Dub Housing

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]

Dub Housing
Studio album by Pere Ubu
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
The Modern Dance (1978) Dub Housing (1978) New Picnic Time (1979)

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.

Reception and legacy

Professional ratings

Review scores
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.

Track listing

All songs written by David Thomas, Tom Herman, Tony Maimone, Allen Ravenstine and Scott Krauss.

1. "Navvy" – 2:40
2. "On the Surface" – 2:35
3. "Dub Housing" – 3:39
4. "Caligari's Mirror" – 3:49
5. "Thriller!" – 4:36
6. "I, Will Wait" – 1:45
7. "Drinking Wine Spodyody" – 2:44
8. "(Pa) Ubu Dance Party" – 4:46
9. "Blow Daddy-O" – 3:38
10. "Codex" – 4:55

Personnel

Pere Ubu

• David Thomas – vocals, organ
• Tom Herman – guitar, bass, organ
• Tony Maimone – bass, guitar, piano
• Allen Ravenstine – EML synthesizers, saxophone
• Scott Krauss – drums

Technical

• Pere Ubu – production
• Ken Hamann – production, recording, engineering, EQ and mastering
• David Thomas – EQ and mastering

References

1. Grant, Steven; Robbins, Ira; Sprague, Deborah. "Pere Ubu". Trouser Press. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
2. "Ubu Web: Story of Pere Ubu". Users.rcn.com. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
3. Dougan, John. "Dub Housing – Pere Ubu". AllMusic. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
4. "Pere Ubu: Dub Housing". Alternative Press. No. 135. October 1999. pp. 105–06.
5. DeRogatis, Jim (May 30, 1993). "The Best of Pere Ubu on CD". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
6. Kot, Greg (July 13, 1989). "The Weird, Wonderful Pere Ubu". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
7. Christgau, Robert (1981). "P". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
8. "Pere Ubu: Dub Housing". Mojo. p. 116. Dub Housing remains an exemplar par excellence of US post-punk's facility for marrying the austere with the madcap.
9. Sandlin, Michael. "Pere Ubu: Dub Housing". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 24, 2001. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
10. Fletcher, Ian (January 2009). "Pere Ubu – Dub Housing". Record Collector. No. 358. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
11. Coleman, Mark; Matos, Michaelangelo (2004). "Pere Ubu". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 626–27. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
12. Weisbard, Eric (1995). "Pere Ubu". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 291–93. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
13. "1978 Best Albums And Tracks Of The Year". NME. October 10, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
14. "Albums of the Year". Sounds. December 30, 1978. p. 12.
15. Christgau, Robert (January 29, 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
16. "The 1979 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. January 28, 1980. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
17. Rockwell, John (April 13, 1979). "The Pop Life". The New York Times. p. C14.

External links

• Dub Housing at Discogs (list of releases)