Track Listing

1. Heart Of Darkness
2. 30 Seconds Over Tokyo
3. Final Solution
4. Cloud 49
5. Untitled
6. My Dark Ages
7. Heaven
8. Humour Me
9. Book Is On The Table
10. Not Happy
11. Lonesome Cowboy Dance

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108030 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

CD Description
An essential addition to the Pere Ubu canon, TERMINAL TOWERis a 1985 archival release compiling all the band's early singles (as released on their own Hearthen label in the mid-'70s) prior to their first LP, 1977's THE MODERN DANCE, plus a handful of live and alternate takes. Even more than that first LP, whose title track is here in an untitled early version, these songs are startlingly powerful and utterly unique.
In particular, the six-minute "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" is a proto-punk masterpiece, a rising tide of tension that doesn't quite get to explode before it's stopped dead. Thelive "Humor Me" was recorded shortly after the death of founding member Peter Laughner, who wrote the song, and the cathartic intensity of this version is astonishing. The 11 songs on this album are all also available in the Pere Ubu box set DATAPANIK IN THE YEAR ZERO.

Customer Reviews

Peter The Great
Rocket From The Tombs is a band not many will know. They split in 1975 without even releasing a note, but now stand revered as one of the originators of American underground/alternative rock music. What has this got to do with Pere Ubu? Simple. The two founders of Ubu, Peter Laughner and David Thomas, were previously members of Rocket From The Tombs. As that band imploded prematurely Ubu picked up the baton, the results of which can be heard on Terminal Tower, a compilation of early non-album Ubu material containing all four of the songs recorded while Laughner was a member. He would then leave Pere Ubu before his death in 1977 aged 25. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Final Solution had originally been Rocket From The Tombs songs, where they were played as menacing revved up guitar duels, a combination of punk spirit with avant garde rock sensibilities. Pere Ubu toned down the speed and guitars with their versions, emphasising the sinister atmosphere instead with slower tempos and murkier instrumental backing. Heart Of Darkness (also a RFTT song originally) and Cloud 149 are the other two Laughner era tracks. After Laughner's departure, David Thomas became the undisputed leader of the band, which would go on to be the among the greatest of the late 1970's playing a revised but still potent blend of avant garde and pop hooks. The rest of the material on this CD reflects their stature. From the skewed pop melody of Heaven to the drone of The Book Is On The Table to the controlled rage of Humor Me, all the elements which make Pere Ubu unique are here. However, it is the earliest tracks which stand out as a testimony to the lost talent of Peter Laughner, a visionary of 1970's American rock 'n' roll. His contribution turned out to be brief, but what there is should be savoured. This CD, alongside the now hard to find anthology of his solo work and of course the posthumously released Rocket From The Tombs recordings, is testimony to this. As for Pere Ubu, get this CD along with The Modern Dance, Dub Housing and New Picnic Time and you are in possession one of the greatest opening statements any group can offer. Convinced? You should be!!

A Good place to start for new to Ubu
As a life time Ubu fan I think this is a great starting point with some of the great early Hearthen recordings and the wonderful anthemic 30 seconds over Tokyo which will test your listening pleasure to the limit and bring you back home safe.
I remember My Dark Ages being considered one of their finest early songs and Final Solution has such a wonderful ironic lyric
" the girls won't touch me cos I've got a misdirection".They have always challenged the ear and never bored me and nearly always delighted .
So come on stick your toe into darker aural waters .I can't promise a life changing experience just a change in view that will make you the richer.

Promise of genius
The promise of genius certainly shines through on these early tracks, but I was a little disappointed as this album does not quite have that hypnotic quality of, for example Dub Housing, where they create such exquisite sound sculptures on the synthesizer in a thoroughly rock idiom.

Heart Of Darkness and 30 Seconds over Tokyo reveal their garage roots, but they really soar on Final Solution with its nervous buildup, beautiful melody and rousing conclusion. Of the rest, I love Heaven with its swaying reggae rhythm, droning bursts of synth and jangling guitars, and the quirky pop song Happy.

Although the roots of their later masterpieces are evident here, it's still in a raw form and based on the guitar, predating their later exploration of the synth/industrial style where they found their true voice.