New Picnic Time

New Picnic Time is the third album by the American rock band Pere Ubu. It was released in September 1979 by Chrysalis Records. The album was reissued in 1989 on CD by Rough Trade Records, in 1999 on CD by Thirsty Ear Records, in 2008 on CD on Cooking Vinyl, and in 2017 on vinyl and CD by Fire Records.

Background

Reportedly, the recording sessions were stressful and contentious. Pere Ubu's then-record label, Chrysalis, was unhappy with the finished product and refused to release it in America. After one U.S. tour in support of the record, guitarist Tom Hermann left the group. Allen Ravenstine stated Hermann's departure was due to the group heading into a direction that was no longer "rock and roll". At the time, Thomas briefly joined the Jehovah's Witnesses. Ravenstine remarked that this contributed to Hermann leaving the band: " was trying to get his Jehovah's Witness message in there, then he got very upset. So that was the end of him". The affiliation was reflected lyrically in the final song on the album "Jehova's Kingdom Come!".

Recording and production

stated when recording the album that "sound issues" from Suma Recording Studio were problematic:
The lyrics for the song "The Voice of the Sand" are based upon the poetry of Vachel Lindsay. Thomas remarked:

Critical reception

New Picnic Time has been described as the "black sheep" of the band's catalog as it featured a more experimental sound than any of their previous albums up to that point and originally didn't see release in America, only being toured once. On September 15, 1979, Dave McCullough reviewed the album for Sounds, writing: "It's a drunken, wanton, wilful sounding album with a spine as elastic and as totally absorbing as Beefheart...exhilarating, funny, somehow very vital music."
Writing in Melody Maker on September 8, 1979, John Orme noted, "They don't ask to be loved, but they do invite it. Whichever, they are open to instant embrace or rejection. Their music doesn't float on calm waters: it submerges, spurts, takes rapids, often half-drowns on its back... Having fallen in a big way for the last Ubu album, I approached New Picnic Time with much suspicion... Ubu have developed a wider maturity in scope, feeling and atmosphere, and I can only praise them for it. Don't forget to laugh."
In a retrospective review, Scott Laurence of the Herald-American described the album as "Weird. Weird and wonderful. Weird, wonderful and so far beyond the expected that these deconstructions of popular music are as charmingly retro as the Beatles and as modern as today's blendings of funk, hip-hop and alt-rock. Revolutionary and demented yet full of fun, Pere Ubu are indispensable to any collection of 20th century rock."
New Music USA's Rick Moody remarked, "I have been saying that the Pere Ubu album entitled New Picnic Time, from 1979, is the scariest album ever made..." Additionally, he stated " was the rejoinder to any questions about what exactly Pere Ubu wanted, and the rejoinder was a mammoth stick in the eye. Gone, almost entirely, were the more user-friendly aspects of Dub Housing, and in their place we heard a willful insistence on experiment and double-crossing, but also expressive darkness. Let’s look closer".
The Cambridge Evening News wrote that the album "veers wildly between irritatingly inconsequential noises... and surprisingly catchy riffs."

Release history

On the 1989 Rough Trade CD, the song "Jehovah's Kingdom Comes!" was re-titled "Hand a Face a Feeling". For subsequent reissues the song was remixed, removing all references to Jehovah, and re-re-titled "Kingdom Come". On the 2017 Fire Records reissues the song was edited, removing approximately twenty-five seconds of music. The title of the opening track "Have Shoes Will Walk " has also varied from release to release.

Year of release	Place of Release	Format	Label
1979	United Kingdom, Europe, Germany	Vinyl LP	Chrysalis
1983	Italy	Vinyl LP	Base Record / Go International
1985	Netherlands	Vinyl LP	Rough Be•Ne•Lux
1989	United Kingdom & United States	CD	Rough Trade
1998	Japan	CD	Bomba Records
1999	Italy, United States, United Kingdom	Vinyl LP, CD	Get Back / RTI Music / Cooking Vinyl / Thirsty Ear
2000	Italy	Vinyl LP	Get Back
2004	Italy	Vinyl LP	Get Back
2017	Europe	Vinyl LP, CD	Fire Records
2023	Europe	Digital	Fire Records

Personnel

;Pere Ubu

David Thomas – vocals, organ
Tom Hermann – guitar, bass guitar, organ
Tony Maimone – bass guitar, guitar, piano
Allen Ravenstine – EML synthesizers, saxophone
Scott Krauss – drums

;Technical

Pere Ubu – production
Ken Hamann – production, engineering, mixing
Paul Hamann – engineering
John Thompson – design