Brad Stengel's Magical Musical Orgy of Sound
 

I've been wanting to do a top music thread for awhile now, but what's always keeping me from doing so is the lack of music I own. I have albums by Brian Eno, Silver Apples, Can, Flaming Lips, Blonde Redhead, The Smiths, etc., on my wishlist that I'm almost positive I'd enjoy enough to put on some sort of top music list, yet because I havent heard all of them, no can do. I really hate leaving stuff off lists, so I've figured a way to prevent so with this thread.

I've decided to list my top 30 favorite musical purchases in a given year (this one is 2006). That way theres a finite number of albums for me to consider, and anything that doesn't make it, I'm fine with. These albums cover between the years 1967-2005, so theres alot of stuff to be included. Keep in mind only stuff that I heard during 2006 is mentioned- so if I leave something off, it might be that I hadnt heard it yet, or heard it a year before. Hope everyone enjoys.

Best Music Purchases of 2006:
30. The Brian Jonestown Massacre- "Thank God For Mental Illness"
29. Husker Du- "Zen Arcade"
28. Sonic Youth- "Sister"
27. of Montreal- "The Sunlandic Twins"
26. Pavement- "Slanted & Enchanted"
25. Wire- "Chairs Missing"
24. Neutral Milk Hotel- "On Avery Island"
23. Weezer- "Weezer (The Blue Album)"
22. Iggy & the Stooges- "Raw Power"
21. Bob Dylan- "Highway 61 Revisited"
20. Pere Ubu- "Terminal Tower"
19. Husker Du- "New Day Rising"
18. Violent Femmes- "Violent Femmes"
17. Richard Hell & the Voidoids- "Blank Generation"
16. The Magnetic Fields- "69 Love Songs"
15. The Replacements- "Let It Be"

For me, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are pretty hit or miss. 'Methodrone' has one good song, 'Take it From the Man' is patchy, but for the most part, this is a pretty solid album. Every one of their records from this period emulates a certain era of the Rolling Stones, and this one is their raw, country-tinged take on 'Beggars Banquet'.

The album opens up with 'Spanish Bee', just a guitar strumming at first, and then expanding into this epic reverb filled chorus. It's one of the best on the album, the greatest being "The Ballad of Jim Jones", the song that got me into this band. With a great melody, just acoustic guitar and harmonica, and lyrics about Jim Jones, mastermind behind the Jonestown suicides, it makes for the best moment on the album. In fact, if every other song on this album sucked, it would still be worth getting just for that one.

The thing that I love most about this album is the final track- "Sound of Confusion". I had dismissed it as a tossable noise collage at first, until a friend of mine showed me that if you skip past the first ten minutes or so, theres four more songs buried in there! These songs dont sound anything like the Beggars Banquet-sque tracks before-this is the Brian Jonestown Massacre as a mid 90's rock band, and its on these that you can hear Anton Newcombe's other influences like The Velvet Underground and My Bloody Valentine. The second of these secret tracks (they have no name), is easily the second best track on the album, and probably my second favorite BJM song of all time.

Of course, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are that band featured in the documentary 'DiG!', also featuring the Dandy Warhols-who suck. People tend to be pretty split on BJM, they either dismiss them as mediocre, or worship the shit out of their leader, Anton Newcombe. For me, this is their only great album. Theres a good deal of other songs from different time periods I enjoy, but "Thank God For Mental Illness" is where they struck gold. And did I mention this album was recorded for something like $16? And it sounds much less lo-fi then most old Pavement and GBV? Even if you're not a fan, you have to admit after listening, that that, is pretty amazing.

85/100

This album can seem overwhelming at first-it's a double album, supposovely a concept album, and it's a hardcore album (not if you ask me-i'll get to that later). I'll admit, my first few times listening, I couldn't penetrate it-I had heard so much about it, and I was starting to wonder why. Thankfully, It finally clicked.

