Was there an uptick in plays of Pere Ubu after the mortal passing of singer David Thomas? Disaster Amnesiac asks because since that sad news hit, my time spent listening to the band has increased with at times exponential frequency. All of the band's varied eras have been spun a mi casita de Tucson. And in the car, too. And replayed as I've drifted off into sleep. Even the one time that I saw them, at the Bottom of the Hill in 'frisco, when the band had a
really bad night and took their frustrations out on the assembled Ubu cult members, is recalled not with its usual sadness and disappointment but with something almost resembling fondness. Listening to and thinking about and reflecting upon Pere Ubu has been a constant for several months now. Of late, it's been 1991's
Worlds in Collision on the tape deck and CD player the most. As it's been listened to, this album has struck Disaster Amnesiac as being the last genuine chance for Pere Ubu to have achieved Pop success. As recalled by this middle aged person, there still was a genuine Pop, i.e. shared, culture in this country, one with at least some semblance of common vernacular, easily understood by a majority of people. [Subtext here: everyone has become incomprehensible to everyone else]. Along with being an acknowledged influence to then contemporary stars such as the Pixies (and perhaps even touring with them?), Pere Ubu had by then spent fifteen years honing its musical skills, this being particularly true of Thomas. Disaster Amnesiac has been thinking that the time was just right for them to gain bigger audiences and bigger tours and hopefully bigger paychecks in 1991, and
Worlds in Collision gives proof that those rewards for all of their difficult work would have been justified. It'll never be known what essential palms were not greased, what egos were not supplicated in order to make the album fly out of the stores the way that
Metallica or
Nevermind or
Use Your Illusion did in that year. What a listener can know, however, is just how beautifully crafted, arranged, performed, and engineered it is. One just has to listen to it. Whimsical Pop melancholy, pulling from mid-period Beatles is delivered on
Oh Catherine, wherein a man is haunted by the memory of a now unattainable girl. Somehow amidst the heartbreak some essential sweetness is pried out by Thomas's lyrics.
I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue explores the fringes of American belief through finely crafted song form and the brilliance of David's singing style. When he intones "men from Mars, man/it ain't no joke" it's as if he's just some Joe sitting next upon the stool next to yours at the local watering hole. Not an easy task for any lead singer and he pulls it off mightily easily. By the time of
Worlds in Collision's release, Pere Ubu had perfected their singular version of Prog Rock, and that vision guides the way on
Turpentine!. One could also describe it as being a high point for the Avant-Garage movement. To touch upon the Pop aspect of Ubu, it blends seamlessly with their more ambitious moves on the track. There's the singular Scott Krauss big beat drive of
Goodnight Irene. Its quick turn to the chorus showcases great harmony singing. Eric Drew Feldman's coloring of the song which brings touches of what is now referred to as Americana; Disaster Amnesiac would posit that these were discrete touches of a shared culture, now sadly atomized. The band sounds whip tight on
Mirror Man, a very catchy tune that has embedded within this reporter's brain for extended periods in the recent past. More interesting coloration from Feldman and a buzzing, slinky rhythm track. The story of an archetypal strolling unknown wanderer, Rock 'n Roll edition, is recounted on
Cry Cry Cry, its beat also of a strolling sort. Thomas must have felt some sort of deep heartbreak while working on these lyrics, and of course his emotional vocal performance shows it. The title track is a total club banger, in that or any other era I'd say. With its neat Musique Conrete touches, it aptly describes the World Historical situation that was unfolding in that immediate post Cold War time frame. Drew Feldman once again shines a lot on this one.
Life Of Riley features playful wording by Thomas and a huge Pop Music chorus pushed especially by Eric. The dude was all over
Worlds in Collision! Guitarist Jim Jones plays beautifully on
Over The Moon. It's a track that has struck Disaster Amnesiac as being bigly American in timbre and lyric, and bigly American was never shunned by Pere Ubu. Kind of a shame that its Pop Culture has been to such a great extent. Let's blame the internet I guess. Or maybe NAFTA, which was being crafted by dickheads in board rooms during the time, too. Is
Don't Look Back a direct reference to the Boston tune of the same name? The song was perhaps a bit tardy in terms of Pop. I've recalled certain Springsteen moves from six or seven years earlier; that said they're good moves, especially in the capable hands of Ubu. Back to back with
Don't Look Back is
Playback. Was this sequence by design? Is there some sort of coded information being proffered there? More fascinating word play and a Prog Pop chorus. More Americana arises on
Nobody Knows, during which Pere Ubu play the second line of New Orleans, the song's tricky changes propelled expertly by Tony Maimone on bass and Krauss on the drums of course. Dave bought a ranch at the bottom of the sea. What's the ontology like down there? Last up on
Worlds in Collision is
Winter In The Firelands, and its significance is that gives a preview into the musical aesthetics of most of the Pere Ubu catalog that followed. Mostly it's dark, a short cold Eerie blast of grey machine like pulses. Now that I'm thinking about here, it can also be heard as referencing the band's early tunes, but knowing that Thomas was always more concerned with moving his band forward, I'll describe it as a precursor for things to come in the ensuing thirty years of work. They would essentially jettison the overt trappings of Pop song writing and conjure even more singularly documents of their unique vision. That said,
Worlds in Collision holds up exceedingly well and can easily compete with
Billboard's Top Ten Albums of 1991 list which includes the likes of Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey and Michael Bolton. Not that there's anything wrong with those acts. It's just that Disaster Amnesiac sees and desires an alternate timeline in which Pere Ubu tops them. Call me elitist, but that's just how I hear things.
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