Re: Ubu

[gary mollica <garym>]

At 10:45 AM 10/4/96 +0000, Fiona Webster wrote:
>Gary M. sez:
>> Ubu ROOOLS, man!!!
>
>Do you have that Ubu boxed set that came out? -- it has the early 
>albums, I think, plus a lot of miscellaneous stuff.  I was a bit put 
>off by the price tag, and I wondered if Ubu fans or semi-fans 
>recommend to those who are just discovering Ubu.
>
>				--Fiona

Hey Fiona!
   Gotta say I'm prejudiced. If you see the CD booklet, it says the text was
written by Charlotte Pressler, Ubu Projex & Gary Mollica! I'm one of the
longest lived Ubu fans, as they were my local bar band hen I was in Clevelnd
in the 70s. I'd seen them since they were Rocket From the tombs & with the
original bands - the late Ubu guitarist Peter laughner may have been one of
the 1st to tell me about Patti back in '75, as they wre both writing for
Creem. I was involved with the Cleveland underground since the early 70s,
friends with Ubu since '77. My buddy, Ray Farrell is listed as A&R for this
project. Ray worked for Rather Ripped Records in Berkeley in the 70s, was
involved with Patti's RRR loft performance back in '75. Ray's since worked
for SST, Blast First & DGC/Geffen, where he signed Southern Culture On the
Skids.
   the Ubu box came about in converstation, when Ray was allowed to reissue
stuff that wasn't major lable & hadn't been reissued. ray asked what i'd
suggest (he'd already gotten the OK for The raincoats) & immedialtely I said
Ubu's The Modern Dance, only released on CD on UK Fontana in a limited
edition of 1000. He got on it & was able to get the entire Ubu pre-break-up
catalogue (Blank/Chrysallis/Radar/rough Trade). John "Johnny Dromette"
Thompson, who's another friend of mine & now living near me in LA (he did
all the artwork for the UBU Lps - even was, for awhile, art director of
Hustler mag under alter ego Ronnie Drama) did all the wonderful art & layouts .
    I'd recommend this HIGHLY to the novice & long-time Ubufile. It's 5 CDs,
with 2 CDs being totally unreleased material. The 1st 3 CDs cover their 1st
5 LPs - The Modern dance, Dub Housing, New Picnic Time, The Art Of walking &
Song Of The Bailing Man, plus the 45s that were on Terminal tower. The 4th
CD has 2 live shows never before released, & the 5th has Clevo Rarities,
including Rockets, laughner, Pre-ubu, solo Ubu & Ubu connected bands. The
original LPs will be released seperately next year, but not the live or the
rarities. the initial oressing of 10,000 disappeared VERY quickly, so there
will be a re-press on 5 or 10000. Grab em while ya can!!

End of plug!

Best, GaryM