas’s deliberately unsettling vocals, the intentional dissonance, the controlled chaos — all of it points toward a corner of avant-garde post-punk that has earned respect and genuine admiration from the right listeners for decades. This listener is not among them. The historical importance is real and acknowledged. The point of diminishing returns arrived early. A 2 that reflects an honest triage rather than a full listen — sometimes that’s the most useful review you can write.
Okay, I get why people say this is good even if it's ugly.
Very unique
that's a no from me 2/5
Interesting!
I keep a running list in my head of the songs that creep in when I'm not thinking about anything. Although I have attempted meditation, my mind does not particularly care for blankness and will fill the space with song or memory of song. It is not quite the same as an earworm, which is something that one hears and then latches onto the inner ear for a while after. Rather, this are pieces of music that are lodged deep in my subconscious that are sucked up into the vacuum when there is nothing else to think about. They might be a little like what scientologists call engrams or whatever the name is for the thing the meditation teacher told me happens when stress bubbles to the surface to escape after one dives deep. These are not necessary my favourite songs by my favourite artists. They are not necessarily songs I think about much or that I listen to at all, but there they are in those strange quiet moments. Chief among them, for some reason, is I Often Dream of Trains by Robyn Hitchcock. Other frequent appearances are made by Quiet by Smashing Pumpkins and I Go To Sleep by the Kinks. And, of course, The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu. I used to keep an actually physically tally, but it became unwieldy and for what purpose. The crucial word in the title track of Pere Ubu's debut album is "Mantra." Indeed, "Mantra mantra." It is the only word I remember clearly. And like an actual mantra it doesn't amount to much as signified nor signifier, it works in action, repeated enough to dissolve into a droning, subtle rhythm. It is very calming, I find. David Thomas does much the same trick throughout the album. Nothing so straightforwardly hypnotic as "mantra mantra," but his singing is frequently indistinct, poorly articulated and, one imagines, not real words at all. Why would they be words, when he, as a rock journalist before the band, knew that critics would hope on the words when they didn't have words of their own to describe the music? When the name of the band itself, Pere Ubu, relates to the mangling of words: Alfred Jarry's proto-surreal play, Pere Ubu, is famous for nothing else than its provocative mispronounced obscenity - merdRe! Maybe The Modern Element had that element of shock when first released. It doesn't now. Shock doesn't last very long. But it can either date itself or become so embedded in the subconscious as to be smoothed into eternity. You don't hear much of Pere Ubu now, but I hear plenty of Pere Ubu in things. The post-punk jitteriness has become a standard pose (and those grooves are much more infectious that what Talking Heads were doing at the time!). The guitars are great. The bass is gorgeous. David Thomas could be singing anything. If he is singing anything in particular, I don't care to know. Let it go, man. Let it dissolve into nothing. Let it all wash over you - the snare, the stings, the breaking glass. Cerulean blue is a calming breeze. Not a favourite album. Not a favourite artist. But it is in there and bubbles to the surface. 3 I really like the high frequency noise in Non-Alignment Pact. I note some of the reviews on the site take issue with this ‘tinnitus’ music - I expect that’s young people. Once you have achieved middle-age - developing some degree of actual tinnitus, depending on how careless you have been with ear protection over the years, and losing a rake of high frequencies in your hearing regardless - this stuff sounds rather sweet. A tickle where once there was a knife stab. There are other noise challenges on Pete Ubu’s debut but in truth very little that can’t be found on perfectly conventional, popular records from ten years before - the more eccentric material from the Beatles and the Beach Boys being the most obvious examples. There is some very nice stuff too. I loved the guitar work on Street Waves and the guitar duet with the oboe (maybe?) on Real World. I found the piano epilogue to Chinese Radiation unexpectedly moving. Laughing tempts you towards a track skip with a full 2 minutes of the Fast Show’s Jazz Club bit before revealing itself as a genuine song with very good lyrics that recall Patti Smith and point ahead to Pixies at the same time. I did think the glass breaking on Sentimental Journey was a little well recorded. It’s like they wanted the listener to know they were *just* breaking glasses with no particular interest in developing a new texture in the speakers, never mind using it musically. That’s bad manners that is. Apparently they are ‘punks’ though so I suppose they must be allowed to stretch their contempt a bit. Note: Young People - wear ear protection! Don’t take your hearing for granted. 2.5/5
4/10
This is a decent album. I like their style
It took some time before The Modern Dance revealed itself, but I rabidly went down the Pere Ubu rabbit hole shortly after hearing it for the first time. Not every track remains potent, not every track is a winner. But it's an album that was worth the wait and is worth its weight in unusual rewards. I think they're a band who would not want to be graded on a curve as they'd rather abolish rating systems altogether and so...it's better than these three stars suggest.