It was a few songs that finally did the trick. First, "Pink Turns to Blue". Great guitar riff, melody, and that really strange sound they make alot on this album, it sounds like a piano with reverb tacked on it recorded in the 1930's. In fact, the whole thing sounds terrible (I mean that in the best of ways). Sometimes I feel like this is the most lo-fi album I own, and I have demos from bands that were recorded on tape recorders. The guitar distortion is evtremely muffling, sometimes you can barely tell the chords are changing, theres that odd piano sound, and the drums sound very far away-that said, the sound, although lo-fi, has alot of personality. I can't say that any other record sounds like it, even their follow up, "New Day Rising", which was cleaner (but not nearly as slick as their later albums).

The next is an odd choice I'm sure, for anyone who knows this album well. The song that made me go out and purchase this. At the time I couldn't download music on my computer, but I had speakers. So when I would hear about an album getting lots of acclaim that seemed up my alley, I'd go to amazon and listen to the thirty second clips of each song. "Monday Will Never Be the Same" is an instrumental, with just piano, but that melody absolutely gripped me from the moment I heard it. One of my favorite instrumentals of all time, and it just happens to be the last song anyone would name from this record.

So a year or so after I got this, I was reading some article from the 80's praising both "Zen Arcade", and the Replacements' "Let It Be". They were saying how "Let It Be" is album of the year, but song of the year was "Turn on the News", from this album. I realized it was a song I never noticed (which happens frequently with double-albums-a truly great double-album will have at least one amazing song you don't notice until much after you've listened to it), and listened. I was blown away. I couldn't believe I never noticed this gem before. Husker Du's ultimate anthem, and it has handclaps, probably my favorite thing to hear in a song.

This has been called a 'hardcore' album, or sometimes 'crossover', but it's really just plain and simple 'rock' that was at least ten years ahead of it's time. If this came out in the 90's, it probably would have been called grunge even. The term 'hardcore' isn't very accomadating to experimentation, hence my view that this is not a 'hardcore' album. This is a 'hardcore' band trying to write 'The White Album'.

'Zen Arcade' can be challenging, I myself took a while to really praise it to the point that I do now. But I assure you, its worth the effort to get into it. And listen to "Turn on the News". Like myself, I'm sure you'll be baffled at how you've let it slip through the cracks for so long.
87/100

Detailed, well written reviews, this list is looking good. I think I might check out Zen Arcade, sounds interesting.

The first Sonic Youth album I ever owned was "Dirty". I got it during a 90's alt rock kick I had 5 years ago (in which I purchased lots of albums I realized I only really liked because they reminded me of being a kid-lots of AIC and Pearl Jam, which didn't hold up too well). I wasn't really into it, but a year later I got 'Daydream Nation' and was blown away. A year after that, and I get 'Sister', which was much better than I thought it would be, although it's no 'Daydream'.

It's a pretty well known fact that the first song off almost any SY album is a keeper, and "Schizophrenia" is no exception. I love the way their songs start off sounding like they're going to explode, but often just trail off in a strange (yet enjoyable) way. "Schizophrenia" starts off with so much potential energy, and then just fades into Kim Gordon doing her usual out of key vocals and some odd tuned guitars strumming. Sonic Youth are one of the only bands who can pull this off without ever dissapointing me.

Another album that gets better with each listen. This along with alot of albums I got in 2006 were shelved for all intensive purposes for a few weeks when I got them, because I bought something like 70 albums in three months that year (I had a job that payed 350 a week over the summer. Did I save any? Of course not. This list is basically a list of some of the better excuses for why I had no money after quitting that job). However going back to it, it delivered everything I expected and then more, considering I knew it wouldn't be another "Daydream Nation".

"I've Got A (Catholic Block)" is another classic Youth tune, complete with Thurston Moore's half-assed attitude, screechy guitars, all in what's basically one of Sonic Youth's attempts at a hard rock song, which almost always ends up sounding like The Fall if Mark E. Smith was raised on Teenage Jesus and addicted to speed. Come to think of it, Sonic Youth remind me alot of The Fall, at least their messy songs, most of which are on this album.

