Pere Ubu
Worlds In Collision

Produced by Gil Norton.
Executive producer Stephen Hague.

Out of print.

Released in the vinyl box set Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés Fire Records FIRELP459, Apr 6 2018.

Links

FAQ concerning Fontana and the re-issues • The singles

Release Notes

The album title comes from the Immanuel Velikovsky bestseller, Worlds In Collision. The intention was that the following album would be called Ages In Chaos.

Work began before Cloudland was released. Fontana A&R man, Dave Bates, responsible for signing Pere Ubu, encouraged David to name a producer. David wanted it to be Van Dyke Parks. Supplied with a phone number, on a trip to Los Angeles to film promotion videos, David spent days working up the courage to call. On the next to last day David called. Van Dyke picked up the phone. David hung up.

Bates suggested the producer of The Pixies, Gil Norton.

Meanwhile, Allen Ravenstine retired from Pere Ubu to become a pilot, and eventually a pilot trainer, with Northwest Airlines. He was replaced with Eric Drew Feldman, who David met in an elevator at a festival in a castle in Bari, Italy. Feldman, a veteran of Cpt. Beefheart's Magic Band, was playing with Snakefinger at the time. David was appearing as David Thomas and the accordion club with Swedish identical twins, Stefan Agaton (guitar) and Thomas Agaton (bass). Chris Cutler played drums.

Production Notes

Engineered by Al Clay.

Original album recorded June 18 to July 8 1990 at Suma, July 21 to August 18 1990 at Wessex Studios, London, and September 15 to 17 1990 and September 25 to 29 at Livingston Studios, London.
Some London overdubs engineered by Felix Kendall. Tracking at Suma also engineered by Paul Hamann.
Mastered by Tim Young at CBS Studios, London.

Design by John Thompson/idrome.
Liner notes by David Stubbs.

Around The Fire, Down By River, Like A Rolling Stone, and Invisible Man were recorded in 1989 at Suma and engineered by Paul Hamann. Mixed September 20-21 1990 by Steve Chase at Mayfair Studios, London. Mastered by Paul Hamann and David Thomas at Suma in January 2007.

Turpentine!, Goodnite Irene, Cry Cry Cry, Life of Riley, Over The Moon, Playback and Nobody Knows were mixed in October 1990 by Gil Norton at The Church, London. Mix engineered by Steve "Barney" Chase.

I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue, Worlds In Collision and Winter In The Firelands were mixed in November and December 1990 by Stephen Hague at RAK Studios and Mayfair Studios, London. Mix engineered by Mike "Spike" Drake.

Don't Look Back was mixed December 15, 1990 by Stephen Hague at RAK Studios, London. Engineered by Bob Kraushaar.

Oh Catherine was mixed December 7-8, 1990 by Dave Bascombe at Townhouse Studios, London.

Mirror Man was mixed November 29, 1990 by Mike "Spike" Drake at Mayfair Studios, London.

2018 Fire remaster

The album was remastered and edited in 2017 by Paul Hamann and David Thomas.

Director's Cut 2007

Four extras have been added to the re-issue: the UK b-sides Around The Fire, Down By The River, Like A Rolling Stone, and Invisible Man. These were demos recorded for what the band refers to as The Lost Album. The packaging has been updated by John Thompson and added are extensive liner notes specific to the album by David Stubbs.

Extras on Mercury Re-issue

Around The Fire, Down By The River, Like A Rolling Stone and Invisible Man. These songs were recorded by Pere Ubu (v.5.1) as demos for the album originally designed to follow Cloudland, referred to by the band as The Lost Album.

Invisible Man and Around The Fire were originally released in the UK March 4 1991 as extra tracks on the cd single of I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue, Fontana UBUCD5 (878 720-2), and the 12" vinyl release, Fontana UBU512 (878 720-1). Invisible Man, as well, was the b-side on the 7" vinyl UK release of I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue, Fontana UBU5 (878 720-7).

Like A Rolling Stone and Down By The River were originally released in the UK May 1991 as extra tracks on the cd single of Oh Catherine, Fontana UBUCD6 (868 245-2), and the 12" vinyl release, Fontana UBU612 (868 245-1). Like A Rolling Stone, as well, was the b-side on the 7" vinyl UK release of Oh Caherine, Fontana UBU6 (868 244-7).

All songs written by Feldman - Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas, except Cry Cry Cry, Don't Look Back, Winter In The Firelands, Around The Fire, Down By The River, Like A Rolling Stone, and Invisible Man which are written by Cutler - Feldman - Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas. All songs ©1991 Ubu Projex.

Pere Ubu (v.5.2)

David Thomas - vocals
Jim Jones - guitar, backing vocals
Eric Drew Feldman - keyboards, computers & synthesizers
Tony Maimone - bass
Scott Krauss - drums
Allen Ravenstine plays EML synthesizers on Turpentine!, Life of Riley, Playback and Winter in the Firelands.
Andy Redhead adds percussion on Oh Catherine, Cry Cry Cry, Don't Look Back, Mirror Man, Goodnite Irene, I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue, Life of Riley, Nobody Knows, Over The Moon, Playback and Winter in the Firelands.
John Kirkpatrick plays melodeon on Cry Cry Cry, Over The Moon and Worlds in Collision.
Al Clay adds backing vocals on Don't Look Back, Goodnite Irene, Nobody Knows, Over The Moon and Worlds In Collision.
Susie Honeyman plays violin on Over The Moon.
Gil Norton adds backing vocals in various places.

Release History

Fontana Records 848 564 April 1991 lp, cd, mc.
Mercury Records 9846173 Director's Cut, April 16 2007 cd.

Press Reaction

Stereo Review, February 1992
Record of The Year 1991, Editor's Choice Award.

Alan di Perna, Creem, December 1991
"The hard, honed glint of well-polished steel... Pop with a difference."

Tom Moon, Spin, December 1991
"The most atmospheric, carefully sculpted recording in the band's 13-album catalog... the kind of big-ideas pop songcraft that's painfully absent from 1991's more highly touted efforts."

Howard Hampton, Village Voice, 7/2/91
"Takes lush pop melodies and underscores them with austere forbodings... The outward signs of normalization - sing-along choruses, steady rhythms - must pass through Thomas's mouth, where they are reshaped into pleas and laughter, entered into the Ubu Codex like psalms reconstituted from loopy heiroglyphics... fueled by elation pitched at the brink of disaster... The patent incongruities aren't so deeply ingrained in the music - they're casually floating on the surface, easy to miss... Thomas's musings have a generosity that doesn't have much to do with "art," but plenty to do with living. The singer is holding his breath. I suspect he's caught sight of a drowning man and is thinking: How did he get in so deep? Will this rope reach him? Why does he have my face?"

Mark Deming, All Music Guide
"Not unlike the Velvet Underground's Loaded, Worlds In Collision shows that they could make an album capable of appealing to a broader audience without losing touch with what made them a singular creative force in the first place."

Pere Ubu Worlds In Collision