There is so much variety in this album— some I liked, some. It so much. Still it was interesting and entertaining and, I imagine, pretty groundbreaking for the 70s.
music is love
rumore alternato a musica, cosa che filosoficamente posso capire, è un fatto però come album da ascoltare è pochissimo fruibile
Too much
Første albumet jeg faktisk fysisk har fått vondt i øret av
Yikes. If I would have stolen this from a record store back in the day I would demand my money back.
4/10 I like the experimental and inventive sounds used, but it's just a bit too weird at times and struggled to keep my attention. Nothing profound here. Best track: Modern Dance Will I revisit?: No
Mostly this pissed me off but there were couple decent tunes
Loads of random noises. Artistic for sure
this is the kind of album that really makes me question who wrote this list
Liked the first couple of songs. Album went south for me pretty quickly after that.
wow this guy is bad at singing
Nice
Maybe it’s because I read about it first and had very low expectations, but — against all odds — I kinda like this goofy, oddball album. Some of it is absolute crap, but some of it clicked with me.
Wild, twitchy, and strangely catchy — like early Talking Heads run through a busted Cleveland factory.
It was interesting
Well, don't need to hear that again. Although it sometimes reminded me of Talking Heads.
(4/7) really not as bad as the screeching sound at the beginning led me to expect
This was a fun listen for sure. Cool history too. This is absolutely underrated here. So I'm gonna give it a low 4.
I don't hate all noisy avant garde albums, but I do kinda hate this one. I can't convince myself that this band isn't using noisy garbage to mask their mediocre songwriting. Albums like this walk a fine line and this falls on the wrong side of it for me.
sort of like if the pixies didn't commit to making good music. there's a wackiness to it i really enjoy. high highs and low lows average out to pretty good. favorites are Modern Dance and Humor Me
Rating: 9/10 Absolutely rules. I have to say that as a fan of avant-garde, experimental art punk shit, there's still almost nothing like Pere Ubu, who had this quirky Talking Heads post-punk sound but dialed up to 11 on the insanity. This is obviously not for everybody, but I have a special love for music like this which are purposeful in all the dissonance and chaos, it tries to not be catchy or accessible in any way, and really challenge the listener, which can effectively draw you into its mysteriousness if it doesn't repulse you And it's incredible at achieving the desired effect with its sound, reflecting the anxieties of modern urban life as a sick joke in a work of dystopian surrealism. An early punk masterpiece, what the genre is all about tbh
Wholly unenjoyable, challenging to find anything I liked about it. Nothing-random-nonsense and drums at it's best, breaking bottles and random babbling at its worst 1.8/10
This was an incredibly interesting record. The contrast between the almost baroque art-pop and industrial elements really created a unique sound and atmosphere, I've never heard anything quite like it. My only complaint is the vocals were hard to get into at times. Still very solid overalls. 4/5. Man, people on this site really are allergic to anything remotely experimental.
I appreciate the avant-garde boundary pushing for song structure and melodic composition, but there is a line where the music itself still has to be enjoyable. There are some good songs here, but that feels secondary to the pure experimentation. Which is not a bad thing, just not for me. Top tracks: Non-Alignment Pact, Street Waves
Enjoyed this for the majority.
