The Modern Dance 1978 Album

Pere Ubu

Difficult to think of anything more modern-sounding than Pere Ubu's Modern Dance from 1978. Actually, they put out two really crazy records in the same year, but let's concentrate on this one. And many of the songs on the record were from the preceding two years. I mean, if you can call them songs. They're more like the machinations of some randomized creature that grunts semi-melodically every so often. Bands made this kind of music like ten years later and still their sound did not make as much sense as it did on this record. Somehow. Obviously, some of this music misses the mark, but tracks like "Real World", "Street Waves", and yes, "Sentimental Journey", really hammer the point home. This was the near future and it was pretty bleak sounding. Gloriously so, I would say.