The Modern Dance LP

Press Reaction

Jon Savage, Sounds, 2/11/78
Uh-oh, this is getting frustrating, trying to tell you how good this is – black and white is an inadequate substitute for the impact heard… This is a brilliant debut. Granted it lacks the superficial accessibility of lesser works, but this time around the aroma lingers. This is built to last! Ubu’s world is rarely comfortable, full of the space beyond the electric light and what it does to people, but always direct and unwavering. And courageous.

Ian Birch, Melody Maker, 3/18/78
It’s a devastating debut…this album has struck me with a vengeance. Because it delivers such a powerful, complex and open-ended punch, it’s almost impossible at such an early stage to explain why or how in full detail.

David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2006 – 5 Stars
This is a far more cerebral, imperishable proposition than a mere local cry of urban discontent. The Eraserhead-style sad-clown personna of singer David Thomas, Tom Herman’s nerve-shredding slide guitars and Ravenstine’s abstract electronics combine to form a rock music as visceral and essential as The Stooges, yet which reaches parts of the brain untouched by their peers, predecessors or successors… An album that’s only gotten more awesome with age.