This is mostly unlistenable. Instrumentation was good at times and there were a couple of enjoyable tracks but nothing worth the agony that half the songs brought.
I skipped the first song because the right ear did not deserve that. Second song sucked, third song sucked. Just random noises. Gave up at that point. I just can't with the experimental bullshit albums. Fuck off. 1*
It’s like if punk rock was in a Wes Anderson movie.
Not interested
“ The Modern Dance has been critically acclaimed.” I felt like I was being yelled at the entire time I listened.
praktisch unhörbar.
War kommerziell nicht erfolgreich.... Wen wundert's?
First time listening, really liked this, some great weird rock.
Pere Ubu has some pretty pioneering sounds on here. They have a razor-sharp guitar that is in the atonal camp. The vocals are like a mad hillbilly's yee haw. The album is pretty noisy and dissonant, which I swear it made me start hallucinating vocals early on in "Laughing" before they actually started, but no I found out it was just guitar screeches. It has some top notch beats as well. I quite enjoyed this one, it does a good job representing the cynicism in punk music. I would definitely like to revisit this album, I believe this one is a 'grower' sort of albums. Highlight Song/s: "Non-Alignment Pact"
The great streak of albums was going to come to an end at some point One of the very few good things I can say about this album is that it’s relatively short and there’s a couple of songs that aren’t absolute garbage. If the entire album sounded like Street Waves it’d probably be closer to a 3. Laughing and Life Stinks are just putrid songs, in the most annoying, bad spirited, and grotesque way possible. I really can’t stress how awful this dudes voice is to me, it’s truly uniquely bad to me. It sounds like a drunken caricature of a more talented musician. This albums paved with all sorts of irritating instruments, between whatever the hell those sax sounds are and the random distorted instruments for no reason. I’d argue Sentimental Journey isn’t even music, it’s just a 4th grader playing saxophone while some dude throws beer bottles at him I get this is sorta experimental and did indeed influence future artists, but their refusal to even try to sound good is truly infuriating. There are very few moments in this album where I’d rather listen to the song rather than complete silence, so by my rating this has to be a 1. I really think this enters my bottom echelon of truly terrible albums; I genuinely can’t think of 5 albums I’d place lower than this
Weird. Not the worst thing I've ever heard
This album just kind of sounds bad to me. I don't really get what this album is about and I just couldn't really enjoy it. It wasn't the worst thing I ever heard, but that still doesn't mean I liked it.
Congratulations to anyone who got through the first 20 seconds of this album. You either weren't paying attention, or you're now clinically insane. The lead singer sounds a little too much like Pete Townshend. If you weed through the garbage, there are some gems here, moments of which are enough to push it up from a 1 to a 2. But Jesus Christ, do you have to overlook a lot of garbage. So much that it's almost not worth it. Avant Garde doesn't always mean "listenable".
This was actually horrific to listen to I had to skip nearly very song because it was hurting my ears
This was mostly bad.
Not sure what to think of this one, but it kept me interested so points for that.
Some great early punk at certain points, but the experimental sections are just a little too out there for me.
1978, who would have believed it!, I hear so many later bands in this work you just know everyone listened to this
Raw Punk Rock Highlights: Non-Alignment Pact, Humor Me. 2.7
Energetic early alt-rock with a bit of an experimental feel. Dig it.
Seems to be a trend lately ... albums on this list that average around 2.5, I seem to really enjoy! But then I have never walked to the same beat as everyone else. Sure I love some of the all time classics that everyone else knows and enjoys. But I love the weird and experimental. Today's music as I have said is all just a repeat of everything that came before. You naysayers need to embrace where all this music came from. The late 70s and early 80s was such a great experimental period for music. It will be a rare thing for me to give anything from this era under 3 stars!
6/10
First song sounded like people with Tourette experimenting with drugs and alcohol. The rest was barely better.
