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Rating: In 1975, after two incredibly intense years, the activity of the ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS, a seminal proto-punk band from Cleveland, came to an end, notably without the release of any record, at least until 1990 with the posthumous release of 'Life Stinks,' containing a radio recording of their early works. The album released in 2002, "The Day the Earth Met the Rocket from the Tombs," featuring live recordings from 1975, offers a splendid testimony of the early pre-punk era.
After the band disbanded, Stiv Bators and Cheetah Chrome went on to form the Dead Boys, while David Thomas and Peter Laughner gave life to Pere Ubu. 'Terminal Tower' is not just a simple compilation; it is the testament of the group's first self-produced 45s, and among the last under the Thomas-Laughner signature. The latter would leave the group in '77 for a solo career, and shortly afterward, he would die of an overdose (other sources report different causes).
The initial formation of Ubu included, in addition to the Thomas-Laughner duo as singer and guitarist respectively, Tom Herman as another guitarist, Scott Krauss on drums, bassist Tom Wright, and synth destroyer Allen Ravestine, the latter being essential to the development of the group's sound. Inspired by 1970s Cleveland, their music would become a perfect soundtrack where decay and alienation merge, perhaps the most real representation of the idea of apocalypse ever put on record, themes that they would revisit in their debut "The Modern Dance" (1978), a masterpiece album among the best of the period and one of the most influential in the history of rock.
30 Seconds over Tokyo/Heart of Darkness (9-75), Final Solution/Cloud 149 (3-76), Street Waves/My Dark Age (10-76), Modern Dance/Heaven (1-77) — these are, in essence, the early masterpieces of a band considered by many to be the best of the '70s.
"Buy me a ticket to a sonic reduction guitars gotta sound like a nuclear destruction
seems I'm a victim of a natural selection
meet me at another slide, another direction
don't need a cure, need a final solution."
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Heart of Darkness (04:51)
Maybe you see further than I can see,
or maybe things just look differently
Maybe I'm nothing but a shadow on the wall
Maybe love's a tomb where you dance at night
Maybe sanctuary is an electric light
I get so tired it's like I'm another man,
and everything I see seems so underhanded
I don't see anything that I want,
and I don't see anything that I want
Image, object and illusion
go down to the corner
where none of the faces fit a human form,
where nothing I see there isn't deformed,
where in a secret lab works a Doctor Moreau,
and no private eye's gotta tell me it's a long goodbye
I get so tired it's like I'm another man,
and everything I see seems so underhanded
I don't see anything that I want,
and I don't see anything that I want
Looking into the heart of darkness
02 30 Seconds Over Tokyo (06:28)
Flew off early in the haze of dawn
In a metal dragon locked in time,
Skimming waves of an underground sea
In some kind of a dream world fantasy
Sun a hot circle on a canopy,
'25 a racing blot on a bright green sea
Ahead the dim blur of an alien land,
Time to give ourselves to strange gods' hands
Dark flak spiders bursting in the sky,
Reaching twisted claws on every side
No place to run,
No place to hide,
No turning back on a suicide ride
Toy city streets crawling through my sights,
Sprouting clumps of mushrooms like a world surreal
This dream won't ever seem to end,
And time seems like it'll never begin
30 seconds,
And a one way ride
30 seconds,
And no place to hide
30 seconds over tokyo
03 Final Solution (05:05)
the girls won't touch me cuz I got a misdirection
living at night isn't helping my complexion
signs all said it's a social infection
ilttle bit a fun now I get an insurrection
my mom kicked me out till I get some pants that fit
she just won't approve of my strange kinda wit...
I get so excited I always gotta lose it
man they sent me off, man I'm takin cures
don't need a cure (x3)
need a final solution!
don't need a cure (x3)
need a final solution!
buy me a ticket to a sonic reduction
tires gonna sound like a nuclear destruction
seems I'm a victim of natural selection
meet me on the other side not a direction
don't need a cure (x3)
need a final solution
don't need a cure (x3)
need a final solution
solution...
solution...
solution...
solution!
06 My Dark Ages (04:02)
In the dark I get so confused
I fall in love like I fall from grace
I wander round,
wonder where I went
I wander round,
wonder where I went through the,
the blank spaces,
and the,
the empty places,
and
I don't get around & I don't fall in love
I need a car that can get me around
at night in the city where the air can shine
We'll drive around,
and oh!,
we'll fall in love
We'll drive around,
and oh!,
we'll fall in love
and
things will be alright
things'll be alright
things will be alright
things'll be alright
and
I don't get around & I don't fall in love much
08 Humor Me (02:57)
Oh
It was the first thing that I saw
You never see that kind of Classical Girl
Understand
It was the first thing that I saw
That was fate
It was the ballistics!
No
that was fate
It was a world
What a world!
What a world?
What a big world
But a world to be drowned in
It's just a joke man!
Another day?
Well
SUFFER
for that's the way of the west
SUFFER
Oh
Oh it's a joke!
It's a joke
Oh
It's a JOKE
That's a joke?
Hunh-unh
Well
humor me
10 Not Happy (03:28)
Can't we be happy?
Can't we be happy like the swimming turtles?
Can't we be happy like the bumble bees on the River Tees?
When they buzz they buzz in harmonies!
Can't we be happy like them?
I wanna know
I am happy when you are happy,
and you are happy when I am happy,
so let's be happy!
Can't we be happy?
Can't we be happy like the tiny mice?
Can't we be happy like the oddball birds of South America?
The oddball birds of South America are happy
Can't we be happy like them?
I wanna know
I am happy when you are happy,
and you are happy when I am happy,
so let's be happy
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