Pere Ubu-The Tenement Year (1988)


 

Artist: Pere Ubu

Title: The Tenement Year

A1Something's Gotta Give5:13
A2George Had A Hat4:02
A3Talk To Me3:28
A4Busman's Honeymoon4:35
A5Say Goodbye4:58
B1Universal Vibration2:43
B2Miss You4:21
B3Dream The Moon3:25
B4Rhythm King4:26
B5The Hollow Earth4:15
B6We Have The Technology3:03

Label: Enigma

Format: LP

Cat #: D1-73343

Year of Release: 1988

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1988

Listed Condition: VG+/G+ markered cover, deleted radio copy

Sell Date: 4/4/25

Sell Price: $6.57

Discogs Last Sold: 4/7/25 VG+/VG+ $7.00

Low: $5.00

Median: $11.50

Average: $12.60

High: $25.00

Current low price: $10.99

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 30

Have/Want: 733/145

Where Sold: Springvale, ME

Time it took to sell: 10 years

Where and When Bought:  Worcester, MA used at Al Bums

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go: No

The Tenement Year is one of those rare albums that can't be streamed at the time of this writing.  Originally issued by Capitol's alt-rock distributed Enigma label, the album was given the "Director's Cut" reissue expansion treatment in 2007 in Europe by Mercury.  There was an alternate mix of "Dream The Moon" on this edition.  In 2020, Fire issued the record on vinyl again in Europe only.  This seems odd since the band still is revered in the US.

I only had a chance to listen to this start to finish for the first time since I marked up a duplicate copy at WICN thinking it wasn't yet in rotation, then took it home since it was ruined as a premium for fundraising.  The song the band plays most live was really the only one I remembered playing: the closer "We Have The Technology."  I know I played this record on the radio since I was playing the Terminal Tower compilation heavily before this came out.  This listen, the song that stood out for me was the song right before it, "The Hollow Earth."   This is one of the three songs that currently can't be heard on YouTube or Spotify, but I have a feeling sometime down the road this will be resolved with a reissue.  The opening track, "Something's Gotta Give" is also not up, but there is a live version from Chicago in 1988 you can hear.

One thing about Pere Ubu is how I find them consistently pleasing aesthetically yet, save for "Final Solution," completely impossible to remember anything they do.  Yes, even "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," which is probably a song I've heard almost as much.   This album is the same.  It sounded great throughout.  I don't feel the need to hear it again.  I remembered liking "The Hollow Earth" and remembered the title of "We Have The Technology" over decades and still couldn't hum you a note.  I saw them play a couple years ago at the same place I saw them 5 years prior.  Somebody knew that they played "George Had A Hat" that night.  I would be lying if I said it was me.   Dave Thomas looked in rough shape and special guest Wayne Kramer looked the active ham he always was live and played "Kick Out The Jams" accordingly.  Kramer passed shortly after that and Thomas still lives and hopefully plays.  So what the hell do I know?  There's a shitload of Pere Ubu releases now I haven't heard.  Dozens.  Back when The Tenement Year came out, they were a veteran band a decade in and this was around the 8th album in a catalog I wanted to know better.  This one I forgot, reexamined, liked and ultimately will forget again.  I suspect I will see Pere Ubu again live before the bell tolls for me, thee and he.  

For further review in perpetuity.







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