This thing is just weird AF hahaha. Not something i'd buy or listen to again. But not bad, it has strange sounds all over, panning, then there's this like punk voice shouting... not terrible but not a fan.
This may be projection, but I really recognise my adhd brain in this album - the occasional melodies are quickly disrupted (sometimes effectively, more often painfully) with all sorts of experimentation. A lot to admire but unfortunately too often obscured by chaos
I can find redemption in Laibach, Throbbing Gristle, Ministry and Einsturzende Neubaten, so having some understanding of avant garde music, I should have enjoyed the creative risks taken by Pere Ubu, but I don't. It comes off like even worse junk than the stuff Captain Beefheart does. Feels more gimmick than authentic artistic statement. Having said that, I can see how 12 year old edgelord in me would have embraced this when I was young, dumb, full of cum. Most bearable: "Over My Head"
Too loud
70’s Punk
Singer isn't very good, music is both weird and boring. 2/5
Pere ubu
I guess those first 10 seconds serve as a way to get rid of all the "normies" which is clearly indicated by some of asinine reviews here. Very interesting experimental work, super influential for post-punk movement. A few songs a really good and still, despite all of that, I will be giving 3.5 on RYM but 3 stars here.
It's okay, it's fine. It's happily doing its thing leaving me neither loving or hating it, hence the mark of 3. It exists.
Kokeellinen sekoilu ei oikein lähe...
Listening session: april 30th, while commuting to internship Listened to before: no Thoughts: too much noise for me… I almost fave up when the glass shattering started. There were Some okay moments in between though (for example Street Waves) Favourite track: Street Waves
Another absolute garbage album that should have never been included on a list like this. 0 / 5
Demasiado experimental para mi gusto, mucho sonido raro, mucho trompetas sin sentido, pareciendo que improvisan en el momento, gritos, realmente parece una banda de locos que tienen algunos instrumentos. No es para nada mi gusto, y no entiendo porque existe en esta lista pero bueno. Quizas la batería y alguna que otra cuerda puede haberme sonado bien pero lo demás esta rarísimo.
Neither enjoyable to listen to nor interesting to hear. The punk and post-punk sensibility can be such a liberating creative force. But it is too-often a convenient facade for the lazy and uninspired. Great punk bands compensate for their technical shortcomings with authenticity. These guys just sound pretentious; like the amateurishness is cultivated.
Modern dances require modern solutions by spinning this record.
Especie de "anti-rock" en su momento. Se nota esa idea de incomodidad y rareza en los sonidos. Es caótico pero no disgusta, me suena a un pescado rabioso (a pesar de que son de 5 años después de Spinetta). Over my head y modern dance estuvieron buenas. Overall, buen álbum.
2 1/2
1 i hate this
The title track reminded me a bit of the B-52’s, but that’s about it 🙁 1 star…
The opening of the first track was much like my Tinnitus! I realise taste is subjective but I didn't hear anything that would mark this album out for inclusion within this 1001 albums list. Not to my taste but someone will love it. Two stars. 1 "Non-Alignment Pact" (2/5) 2 "The Modern Dance" (2/5) 3 "Laughing" (2/5) 4 "Street Waves" (2/5) 5 "Chinese Radiation" (2/5) 6 "Life Stinks" (2/5) 7 "Real World" (2/5) 8 "Over My Head" (2/5) 9 "Sentimental Journey" (2/5) 10 "Humor Me" (2/5) Total - 20 Average - 2 309/1001 169/309 albums reviewed were new to me.
Interesting. I liked the energy and attitude of this more than most of the New Wave and post punk things I've heard on this list. But as with most avant-garde experimental stuff, I found it easy to admire but hard to enjoy.
Just too odd and noisy for my tastes.
I really dug like 65% of this. But the weird songs are… maybe too weird for me.
