Pere Ubu's time has never quite come for Not Unloved. That is in part due to witnessing a frankly dreadful* set by frontman David Thomas at Glasgow's Old Athenaeum many years ago in support of Tindersticks. I'm well aware that the Cleveland, Ohio scene of the late 70s is highly regarded but just haven't invested the time to discover why. In fact, the only record from that orbit that has left an indelible mark is Pressler-Morgan's sole 45 for Thomas's Hearthan Records which prefigures the twisty post-punk of a bunch of the M'Lady's Records female fronted groups:
Charlotte Pressler was married to Ubu's Peter Laugher and wrote the fascinating "A Memoir of Cleveland Life: 1967-1973" which has definitely piqued my interest. Looks like "You're Gonna Watch Me" could just be my portal into that world.
Thanks to Jon for the tip and to David for the joining the dots from Pressler to Ubu.
* In retrospect maybe it wasn't 'dreadful'. It's more than likely that my closed young(er) mind was just less than receptive to a man with a squeeze box sitting down (gasp!). Also, that night, Tindersticks were memorably and movingly enhanced by a large string section so most acts would have come off second best.
I think dismissing an (imo, important) band's whole oeuvre due to one late period performance is a bit drastic. You might check out their early work. The early singles and the first two albums, at least, if you like the Pressler-Morgan single – which is one of my favourites from that time and a disarmingly simple but beautiful statement. Wish Charlotte Pressler had done more.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair point. It was 20 years ago when I was way more 'drastic'. You have to filter stuff somehow when you're new to it all. I'll definitely give Pere Ubu's early output a chance. Cheers for the comment!
ReplyDeletebrogues