Track Listing

1. Breath - Pere Ubu, Stephen Hague
2. Race The Sun - Pere Ubu, Stephen Hague
3. Cry - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu, Dave Meegan
4. Why Go It Alone? - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
5. Waiting For Mary - Pere Ubu, Stephen Hague
6. Ice Cream Truck - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu, Dave Meegan
7. Bus Called Happiness - Pere Ubu, Stephen Hague
8. Monday Night - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
9. Love Love Love - Daniel Miller, Pere Ubu
10. Lost Nation Road - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
11. Fire - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu, Dave Meegan
12. Nevada - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
13. The Wire - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
14. Flat - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu, Dave Meegan
15. The Waltz - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
16. Pushin - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
17. Breath - Paul Hamann, Pere Ubu
18. Wine Dark Sparks - Pere Ubu
19. Bang The Drum - Pere Ubu
20. Bus Called Happiness (Live) - Dale Griffin, Pere Ubu
21. Love Love Love - Pere Ubu, The Groove Corporation

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118531 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Running time: 70 minutes

Customer Reviews

A marvelous record, like Pixies minus attention-grabbing screams. From-dreams words by the worlds great rock pop avant-gardists
3 genius albums finished the '70's with avant-garde post-punk. Here's a band who could play as well as Beefheart's. Both bands are like punk primitivists who at the same moment play to the standard jazz players, and so were able to experiment with far more skill and success. Then there was a further album and years away pursuing the further reaches of avant-garde, with no Pere Ubu sides forthcoming. During this time of experimentation, the door was closed on anything as easy as catchy tunes. But the tunes don't go away, they just get backed up. Then bands like the Pixies show that a dose of avant-garde may be welcome, and Pere Ubu discover they've had to erect floodgates against the number of melodies now pressing up against them. They burst forth and the equally great Tenement Years and Cloudland appear; the band could rename themselves Pop Ubu. Delicious, unmissable Ubu. It took me time to jump from Modern Dance to Dub Housing and New Picnic Time, then again to Cloudland and Tenement Years. All of the above are great. The latter two build another floor to the angular Ubu structure where no surface is level. Or perhaps it's the summer house out in the garden; irresistible, like the strongest Beach Boys' melodies, seeming to be part of nature, as it's man-made so beautifully.

Unbearable
I bought this because I had heard and appreciated the genius of Pere Ubu during their 'Modern Dance' era. Listen to 'Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo' and you'll hear what I mean. A vital, different, truly alternative and aurally striking band who have a truly distinctive sound.

This album disappointed me a great deal. Sadly, what I was confronted with was the sound of hideously mainstream and MOR sounding tripe. Gone was the interesting production values, the off-kilter vocals and the sense of atmosphere. Instead, Pere Ubu decided to usher in this new chapter of their musical career with Bruce Springsteen style music and horribly grating vocals which wouldn't sound out of place on a Garth Brooks album. Sadly, there are actually some country-style tinges to this album, which made me want to hack my ears off. Gone was the danger, only to be replaced with safe, dull stadium rock style insipidity. A more grave disappointment I have scarcely encountered.

The song titles are the only remotely unusual thing here, and the artwork is terrible too. Avoid this and buy any of Pere Ubu's early albums instead.

contained grit
Pere ubu worked through their avant garde phase and found the pure gold of project mersh. As with most artists who have gone far out on one extreme when they decide to channel their creativity in a more restrained fashion the works have a depth that can't be contained in those who have never crossed fields. Waiting for mary is one of the great pop songs. Dave thomas vocals are like ice cream and barbed wire. Enjoy.