They were probably on something crazy while recording this. I appreciate the album but for majority of the songs they sound more gimmicky than anything Fav Song: 5.2/10
If it weren't for the screeching noises and various (sometimes annoying) sounds, this would have been much more enjoyable for me. I admire weird music, but some of the sounds were a little too piercing in my ears and made it tough to find room for admiration. There were cool grooves on some of the songs (thinking Real World), though.
I Wanna Make A Deal With You Girl 1001 Albums Generator 275 (4/22/2026) The Modern Dance is probably the most experimental album I've had thus far on the list, and it's one I've been looking forward to. Whenever an album is panned by this website, but loved by critics and RateYourMusic, it tends to be an album that I end up enjoying, and Pere Ubu's debut is no exception. Yeah it's loud, abrasive, and ugly. But it makes me feel something. The 2 minute intro to Laughing before everything crashes in with the vocals is powerful. The bassline on Street Waves. The way the cheers on Chinese Radiation overpower David Thomas' abstract, anxious lyrics about the Chinese cultural revolution. The mix of artists that I hear on display here are Talking Heads, David Bowie's krautrock era, a bit of Slint, and even Black Country New Road's first album. It's quite a wild ride, and I liked it. Although I know my wife is gonna hate this one lol. 4/5. Favs: Non-Alignment Pact Modern Dance Chinese Radiation Least Fav: Over My Head
i didn't know music could be this bad.
Non alignment pact - 1/5 Modern dance - 1/5 Laughing - 1/5 Street waves - 1/5 Chinese radiation - 2/5 Life stinks - 1/5 Real world - 2/5 Over my head - 1/5 Sentimental journey - 1/5 Humor me - 3/5
An acquired taste but I do enjoy me some Pere Ubu. We had Dub Housing a few months back and with this one, they make a great weirdo paring.
I don't get it.
Okay weird choice for the random generator to put two Pere Ubu albums back to back, but I like this one better.
This was actually pretty enjoyable. I liked it way better than Dub Housing. Still a little much at times, but overall a good, cohesive album. Wish I could rate this 3.5, but I’m rounding down because I’m not likely to revisit this. But definitely deserving of its spot on the list.
No me gustó.
Oh fucking hell not these guys again. I think the other album I had of theirs was perhaps my number one most hated album on this entire thing, and I'm 920 deep at this point. Ok, let's strap in for this one... So... admittedly the expectation was below the floor, but... this is way better than 'Dub Housing'. Like, way better. There's actual guitar grooves in this, and proper melodies with some semblance to actual song structure. There's even some nice stylistic flourishes that work WITH the songs, can you imagine?? And even though his voice is still kind of weird, it's way less hysterical and jarring in the delivery compared to Dub Housing. They do still seem to have a weird propensity for chucking in random, grating sounds though. I don't know how they settled on 'irritating' as being a key component of things they want to strive for, but there's still plenty of that in there. Strip all that shit out and you have a much better record. I'm SO glad I could sit through this one and actually enjoy bits of it. 2.5 rounded up.
New to band, gave the album two play throughs during work, no songs really stood out to me but I appreciate being able to explore the music and the bit of information I read on Wikipedia about the band, this album, and the lead singer David Thomas. Unclear if I’ll revisit this band personally.
Who's willingly doing this to themselves. Both singer and listener.
Starts out with some good punk vibes, and then just throws it right down the shitter to be experimental. I get it, I don't have a fancy schmancy music degree. That doesn't mean I can't call out blaring caterwhauling when I hear it.
Why is it that these experimental bands feel the need to involve shittily played wind instruments? How does this even get brought up in the studio? Did these guys pick up the instrument themselves, thinking that their inept attempts at clarinet is what the world is waiting for? Or did they bring in some poor studio musician and attempt to explain in painstaking detail how they want their shitty ear-piercing filth to sound? If this went on to inspire anything, it may perhaps be this loathsome practice.
Wow, wasn’t expecting that. Completely off the wall with something different in every track. Would have been a four bit had a few weaker tracks in the second half
Another one of those instant classic debut album!