Definitely messier than 'Daydream', and shorter songs, although still not as focused as 'Goo' or as slick as 'Dirty', which I always found ironically titled. 'Sister' is the second-best Sonic Youth album, and considering how good their best is, that's not a detriment in the least. I'd say the best startout point for this band is "Daydream Nation", and if you love that album as much as I do, you will be more than satisfyed with what 'Sister' has to offer.
87/100

Thanks. Personally, I think 'New Day Rising' is better than 'Zen Arcade', but 'Zen Arcade' is definately still worth picking up. Like I said though, it can take awhile to get used to.

Have you heard the 4 tunna brix EP?

Nope. What is it/where can I get it?

It's Sonic Youth doing a bunch of Fall covers for a John Peel show. It was released as a semi offical / bootleg.

They're not very good and do neither band any justice , and when Smith found out they were going to record it he apologised saying he was sorry if he was responsible in any way for Sonic Youth existing :laughing:

If you want to hear it it's pretty easy to find a download of it off google.

Ha, I'll have to have a listen. Every time I hear about Mark E. Smith talk about a band, its always very witty and negative, I love it.

I will never understand why this album seems to be so criminally underappreciated. This, to me, is of Montreal's best pop album, and writing catchy pop songs is what Kevin Barnes does best.

"Requiem for OMM2" was the song that made me purchase this, and it may just be the best pop song Barnes ever wrote, and considering he's wrote such other gems as "Miniature Philosopher", "Penelope", and "Don't Ask Me to Explain", it's a remarkable feat. "I Was Never Young" is okay, but the next section of the album is brilliant. The one-two-three punch of "Wraith Pinned to the Mist" (aka the Outback Steakhouse song), "Forecast Fascist Future", and "So Begins our Alabee" knocks you on your feet before pushing you back down two tracks later with "The Party's Crashing Us". Granted nothing else on the album other than "Oslo In The Summertime" comes close to being as good as these songs, but it doesn't matter. Those six songs make this album my most listened to of Montreal album. As far as their electro-pop output, "Satanic Panic" is overhyped and too long, "Hissing Fuana" comes close but is dogged down by "Grotesque Animal", and I'm just starting to get into "Skeletal Lamping", which I wouldn't put in the same category as the three before it just because its not really a pop album at all.

And yet, this is considered their weakest of thir post-2003 output. Can someone please tell me why? I can't name another of Montreal album that has as many good songs, except maybe "The *** Parade", which hasn't held up nearly as well for me since Barnes' sound on this record is just-better. It baffles me daily, and all I really want is an explanation. If you're reading this and disagree, please tell me why it's inferior to their other albums, because I've never seen a good reason.

And while I'm at it, why did everyone all of a sudden jump on the of Montreal bandwagon when "Hissing Fuana" came out? I want to say because the second half is much more dancable, yet it was praised for it's pop songs. Don't get me wrong, it's the only album that comes close to this one, and I like it alot, I just don't understand how it appealed so much more to people than their other music. Oh well, I'm starting to ramble here, I think I'll just wrap it up.
88/100

I think your answer for why everyone jumped on the Of Montreal bandwagon is pretty much because p4k hyped it nonstop ever since it came out. Oddly enough Hissing Fauna is the only Of Montreal album I don't bother to listen to I like Suffer For Fashion but then I just get bored with it. But yeah this album is probably my third favorite of Montreal album, its followed by Skeletal Lamping and the Gay Parade.

You have to listen to Strung Out In Heaven.

I haven't listened to alot of their later stuff, but the stuff I've heard is mostly 'eh'. Although, does it have "Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth"? Seeing as that's my favorite BJM song, it would be a good incentive to purchase that album.

"Ice baby, I saw your girlfriend and she's/eating her fingers like they're just another meal/but she waits their by the levee wash/mixing ****tail with a plastic tipped cigar" So begins, "Summer Babe (Winter Version)", a three chord anti-anthem starting off Pavement's first LP, "Slanted & Enchanted". I don't have the slightest what that entire sequence of lines means, but Stephen Malkmus' use of imagery in his lyrics always brings these songs to life. Whether its nervous women mixing drinks, metal scars, or cutting angels in two, Malkmus' cryptic lyrics add another layer of haze and confusion over the already hazy, messy, loud music of Pavement's first album.

