Dub Housing | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 17, 1978 | |||
Recorded | August–September 1978 | |||
Studio | Suma Recording Studio, Painesville, Ohio | |||
Genre | Post-punk | |||
Length | 36:46 | |||
Label | Chrysalis | |||
Producer | Pere Ubu, Ken Hamann | |||
Pere Ubu chronology | ||||
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Dub Housing is the second album by American rock band Pere Ubu. Released in 1978 by Chrysalis Records, the album is now regarded as one of their best, described by Trouser Press as "simply one of the most important post-punk recordings." [1]
The title is an allusion to the visual echoes of blocks of identical row houses in Baltimore, [2] presumably reminiscent of the echo and reverberation that characterize dub. "Dub" is also a reference to Jehovah's Witnesses, who refer to themselves as "Dubs". Lead singer David Thomas was a Jehovah's Witness. On a 1979 concert bootleg recording, during the song "Sentimental Journey," David Thomas ad-libs the line "I live in a dub house!" The photograph on the cover shows the apartment building at 3206 Prospect Avenue near downtown Cleveland in which members of the band lived when this album was recorded.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Alternative Press | 5/5 [4] |
Chicago Sun-Times | [5] |
Chicago Tribune | [6] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A [7] |
Mojo | [8] |
Pitchfork | 8.9/10 [9] |
Record Collector | [10] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 10/10 [12] |
At the end of 1978, NME named Dub Housing the year's eighth best album, [13] while Sounds ranked it at number 13 on its year-end list. [14] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote in 1979, "not only is it abrasive and visionary and eccentric and hard-rocking itself, but it sent me back to The Modern Dance , which I liked fine originally and like more now". [15] In The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1979, Dub Housing placed at number nine. [16] The New York Times called Dub Housing "one of the finer recent new-wave records ... well worth hearing." [17]
The album has been reissued several times: in 1989 on CD by Rough Trade Records, in 1999 on CD by Thirsty Ear Records, in 2008 on CD on Cooking Vinyl, and in 2015 on CD and vinyl by Fire Records.
All songs written by David Thomas, Tom Herman, Tony Maimone, Allen Ravenstine and Scott Krauss.
Pere Ubu
Technical
David Lynn Thomas is an American singer, songwriter and musician, now based in the UK. 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. He has also released several solo albums. Though primarily a singer, he sometimes plays melodeon, trombone, musette, guitar or other instruments.
Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their debut album The Modern Dance in 1978 and followed with several more LPs before disbanding in 1982. Thomas reformed the group in 1987, continuing to record and tour.
Tony Maimone is a bass guitarist, producer, and recording engineer, who lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The Modern Dance is the debut album by American rock band Pere Ubu. It was released in January 1978 by record label Blank.
David Johansen is a 1978 album by the rock musician David Johansen and his first solo album following his tenure as lead singer of the New York Dolls. The album was released on Blue Sky Records, a sub-label of Columbia Records that was associated with Johnny and Edgar Winter. David Johansen also features fellow New York Doll guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, who was a member of the David Johansen Band at that time. Sylvain co-wrote four of the songs with Johansen. The single from the album was Johansen and Sylvain's "Funky But Chic", backed with "The Rope ", which has been included as a bonus track on the CD. David Johansen was voted the tenth best record of 1978 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by The Village Voice.
New Picnic Time is the third album by American rock band Pere Ubu. It was released in September 1979 by Chrysalis Records. Reportedly the album sessions were stressful and contentious, and after touring, the group disbanded. They would reform a matter of months later, with Mayo Thompson replacing founding guitarist Tom Herman. The lyrics for the song "The Voice of the Sand" are based upon the poetry of Vachel Lindsay.
The Art of Walking is the fourth full-length album by Pere Ubu. Mayo Thompson of the Red Krayola joined as guitarist for this album and slanted the proceedings further towards deconstruction and abstraction, and away from the primal rock that former guitarist Tom Herman had facilitated. The group would record one more album with Thompson, Song of the Bailing Man, before disbanding.
Song of the Bailing Man is the fifth Pere Ubu album, released in 1982. It was the final Pere Ubu album until 1988's The Tenement Year.