Pete Ubu is fucking awesome
2.6
It's been a long while since we had an album come up that I dislike this much—thanks for keep the other 1 star albums company! I clearly missed the point of this album, but I hope the band had fun making it! Just because I don't care for it doesn't mean that it cannot have some profound meaning for them or their audience.
Oh, it's art! Listen to the art! Such art! It's shitty art, but it's still art! On the one hand, I'm glad that weirdos exist and they're free to make weird shit, and I'm glad there are other weirdos out there who appreciate said weird shit. Different strokes for different folks. On the other hand, this is bad. It's not the absolute worst--there are at least 10 albums on this list that are worse, most-but-not-all of this at least qualifies as music, it's creative, and I was able to get through the whole thing without turning it off. However, it utterly failed at the task of being something that I could enjoy listening to. It's a borderline 1/2, but ultimately rounding down due to excessive fart sniffing. 1.4
Jagged experimental post-punk built on abrasive guitars, off-kilter rhythms, synth noise, and manic, unhinged vocals jerks forward with chaotic unpredictability. Listening feels like being inside a malfunctioning machine that sputters, lurches, and suddenly sparks to life. The result is bold, unsettling, often deliberately difficult and disorienting
There was a couple moments that were like wtf, but overall this was a great post punk album. 4/5
Didn't expect another Pere Ubu album on the list but glad to hear it. More sound effects, less anti-music than Dub Housing.
Evocative and idiosyncratic in the best way. This guy seems like a real legend, and it’s crazy I’m well versed in “alternative” music but have never really encountered anyone in the wild discussing Pere Ubu’s apparently prolific and well-appraised discography. Is he an “endangered” legacy act?
It was good at first, but then they started recording noises. 2 stars
Holy shit! The intro to the first song is absolutely terrible and ear piercing. The rest of the album is just so so at best
Non-Alignment Pact is so great. I had no idea they released singles off this album and it wasn't one of them -wild. If the feedback and extreme stereo panning on the Pere Ubu original are too much you could always go and check out Julian Cope's somewhat sanitised version. He does sing it really well.
I’m sure there are some merits to this but it just didn’t land for me
Interesting stuff - you can hear line between punk and new wave being crossed back and forth all over this album. A band I've heard of but never actually listened too. I'd investigate this again, when I'm more in a mood for it.
I had a reallllll hard time with a lot of this album. Maybe I am just not smart enough to “get it” but some of it was alright not an abject disappointment in my mind
Not for me...interesting sounds, though I wish the first track didn't nearly set off my tinnitus issues.
Much like The Birthday Party, this was a little discordant. Luckily the variety held my interest more throughout, and it eventually turned out to be a decent album. Wouldn't listen again, likely, but they...did a good job?
Fun mix of punk and other genres
decent
Not often do I listen to a true 1/5 which makes this a truly special moment
At times I kind of liked this but many I did not.
I’ll admit, not my cup of tea. But I did enjoy Over My Head, and Life Stinks was fun.
Had to skip some songs.
Listen i like art music and post punk but this shit hurt to listen to. like if talking heads wished physical harm on their audience
Funniest album title compared to the music. I really want to give it a 3 for effort, it’s wicked and weird and there’s a song that just has primarily broken glass sounds. Streetwise is an actual good song, great rhythm part. But there’s a lot of nonsense.
What a great and unique album. Interesting that this is described as punk in any way - I would love to hear more punk take influence from this record.
Just checked back and when I was served up the other Pere Ubu album on the list I compared it to a flock of seagulls and came down on enjoying the squawking chip stealing, shit on your head little bastards better. For the avoidance of doubt I was referring to the seagulls. So you can make up your own assumptions of how I view this album and the cacophonous talentless twats responsible for making it. 1/5 28/3/26
Not for me 1/5
The vocals are a bit annoying and the music is nothing special. I didn't hate it, but I have no intention of listening again.
Mitä ihmettä
Band who thinks post-rock means playing as annoying as possible: