The Modern Dance is the debut album by the American rock band Pere Ubu. It was released in February 1978 through the label Blank Records. A 5.1 surround sound version was released as the DVD-Audio side of a DualDisc in 2005.

Critical reception

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1978, Robert Christgau wrote that "even though there's too much Radio Ethiopia and not enough 'Redondo Beach,'" he would be "listening through the failed stuff—the highs are worth it." In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), he reaffirmed that "the highs are worth it, and the failed stuff ain't bad" in his revised review. Ken Tucker, writing in Rolling Stone, called it vivid and exhilarating, even if "harsh and willfully ugly". NME named The Modern Dance the 11th best album of 1978. Fact placed the record at number 31 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s.

Track listing

Personnel

Pere Ubu Technical

Release history