Raygun Suitcase

• Folly of Youth
• Electricity
• Beach Boys
• Turquoise Fins
• Vacuum In My Head
• Memphis
• Three Things
• Horse
• Don't Worry
• Ray Gun Suitcase
• Surfer Girl
• Red Sky
• Montana
• My Friend is A Stooge For the Media Priests
• Down By The River II

Pere Ubu
Raygun Suitcase

Produced by David Thomas.

Out of print.
Released in the Drive, He Said vinyl box:
Fire Records FIRELP469, May 26 2017.

Release Notes

As songwriting began, Scott Krauss announced that he no longer wanted to be drummer but the keyboard player instead. David replied that the band didn't need a keyboard player. Scott quit the band. David sent word through channels that he would keep the position open for as long as the recording process allowed. Panic ensued in the rest of the band. David replied, "I am taking over production, trust me." The album was recorded to a click track. On the last weekend at Suma, Scott Benedict came in and recorded the drum parts one ater another in an astonishing demonstation of musicianship. He retired the next week to be a landscape gardener. Benedict's replacement in Michele's band, The Vvians, replaced him in Pere Ubu. That was Steve Mehlman.

Production Notes

Engineered by Paul Hamann.
Recorded at Suma January, July, August and September 1994.
Package designed by John Thompson, idrome.

2018 Fire Records Release

Remastered and edited by Paul Hamann and David Thomas in 2017.

Director's Cut (2005)

Cooking Vinyl USA celebrated Pere Ubu's 30th year anniversary with the release of The Director's Cut version of Raygun Suitcase. Released in 1995 Raygun Suitcase received rave reviews, including CD Review "Editor's Choice for 1995" and ArtForum's "Best of The 90s."

"The point of doing a Director's Cut is to benefit from that older and wiser thing," David Thomas explains. "I reviewed all alternate mixes from the session, sometimes discovering that an earlier mix turned out to be superior to the chosen mix. As well, 10 years later, we have access to improved mastering technology. Consequently, there is a greater clarity and cohesion to the Director's Cut. We are not going to make both versions available. The Director's Cut is the way it's supposed to be. Period."

The Director's Cut was re-mastered at Suma by David Thomas and Paul Hamann in early 2005. Alternate mixes of: "Surfer Girl," "Three Things," "Down By The River II," "Memphis," "Vacuum In My Head," and "Red Sky" were substituted. The "lost" version of "Electricity," recovered from a session desk-mix tape, was also substituted. The demo versions of "Memphis" and "Down By The River II" were added as bonus tracks. The packaging was redesigned by John Thompson in the jewel case format with an 8 page color booklet featuring the "Media Priests of the Big Lie" story. A "Director's Cut" logo appears on the front cover. The UK/ROW release of The Director's Cut followed in March 2010.

Pere Ubu (v.7.2):

• David Thomas - vocals, melodeon, musette, auto-cans, ray gun
• Jim Jones - guitar, keyboard bass, backing vocals, keyboards, spike, sleigh bells
• Robert Wheeler - EML synthesizers, Ensoniq EPS, theremin
• Michele Temple - bass, slide bass, guitar, lute
• Scott Benedict - drums
• Scott Krauss played drums on Memphis, Beach Boys, Down By The River, and Montana. Garo Yellin played electric cello on Memphis, Beach Boys, Down By The River, and Montana. Paul Hamann played bass on My Friend Is A Stooge, and swirl bells on Vacuum In My Head.

Beach Boys, Memphis, Montana and Down By The River II written by Jones - Krauss - Temple - Thomas - Yellin. Don't Worry, Folly of Youth, Horse, Ray Gun Suitcase, Red Sky, Three Things, Turquoise Fins, Vacuum In My Head and Electricity written by Jones - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler. My Friend Is A Stooge For The Media Priests written by Hamann - Jones - Temple - Thomas. Surfer Girl written by Wilson. All songs ©1995 Ubu Projex, except Surfer Girl which is © EMI Music Publishing.

Release History

• Cooking Vinyl COOK CD089 (UK) Jul 31 1995 cd in jewel case.
• Tim/Kerr TK95CD100 (US) Aug 14 1995 cd in digipak.
• Sonic Records Sonic 104 (Poland) cd mc.
• RTI Records CKV 1258 2 (Italy) cd.
• Cooking Vinyl COOK CD089 (UK) Mar 2010 cd. Director's Cut.
• Cooking Vinyl USA CKV-CD-89 (US) Sep 6 2005 cd. Director's Cut.

Press Reaction

CD Review's Editor's Choice for 1995.

Ted Drozdowski, Rolling Stone, 10/5/95, 00.69-70
"Pere Ubu have been neglected pop geniuses for 20 years, and with the release of their brilliant new Raygun Suitcase, they're poised to remain that way. It's their own damn fault. Whenever the band comes up with a set of transfixing chord changes, it includes lyrics like "I want to be a suitcase/I want to hang around in your Greyhound terminal"... Or they'll graffiti-spray an entire tune with whistling tea-kettle synthesizer... If underground rock had a Hall of Fame that gave awards for influence and creativity, Pere Ubu would be more decorated than Magic Johnson."

Chris Nickson, Alternative Press, 10/95, p.71
"Just when you thought it was safe to go to Cleveland, a new Pere Ubu album pops out of the woodwork... America needs bands like this. After 20 years of breaking trails, they're still walking ahead of the pack. The major difference is that these days David Thomas doesn't sound so strange anymore."

Andy Gill, The Independent, Aug 4 1995
"The new musicians have preserved the squealing electronic avant-garde dynamic of the original band, with the grand, malevolent sweep of tracks like "Memphis" and the instrumental "Horse" as effective as ever in the brooding atmosphere department."