The Squid's Ear Magazine


Pere Ubu: London * Texas (Recommended Records)

The only recording of the short-lived and still phenomenal version of Ubu after Allen Ravestine left to be replaced by Eric Drew Feldman, with Chris Cutler on drums.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



David Thomas-vocals, commie horn

Jim Jones-guitar, backing vocals

Tony Maimone-bass, backing vocals

Eric Drew Feldman-electronic keyboard, synthesizer

Scott Krauss-drums

Chris Cutler-drums


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 752725027328

Label: Recommended Records
Catalog ID: ReR UO1
Squidco Product Code: 12280

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2009
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Jewel Tray
Recorded in London, March 16, 1989. Tracks remastered by Bob Drake at Studio Midi-Pyrenees, France in the Spring of 2008.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"A great live recording of the sadly short-lived version of the band that existed between the arrival of Eric Drew Feldman and the departure of Chris Cutler. By far the best recording of the Scott, Cutler, Maimone rhythm section, I think, and the whole band is on intense concert form: David racked up to 11, Eric working equally on foundations and fine details as to the out-there manner born and Jim Jones somewhere in the stratosphere. Coming back to it, this was a pretty great band. The songs are economical, tightly arranged and take no prisoners. And there's that live energy - the closest we can get to being when and where we weren't. Studio recordings can't do this. Mastered by Bob Drake, and it stings like a bee - with a beret. Play it loud."-Chris Cutler, ReR Megacorp


Artist Biographies

"David Lynn Thomas (born 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and musician based in Great Britain.

He was one of the founding members of the short-lived proto-punkers Rocket from the Tombs (1974-1975), in which he played under the moniker "Crocus Behemoth," and of post-punk group Pere Ubu (1975-present, intermittently). He has also released several solo albums. Though primarily a singer, he sometimes plays melodeon, trombone, musette, guitar or other instruments.

Thomas has described his artistic focus as being the "gestalt of culture, geography and sound". Common themes crop up throughout much of his work, such as the US Interstate Highway system, images of roadside or "junk" tourist culture, Brian Wilson, AM radio, birds, and many others.

Thomas has a distinctive, high pitched voice; Emerson Dameron described Thomas's singing as "James Stewart trapped in an oboe", and Greil Marcus writes, "Mr Thomas's voice is that of a man muttering in a crowd. You think he's talking to himself until you realize he's talking to you."

Thomas was an early member of Rocket from the Tombs, which disbanded after about a year. Along with Rocket from the Tombs guitarist Peter Laughner, he then formed Pere Ubu, which was originally active from 1975 to 1982.

Afterwards, Thomas worked with a variety of musicians including guitarists Richard Thompson and Philip Moxham, and Henry Cow alumni bassonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper and drummer Chris Cutler. Initially, his solo recordings eschewed Pere Ubu's "rock" focus. Lindsay Cooper's bassoon was often prominent, and, when Richard Thompson's guitar was not featured, the guitar would be absent (such as the entirety of 1985's More Places Forever). Thomas's lyrics became increasingly whimsical, and birds became a common theme:

Somewhere along the line, I wrote a song that had birds in it. And then by pure coincidence, another. Some critic asked, "Why all these songs about birds?" And I said to myself, "You think that's a lot of songs about birds?!? I'll show you a lot of songs about birds!" So, for a while, I stuck birds in everywhere I could.

Eventually, several former members of Pere Ubu gravitated into Thomas's group, and by the time of 1987's Blame the Messenger, were sporting a sound distinctly similar to the former band. This fact along with other considerations led directly into the official reformation of Pere Ubu in 1987, and the group has remained active to the present day.

Thomas appears to have been at one point a Jehovah's Witness, an affiliation that has been reflected lyrically in the final song of Pere Ubu's 1979 album New Picnic Time, originally titled "Jehovah's Kingdom Come!" However, in subsequent releases of the album, the song has been re-titled "Hand A Face A Feeling" and then "Kingdom Come"; in the albums' lyric sheet, maintained by Thomas on Pere Ubu's official website, the titular line has been changed to "God's Kingdom Come"; the song itself has been re-mixed to remove references to Jehovah.

Thomas's solo activities were diminished, though not extinguished, by the reformation of Pere Ubu. Throughout the 1980s, Thomas maintained a rotating trio dubbed the Accordion Club, which at various times included John Kirkpatrick, Chris Cutler, Garo Yellin, and Ira Kaplan. While these groupings tended to share a repertoire with Pere Ubu, the focus was smaller. Thomas stated: "I often use the same songs in both projects ... I can explore the stories behind the songs. I can extend/expand/interpolate those stories." Though the Accordion Club never recorded any albums, two songs appeared on Rē Records Quarterly Vol.2 No.1, and it led to the formation of Thomas's current "solo" project, the Two Pale Boys. Devoted to "spontaneous song generation", they feature Keith Moliné on guitar and Andy Diagram on "trumpet through electronics;" both make frequent use of MIDI, giving them a broader tonal palette than might be expected from two instruments. In addition to singing Thomas frequently plays melodeon. Says Thomas:

Pere Ubu is a big rock experience, often overwhelming in its power and intensity of dataflow. It's a Hollywood blockbuster on a cinemascopic screen. Projects like the [Two Pale Boys] are intended as indy arthouse films.

Thomas typically has a large number of ongoing projects at any one time. He has performed in theatrical productions, including several productions by Hal Willner, and a London West End production of Shockheaded Peter. He has delivered his lecture "The Geography of Sound in the Magnetic Age" at Clark University and UCLA, among other venues. He has staged his "improvisational opera" Mirror Man at venues in Europe and North America, featuring at various times contributions from many of his previous collaborators, as well as Linda Thompson, Bob Holman, Robert Kidney, Van Dyke Parks, Frank Black, George Wendt, and Syd Straw. In 2010 he performed with the backing of Australian band The Holy Soul.

Most recently he has alternated recording and performances primarily between Pere Ubu, David Thomas and Two Pale Boys, and the reunited Rocket from the Tombs."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thomas_(musician))
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tony Maimone (born September 27, 1952) is a bass guitarist, producer, and recording engineer, who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

He was a member of Pere Ubu from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, often playing with the drummer Scott Krauss. They were dubbed by a critic "one of the great unheralded rhythm sections in all of rock". He is known as one of the former members of They Might Be Giants from 1992 until 1996.

Maimone has also worked with Bob Mould, Frank Black, The Mekons, They Might Be Giants and Jon Langford.

Maimone currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, where he owns and operates Studio G Brooklyn, a recording studio with Joel Hamilton. He has produced and/or engineered/played on albums for artists including No Grave Like The Sea, The Book of Knots, Ani DiFranco, The Dixons and The Shondes, Felili, Destronauts, Laura Brennemen, Will James, Bob Kidney, Lord Ward, Peg Simone, Gachupin, Jon Langford, Cock Lorge, Sam Johnson, Steve Northeast, Shark?, Golem, Revel Switch, Mike Watt, Megan Reilly, Zigitros, Fai Baba and CC Carana.

Currently,[when?] he is playing with Megan Reilly, Home and Garden, Book Of Knots, CC Carana, Sasha Dobson, and No Grave Like The Sea."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Maimone)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Scott Krauss played drums in Pere Ubu from 1975 through 1981, then again from 1987 through 1994. On the album ,Story of My Life, Scott also took over some keyboard duties.

Scott is also the central figure in the band Home and Garden, which is generally a studio project and is now his main musical outlet."

-Nadir-Novelties (https://nadir-novelties.net/ubu/krauss.htm)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Chris Cutler started messing about with banjo, guitar and trumpet at school, settling for drums and playing shadows and other instrumental covers in his first band in 1963. Subsequently he played in R'n'B and Soul Bands, winding up in 1967 playing in London's psychedelic clubs. At the start of the seventies, with Dave Stewart, he co-founded The Ottawa Music Co, a 22 piece Rock composer's orchestra, eventually joining British experimental group Henry Cow with whom he toured, recorded and worked in dance and theatre projects until it's demise in 1978. In 1977 Henry Cow, The Mike Westbrook Orchestra and Frankie Armstrong formed a big-band and toured around Europe. After Henry Cow, Cutler went on to co-found a series of mixed national groups Art Bears, News from Babel, Cassiber, The (ec) Nudes, P53 and The Science Group. He was a permanent member of American bands Pere Ubu, Hail and The Wooden Birds and now works sporadically with John Rose, Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Iancu Dumitrescu, Peter Blegvad and Stevan Tickmayer.

Other lasting collaborations have included Aqsak Maboul (Belgium), Lussier/Derome and Les Quatre Guitaristes (Canada), The Kalahari Surfers (Africa), Perfect Trouble (Germany), Between (Sweden), N.O.R.M.A., (Italy), Telectu (Portugal), Mieku Shimuzu (Japan),The Hyperion Ensemble (Romania), The Film Music Orchestra, 'Oh Moscow', Gong, The Work and Towering Inferno (UK), The Residents (USA), and stateless Tense Serenity and Mirror Man. There have also been countless improvisational groupings and solo performances. Recent projects include Radio pieces with Lutz Glandien and Shelly Hirsch, Live Soundtrack for Carl Dreher's Vampyr (with Italians Musci and Venosta), his Timescales project and work with David Thomas and Linda Thompson.

He also founded and runs the independent label and distribution service ReR/Recommended and, until 1991, the East European specialist label Points East. He is editor of the New Music magazine Unfiled and author of the theoretical book File Under Popular as well as of numerous articles and papers published in 14 languages. He lectures intermittently on theoretical and music related topics. He has appeared on more than 100 recordings."

-Chris Cutler Website (http://www.ccutler.com/)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Waiting For Mary 3:28

2. Cry 3:14

3. The Waltz 4:15

4. Love Love Love 2:22

5. Pushin' 2:43

6. Caligari's Mirror 2:52

7. Breath 4:05

8. Lost Nation Road 2:17

9. Humor Me 2:56

10. On The Surface 2:59

11. Final Solution 5:56

Related Categories of Interest:

Recommended Records

Rock and Related
Improvised Rock
Cutler, Chris
2009 Top Sellers

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