Lost in Art
Scott McFarland | Manassas, VA United States | 12/20/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"It's not just a song title, it's what was happening here. These guys who had so much promise and so much acheivement between them cut a bunch of crappy music that is short on ideas and high on pretensiousness. They had gotten tired of doing music that sounded like rock music, so they ended up making this strange attempt at anti-rock that is nearly impossible to enjoy.Of course, they didn't fall apart entirely at once. They cut a few tracks on here with some nice angular variants of rock rhythms that swing hard - "Go", "Misery Goats", "Rounder", "Birdies". "Rhapsody in Pink" worked out okay. But by the time you get to "Arabia", you're going to realize that this record is as a whole astonishingly bad considering what these guys were capable of."
A favorite Ubu disc o' *mine*, anyway
Allan MacInnis | Vancouver | 10/23/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Alright, so you love DUB HOUSING and THE MODERN DANCE, but aren't you finally finding yourself SATURATED? Don't the songs on those two disks finally wear so deep a groove in your head that there's nothing left to be learned by spinning them again? I mean, how many times in one lifetime do you NEED to hear "Non-Alignment Pact," HOWEVER great a tune it is? If you know what I'm talking about, it may be time to buy NEW PICNIC TIME and ART OF WALKING. NPT is a little darker and more "challenging," while this disc is more joyous, varied, and complex -- playful, quirky, rich, and goofy, too. Everyone I've ever made tapes for has "Rounder" somewhere on them... Or "Misery Goats," or "Loop," or... There is only one terrifically annoying tune best avoided here, "Lost in Art," the listening-to of which in no way is made easier or more enjoyable by getting the joke of the title. If you love ANY Ubu, I think you'll really like this disc. Of course, if I were you, I'd just buy the box set, if it's still around, but, well..."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