This is one of those sort of "Diamond In The Rough" albums, in that it contains some really wonderful melodies under layers of noise. The best example of a Pavement album doing that is definately "Westing by Musket & Sextant", but this is their last LP to sound so loud and raw. "Watery Domestic" (which comes included in the reissue of this album) is the last recording of theirs to take this approach-everything afterward is pretty glossy in comparison, especially their last album, in which they're basically a pop band.

Mark E. Smith hated Pavement, saying they were a complete Fall ripoff. At the time I had owned this for a year or so, and when I picked up the Fall's greatest hits, I thought "No way, Pavements much poppier, why does Mark E. Smith have his knickers in such a bunch over them?" Then I heard the track "A New Face In Hell" which Pavement utterly and completely rips off here on "Conduit for Sale!". That being said, I really don't give a shit, Pavement put a different spin on the classic Fall sound, and I love it.

This album I actually find the weakest of their first three. A minority opinion, from what I've heard, but there really is a good handful of filler-noise tracks on this album, preventing it from being a real classic of mine. I still feel it's the best album to get first if you want to get into Pavement. With great songs like, "Summer Babe", "Trigger Cut", "In the Mouth A Desert", "Lorettas Scars", and the wonderfully meloncholy "Here", "Slanted and Enchanted" holds enough gems to leave you wanting more. And believe me, their next two albums completely deliver on the promise held in "Slanted & Enchanted"
88/100

Actually no. I think that song was released as a single. It does have the song Going To Hell.


YouTube - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Going To Hell

Nice review for the Pavement album but I still just about prefer Wowee Zowee. Nice thread.

I do as well, Wowee Zowee will be coming up in this thread.

Thinking back, I'm fairly positive this was the first album I ever owned that was synth heavy. I milestone record in my case, as I used to be one of those douchebags that liked "Who's Next", but shunned all synthesizer use since I was mostly exposed to bad 80's synth pop. That being said, Wire's large departure here from their first album, "Pink Flag", isn't just in the use of synthesizers. It's a darker atmosphere, a more focused album, and it doesn't sound nearly as ramshackle as their debut. This could have been a completely different band, the only evidence of any "Pink Flag" sound on the noisy "Sand In My Boots".

During 2006, this was my favorite Wire album. WHile that has changed, what has not is the fact that this is a FANTASTIC album. I read an interview somewhere where one of the guys in Wire was saying how they tried to sneak something interesting into each of the songs. That's my favorite thing about it, while the songs stand up on their own, they're peppered with all sorts of experimental ideas. Take "Practice Makes Perfect", a classic post-punk song complete with angular guitars, an aesthetic that goes beyond punk, and these creepy tape loops of people laughing at the end, which make the song for me. Then there's "Outdoor Miner", the pop song of the album (Each Wire album has a great pop song-Pink Flag had 'Mannequin', 154 had 'Map Ref'...) which completely throws the listener off in the middle of a very dark, moody album.

Joy Division's, "Unknown Pleasures" seems to be agreed upon by most as the official influence on gothy post-punk, but this album came a year before it, and explores the same dark sound, albeit in a different way. "Chairs Missing" can be gloomy, yes, but the great thing about Wire is that gloom isn't the only thing you can hear on this album, theres a whole range of emotions, which is what kept "Chairs Missing" in my CD player so often. This is a classic album, and ought to be sought out by any fan of post-punk, Joy Division, Goth Rock, or any music fan in general.
89/100

You should check out Dome , the band put together by Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis while Wire were on hiatus. A lot like Wire but more electronic.

Also Colin Newman's solo albums from around the same time are well worth getting as well.

I will, I only ever got their first three, because band reunions frighten me. Is Wire/Wir's 80's output worthwhile?

