AMG Review of New Picnic Time

John Dougan
All Music Guide

It was not surprising that after Dub Housing, Pere Ubu couldn't get a record released in the U.S. New Picnic Time originally surfaced on Chrysalis as a British import, but when Rough Trade made it available domestically, U.S. fans could take solace in that the band had finally hooked up with a label more sympathetic to their decidedly unique approach to music. New Picnic Time was also the last Ubu record with guitarist Tom Herman, and for many Ubu fans this signals the end of Pere Ubu phase one (or phase two, depending on one's feelings for the Datapanik-era band). New Picnic Time also finds David Thomas' lyrical explorations reflecting his religious involvement with the Jehovah's Witnesses, pieties that are stated quite emphatically on the record's closing track, "Jehovah's Kingdom Comes."