390° of Simulated Stereo is a live album featuring recordings from Pere Ubu's first few years of existence. In general, the recordings featured are lo-fi in nature. The album was out of print for decades, but was reissued for Record Store Day 2021.
Terminal Tower: An Archival Collection is a compilation album by American rock band Pere Ubu. Released in 1985, the album compiles several of the band's early singles and B-sides, including the Hearthan singles recorded with founder Peter Laughner that were initially compiled on the Datapanik in Year Zero EP, and continuing through later sides recorded with Mayo Thompson.
Datapanik in the Year Zero is a 1996 box set by Pere Ubu, which catalogues their initial phase of existence up to their 1982 break-up. The title was first used by the band for a 1978 EP which compiled their first singles; the name was "recycled" for this release. The name references the Cold War film Panic in Year Zero! (1962).
The Tenement Year is the sixth studio album by American rock band Pere Ubu, and their first album after reuniting following their 1982 break-up. 'Classic lineup' members Tony Maimone and Allen Ravenstine, along with fellow Cleveland scenester Jim Jones and Henry Cow percussionist Chris Cutler found themselves playing with David Thomas for his 1987 album Blame the Messenger, and, discovering they sounded much like Pere Ubu, began incorporating a few Ubu numbers while touring for that album. Eventually, an official reunion was pursued, original drummer Scott Krauss was contacted, and thus the new lineup was completed and the old mantle assumed. The Tenement Year found the group veering in a loose, freewheeling, and decidedly more pop-oriented direction than in the past, although the pop leanings would become even more pronounced on subsequent albums. The album is a farewell to their hometown of Cleveland.
Cloudland is the seventh studio album by American rock band Pere Ubu. Released in May 1989, the album was produced by Stephen Hague. The single "Waiting for Mary", the video for which achieved some MTV exposure, netted Pere Ubu their only Billboard chart success to date, reaching number 6 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Cloudland is a village in north-western Georgia between Summerville and Chattanooga on a spur of Lookout Mountain. In the early 20th century, it was a summer getaway for Floridians.
One Man Drives While the Other Man Screams is Pere Ubu's second live album, covering the years 1978-1981. After remaining out of print for many years, the album was reissued in 2004.
Worlds in Collision is the eighth album by American rock group Pere Ubu. The album continues in the shift away from their more experimental early work to emphasize the relatively conventional pop found on their previous studio album, Cloudland. For this album, Eric Drew Feldman takes over from departing original member Allen Ravenstine on synthesizer, though Ravenstine makes some guest appearances.
Story of My Life is Pere Ubu's ninth studio album. Eric Drew Feldman left the band prior to recording, reducing Ubu to a quartet. Prior to touring on this album longtime bassist Tony Maimone left as well. This is the final release to feature both Maimome and founding drummer Scott Krauss. According to a conversation between David Thomas and Frank Black included on the b-side of the "Kathleen" single, the album's working title was Johnny Rivers Live At The Whiskey A Go Go.
Ray Gun Suitcase is the tenth album by the American rock group Pere Ubu.
Apocalypse Now is Pere Ubu's third live album, and their first to document a single performance. The show in question, recorded on December 7, 1991, at Schubas Tavern in Chicago, was performed semi-acoustically, with synth-man Eric Drew Feldman instead handling an upright piano, and Jim Jones playing an amplified acoustic guitar.
...And a Time to Dance is a 1983 EP by Los Lobos. It was co-produced by T-Bone Burnett and Steve Berlin and was the band's first release on Slash Records. The EP brought the band its first wide acclaim. It was voted best EP of the year in the Village Voice's influential Pazz & Jop critics poll. Critic Robert Christgau gave the record an "A−" in his Consumer Guide, calling it "good old rock and roll East L.A. style." Trouser Press raved about "a spicy romp back and forth across musical borders few can traverse with such ease," while Rolling Stone called it "an infectious dance record that deserves to be heard by rock fans."
"30 Seconds Over Tokyo" is the debut single by American post-punk band Pere Ubu. It was written by David Thomas, Peter Laughner and Gene O'Connor, during their stint as members of Rocket from the Tombs in 1974. Released on Thomas' independent Hearthan Records in 1975, the song received very little airplay but has earned high praise in the years since.
Dub Housing remains an exemplar par excellence of US post-punk's facility for marrying the austere with the madcap.