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DAVID THOMAS
Monster (Box Set):
Five Complete Albums 1981 to 1987 (Cooking Vinyl)
Reviewed by Sherman Wick
David Thomas has had a long and prolific career in music as a singer and avant-rock songwriter. Beginning with Cleveland proto-punks Rocket from the Tombs, he moved to his most acclaimed band, Pere Ubu. Between breaking up and reforming the band, he made five records, which departed from and finally returned to the music of Ubu.
Actually shortly before the disbanding of Ubu, Thomas recorded his first solo record, the Sound of the Sand with the Pedestrians. His backing band included guitarist Richard Thompson and Philip Moxham of the Young Marble Giants along with drummer Anton Fier and saxophonist Ralph Carney (Tin Huey) to name but a few participants. Thompson's guitar shines, and Thomas is at his giddiest on vocals. On tracks like "Yiki Tiki," the singer sounds like a gleeful child with his high-pitched and idiosyncratic vocal delivery.
Essentially the same band performs on Variations on A Theme. However, the band's approach is, at times, more traditional. Like the first record the sound is much quieter than Ubu records, but the band plays quirkier versions of traditional rock and even country and folk-genre music, albeit with Thomas's inherently zany approach. The results are mixed, but there are definite standouts. "Bird Town" is an interesting take on rockabilly rave-ups, and "Song of the Hoe" is a childlike and strange take on the blues. The lyrics address the sadness of weeds soon to fall victim to a hoe.
Thomas seriously refined his sound on More Places Forever, which was recorded with seminal defunct English progressive band Henry Cow members Chris Cutler (drums) and Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, oboe). The singer's vocals are consistently ecstatic. He sings, at times, as if he is performing children's music; in contrast, the music is carefully composed, and is a synthesis of progressive and avant-garde with heavy classical influences. The results are more hit than miss. The singer displays tremendous imagination as the vocals sound like a demented children's song. On "Through the Magnifying Glass," he tells odd tales about grasshoppers and ants; again the words have a child-like innocence. This is a technique that Ubu used to a greater degree on The Art of Walking. And it works again on this record.
Not a person to repeat himself, Thomas did something spontaneous on 1985's Monster Walks the Winter Lake. This time out his band is the Wooden Birds, and their instrumentation is largely acoustic. Thomas's accordion and crazy quixotic singing is at the center of the music, but with accompaniment provided by Garo Yellin on cello and the electronic otherworldly EML Synthesizer playing of Allen Ravenstine. The synthesizer allows for interesting counterpoint. Again, some of this record will come across as hopelessly abstract, but it is rewarding if you give it a try. The record is lyrically filled with metaphors, like the monster representing Thomas, whose alter ego in his youth was the Crocus Behemoth. Thomas examines simile in the recording studio on "My Theory of Simultaneous Simultude/Red Tin Bus," where he sings "I am like a red tin bus." If this sounds too strange, the record contains a few, at least, lyrically less unusual songs such as "What Happened to Me," a fast paced accordion song with EML blips in the background.
Blame the Messenger was the final record Thomas made before Pere Ubu reformed. And for all practical purposes, it is an Ubu record except in name. The record is a rock record of sorts with guitarist Jim Jones, bassist Tony Maimone, EML synthesizer player Allen Ravenstine and drummer Chris Cutler. The group, along with Scott Krauss, would appear the following year on Ubu's The Tenement Year. Highlights include "the Storm Breaks," a synth dominated tune that resembles rock music from outer space. "Friends of Stone" features more warped EML paired with Thomas' accordion and a guitar, bass and drums. If you enjoy innovative and quirky music, it's worth exploring.
Monster is an excellent and comprehensive collection of the work of a David Thomas between stints with Pere Ubu. It's piquant and challenging music, and essential for fans of Thomas, Ubu or experimental pop music, and available at a price that even the parsimonious can afford.
© 2005 - Sherman Wick