I've only ever heard one album after they reformed and that was Manscape.

Loads of Wire fans hate it , I was just indifferent to it.

I heard it before i ever heard the Fall and it put me off ever listening to them for about a year, he has a point :D

Great thread by the way, some brilliant albums.

Would you prefer this to be a music journal instead Brad?

That could work, I'm planning on doing a similar thread for albums I bought in 2008 around Christmas, and I'll probably get to doing a list for 2007, 2005, and 2004, although they'll only be 10-15 albums in length since I didn't get as many albums for those years.

It's a good thread and deserves better coverage. Moved.

Is there any song on the planet more fun to sing along to than "Song Against Sex"? Is there any activity more fun than asking sixteen year old scene girls to hang out, and take them racing through the center of town in your 1991 Oldsmobile going 60mph blasting this album and screaming along as she looks at you completely horrified, destroying any possible chance of hooking up?

The answer is no.

Jeff Mangum's first album has a terrific cover, one of those covers that completely visually explains the sounds hidden inside. A black and white photograph of a carnival, painted over in some places, the band's name scawled on the top. "Avery Island" is often described as a surreal carnival, and that's the best way to put it. There's lots of variety in the rides, some are slow, spooky, and let you gaze at the beauty surrounding you, some are quick, fun, and leave you confused and sick at the end.

Most people are more familiar with Mangum's follow up, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", and I'll admit, I prefer his second album much more. But that's not to say this isn't brilliant. The same dreamlike surreal lyrics are here, the memorable melodies, and Mangum's fetish for marching band-like horn sections, are all contained, albeit in a much messier less coherent way. The best way to describe it is, "Aeroplane" is better as an album-but "Avery Island" has better single songs. You have "Song Againt Sex", "Where You'll Find Me Now", and the unmatchable, "Naomi". "Naomi" has always been my favorite song from this album, and in fact it was someone commenting that it sounded like a Pixies song around the time I got this album that made me go and buy "Surfer Rosa".

By no means do I think someone unfamiliar with Neutral Milk Hotel should get this album-get "Aeroplane". However, if you love Aeroplane as I do, this is a fantastic, and more fun Neutral Milk Hotel album, even if it isn't as emotionally heart wrenching. And although I've made this mistake this entire review, it's good to think of this album as not a predessecor of wonderful things to come, but just a great album on its own merits, because that's what it is.
89/100

Thanks! I actually wrote a review for album #24 while you moved it, and it said it has to be approved. So that should be on its way momentarily.

I was so mad when my copy of Avery Island was stolen 9 years ago. I have since replaced and I am still very happy with it.

Haha, brilliant. It's little things like this that make these threads great.

I've lost Avery Island, rebought it on vinyl, lost aeroplane, rebought it on CD, lost it on cd, rebought it on vinyl.

Vinyl's tougher to misplace.

Words cannot describe how much I used to hate Weezer. I liked "Hash Pipe" in 7th grade, but quickly realized how boring and yet, outstandingly grating it was. I had basically only heard from the Green Album onward, and thus despised them. Then something happened. "Buddy Holly" came on the radio, and though I had heard it before, it never clicked that it was Weezer. I also enjoyed it much more than I had when I was a kid. I decided that it was the catchiest song ever written, and before you knew it, I realized "The Sweater Song" and "Say It Ain't So" were more examples of great Weezer songs.

My interest sparked, I borrowed a copy of the Blue Album from a friend in the beginning of 2006 (might I add, I still have it...sucker...). From the moment when the wall of guitars kicks in on "My Name is Jonas", I was sold.

