Review: Rocket From the Tombs “Rocket Redux”

Rocket From the Tombs
“Rocket Redux”
(Smog Veil)

The band that gave birth to Pere Ubu and Dead Boys, ’70s Cleveland rockers Rocket from the Tombs here, offers a reprise of a reprise. Material for this first-ever studio album was taken from the collection of demos and live recordings that made up ‘The Day the Earth Met the Rocket From the Tombs’ (Glitterhouse, 2000). This means we have the first studio recordings of “30 Seconds over Tokyo” and “Life Stinks”. These two Peter Laughner songs were originally done by Rocket from the Tombs and only later by Pere Ubu. The group had already been together for a summer tour before they decided to record these songs, now fully rehearsed with Richard Lloyd at his Manhattan EGB Studios. The group existed for less than a year but was seminal and very important, making this belated recording an important moment in rock history.

Tom “Tearaway” Schulte