Comments for Pere Ubu, The Art of Walking

For the most part, masturbatory bizarre art music which brings to mind the phrase "crawling up your own ass" as Anton Fier once described this era of the band. However there are some good spots of truly unique music on here featuring Mayo Thompson's hollow-body guitar sound, specifically "Misery Goats" and "Go" most notably. An interesting LP but not one that you'll want to play often.

I can't stand Mayo Thompson, and he's all over this record. For the first time self-indulgent and pretentious become bad things about Pere Ubu. There's some good stuff on here, namely "Go", "Birdies" and "Misery Goats", but the rest is pretty horrible arty...well, shite. The best thing I can say about this album is that it sounds a lot better on the DIYZ reissue box.

The band gets "Lost in Art" at times, but it''s mostly a strong LP, and a logical extension of the experiments of "New Picnic Time." It stops and starts fitfully throughout with each avant-pop track balanced by something more, well, bizarre. I always pass over "Lost In Art" itself and sometimes don''t have the patience for "Loop," but the rest of the album coheres and flows nicely. The avant-garage "White Album" to my ears - not my favorite by the band, but the experiments are interesting and successful on an even ratio. And as always, the songs themselves are quite nice. Props to "Go," "Birdies," "Horses," and "Misery Goats."

Solid rock mingled with noise and assorted weidness courtesy ofkeyboard player and non-musician Allen Ravenstine.It is possible but not mandatory to see some of this stuffas parodies of e.g. Miles Davis and The Rolling Stones.The semblance is distant, though.