I can't empasize enough how melodically perfect this record is. It's tough to make a rock/pop album so melodically satisfying without having it all sound the same. I mean, Weezer isn't experimental-and I'm sure to someone completely unfamiliar with them, the entirety of the blue album sounds the same. For me at least, and any other fans, each song, although similar in some regards, has its own personality. You have the faux-reggae of "Say It Ain't So", the Brian Wilsonesque "Buddy Holly", the epic closing track, the shameless pop-punk of "No One Else", all performed in a way that is undeniably Weezer. Although this sound does in fact carry through their later albums, none would ever be as catchy yet relistenable as 'The Blue Album'. I mean, hell, I actually liked 'Pork and Beans' when it came out-it's classic catchy Weezer. But I tired of it very quickly, and now lump it into "Crappy Weezer". Theres a certain charm of this album that makes it one of the few pop albums that I can put on today, and have it sound just as pleasing as when I first got into it. And that is why Rivers Cuomo sucks now, and why no other Weezer album comes close to this for me.
90/100

By 2006 I had outgrown metal. Although it was one of my genres of choice in middle school, I eventually found it too boring, generic, pretentious, and in terms of sound, much too samey. God-forbid a band use any different instuments, and it seemed like the bands that did took themselves far too seriously. That being said, I've always liked Black Sabbath, and it seemed like much of the music I had been listening to lately (Violent Femmes, Beach Boys, Weezer, OTC) although more satisfying, had lost something that I love in a song-a really bad-ass riff.

Then, of course, I found "Raw Power" probably the most bad-ass album of all time. Whether it's Iggy Pop's psychotic howl versus his raspy croon in each song, the heavy yet grainy guitar tone, or the sheer quality of every riff, this album is as powerful as it sounds. Lately I've been thinking about making a list of albums that need to be played with the volume maxed out, and this is definitely a candadite for number one.

"Search and Destroy" starts the album off running, complete with terrific riffs, guitars sloppy enough to keep it from sounding too slick (another big gripe of mine when it comes to alot of metal), but technically proficient enough to put in some great leads. This is a classic punk song, with lyrics like "I am the world's forgotton boy/the one who searches and destroys". I'll admit, I still haven't gotten "Fun House", but one of the reasons I prefer this album to the Stooges' first, is that there's not only 1000% more energy and excitement, but I don't have to skip over any songs (except that slow bluesy one at the end of side A), it's a quality fucking record.

I'd have to say my favorite off this album, is of course, the song with my favorite Stooges riff. "Shake Appeal" is an essential Stooges track, complete with handclaps, a beat that will either want to make you jump around the room or punch people in the face, and the sickest riff I've ever heard. Add on Iggy's amphetemine fueled vocals and the great guitar tone that permeates through the album, and there you have it! My favorite Stooges song.

"Raw Power" for many people, can be a great gateway album. I can see punk fans and metal fans alike (although not the sort that are into the technical noodling) enjoying the shit out of this, and hopefully delving a little deeper on all the treasures to be found among the 70's underground. This was definitely a highlight of 2006 for me, and continues to be one of my favorite albums to turn the volume up all the way and piss off the neighbors. Because even though it's 35 years old, parents of all ages will still dismiss it as too loud, too pissed off, and too simple. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why The Stooges have remained one of the most relevant rock and roll bands of all time.
90/100

Wow

You know I did almost exactly the same as you. I was bored of metal & one of the first non metal albums I ever picked up was Raw Power.

Do you have the original abrasive version or the horrible 'remastered' version?

The horrible remastered one of course:)

To be fair I've never heard the original Bowie produced version, so the remastering doesn't bother me as much because that's how I originally heard it. I do however have a CD of 'Raw Power' outtakes like "Open Up and Bleed", and "Cock in My Pocket" that includes some radio sessions of "Raw Power", "Search and Destroy" and "Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell". The latter of all those is the only one I prefer to the original, although they're all fantastic.

I love the original version.

The bass is virtually inaudible and the treble on the guitars is so high it could strip flesh off you.

That's how you listen to The Stooges :)

I can honestly name only one artist consistently played on classic rock radio that hasn't been ruined in any way for me. Bob Dylan. Most likely because all the stoner kids ignore him, his originality, while overrated among the world of 'Rolling Stone', I've always found underrated in the world of independent music. Lot's of things the Velvet Underground supposovely pinoneered, speak-singing, edgy dystopic lyrics, were done by Dylan years before.

