Here's Pere Ubu, Debbie Harry, Loudon Wainwright III, David Mansfield and Philip Glass on a long-forgotten NBC show called Michelob Presents Night Music, hosted by smooth jazz king David Sanborn and ex-Squeeze member Jools Holland. Yes, freako avant-punks Pere Ubu play one of their own songs with this motley crew on a show that actually aired on TV in the United States. The absence of these sublimely bizarre moments in today's corporatized, programming-by-committee TV strips away the element of surprise in tube watching '' it's hard to imagine seeing anything like this on Carson Daly. "Waiting for Mary" is maybe Ubu's most accessible track, and one listen to even this version will highlight the relativity of that statement '' Dave Thomas' vocals are as stuttering and obtuse as ever. Watching him flail and screech in this and other videos kinda makes me feel gipped after seeing a now-sedentary Thomas perform with Pere Ubu in recent years. Check out how Sanborn smooves up the whole affair with his discordant alto-sax.
***Note: Vintage Video is a regular post in which we explore the wasteland of old music videos available on YouTube for insight, oddity, hilarity, current relevancy or just plain awesomeness).
Vintage Video: Pere Ubu and friends "Waiting for Mary"
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VINTAGE VIDEO
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6 Responses
August 23, 2007 at 1:41 p.m.
| Joel Michael Cusumano |
Yeah a box set would be interesting; there's some other clips from the show floating around out there... |
August 23, 2007 at 3:10 p.m.
| Jeff Klingman |
I dunno, compared to "Final Solution" or "Non Alignment Pact" or a dozen of their early tracks this is really kind of terrible and depressing, no? |
August 23, 2007 at 3:20 p.m.
| Joel Michael Cusumano |
hm, i don't find it like that at all. this version is weird, try to get a hold of the original off the Cloudland album. It's a pop song, sure, but nothing wrong with that. besides thomas' voice this is kinda along the lines of R.E.M. or some other jangle pop band to me. they're definitely back to dark and weird nowadays.... |
August 23, 2007 at 4:20 p.m.
| Jeff K |
I just think the stuff they were doing early was catchier and more interesting simultaneously, but that's just personal preference obviously. I think this is pretty cheesy. Also, he should have stuck to one of the greatest stage names ever, Crocus Behemoth. |
September 11, 2007 at 11:12 a.m.
| » Axe the sax? » Blog Archive » |
[...] Club posted this list of ten great songs nearly ruined by saxophones. I’ve often wondered the dubious merits of jazzin’ up the rock, though I think I still fall on the side that a righteous dabbling [...] |
Wow, they should release a boxset of this show. It's the same show that Sonic Youth did that amazing "I Wanna Be Yr Dog" jam on. It had Don Flemming and David Sanborn... and for some reason I think the Indigo Girls?