That said, this is undoubtedly his masterpeice. The leadoff track, "Like A Rolling Stone" clocks in at six minutes, and at the time destroyed the notion of the three minute single being the only commercially viabl format for a song to become popular. While "Bringing It All Back Home" is Dylan's first move from folk to rock, "Highway 61" is where he fully embraces it. The guitar is electric, theres touches of piano, faster rythyms, and all around an improvement over his previous albums.

I'm just dissapointed this album doesn't include his single from this time, "Positively 4th Street", my favorite Dylan song. With the most bitter, "Fuck You" lyrics ever written, and a memorable organ line, the song doesn't need a chorus because the verses are so well done. If "Positively 4th Street" was on this album, it would probably be in my top 10 of all time favorites. In any case, the rest of the album is mesmerizing enough to have me mention it here.

The best song is by far, "Queen Jane Approximately". An absolutely sublime piano track rollicks through the song, with organ and guitar meshing perfectly. While it's Dylan's lyrics that seem to garner the most praise, it's melodies like this one that earn his albums a special place in my collection. Of course I have no idea what the lyrics are about-it usually takes me ten minutes of deep thought to breach any cryptic meaning to his songs. But it doesn't matter-"Highway 61 Revisited" is good enough musically that the listener doesn't have to know what half of it means. To me, Dylan's albums are written in a foreign advanced language that takes time and effort to translate, and regardless of that, his albums are absolute classics, "Highway 61 Revisited" being the cream of the crop.
91/100

]

Pere Ubu has taken the longest out of any album on this list for me to get into. Most of them took a bit to warm up to-but I bought this in the summer of 2006, and only this past spring have I come to fully embrace it. The reason is simple-this is challenging music, and although this music was released thirty years ago, it sounds as though it could have been today, and still remained on the cutting edge. Pere Ubu is probably further ahead of their time than any other band I've ever heard. With odd tape loops and sound collages married with off kilter guitar and bass arrangements, Frank Thomas, the lead singer, with his low, soulful, yet disconnected howl, it's brilliant!

The song that made me go out and buy this, "Final Solution" is by far one of their best, and a proto/post-punk classic. With Pere Ubu's most straightforward lyrics, about a pimply teenager no less-it's their official 'gateway track' their least strange song, and thankfully, motivating enough to make you want more.

This is one of maybe only 4 or 5 albums in my collection where every song sounds completely different, which is an incredible feat in and of itself, nevermind the fact that almost every song here is completely original and sounds like almost nothing else at the time. One exception being, "Heaven", another favorite of mine. With a stuttering reggae beat, and a fabulous solo that proves Pere Ubu could have been a great pop band had they not chosen the long rugged path of obscurity, this song almost makes you forget who you're listening to-other than the creepy engine noises in the background of course.

I go back and forth with alot of these songs in choosing what my favorite is, but "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" was the song that really opened my eyes and showed me that Ubu had more to offer other than, "Final Solution". Theres really no way to describe this song, other than it takes the most unlikely and challenging of approaches to a song, and the result is fucking awesome, especially the ending.

Pere Ubu, other than maybe Television, is the only band I've seen classified as both proto-punk and post-punk. Their timing was early-a few of the singles on here were released before "Anarchy In The U.K.", yet the sound is undeniably post-punk, a sound that takes all the attitude and straightforwardness of punk, and adds experimentation. This band sounds like they've invented a time machine, went into the future, listened to lots of Talking Heads, Gang of Four, and Mission of Burma, came back to 1975, and did it all first. Or they were just that groundbreaking in the first place. Both explanations are tough for me to swallow, so I'll have to get back at you on that one.
91/100

I agree. Classic rock radio = lazy radio for lazy listeners.

I entirely agree with you on your thoughts on Dylan speak-singing preceding The Velvet Underground. Listen to Run Run Run for example and it could be a Dylan song.

Top thread.

Sums up what I think of this album perfectly. Haven't listened to it for years though - I'll give it a spin a bit later. Smart reviews all-round man, looking forward to some more