With the garage rock element completely excised as Tom Herman moves out and Mayo Thompson (of Red Krayola) moves in and is a Red Krayola/Pere Ubu album. “Go” uses the same guitar that is used in “On the Brink” off of Red Krayola’s album Soldier Talk (Radar, 1979), which also features most of Pere Ubu on some songs, but the minimal sound is filled out on “Go” with David Thomas singing about an even more abstract dance than anything found on New Picnic Time. “Rhapsody in Pink” and “Arabia” dive deeper into the Red Krayola’s psychedelia with only Thomas’s lyrics and singing (on “Rhapsody in Pink”, Thomas sings on “Arabian Nights” but that was not on the official and is not on the Datapanik in the Year Zero box set). “Young Miles in the Basement” and “Crush This Horn” are reinterpretations of Ubu’s psychedelia with a touch by Thompson that makes it slightly new for The Art of Walking. “Loop” is a Mayo Thompson composition which explains his lead vocals and his particular dada charm that shines through on Parable of Arable Land (International Artists, 1967) and God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It (International Artists, 1968), and “Horses” is cover of Mayo Thompson’s own song from his only solo album Corky’s Debt to His Father (Texas Revolution, 1970), but beefed up by the rest of Pere Ubu. “Lost in Art” has Pere Ubu (mostly David Thomas) at the most abstract with Thomas singing “pretty” and banging his drum” with some synthesizer accompaniment. “Miser Goats” and “Birdies” are the masterpieces of the album. “Misery Goats” attempts at a rock song but fails in a glorious way, like they wanted it to be, and “Birdies” has the new Pere Ubu dancing like old but fluttering around like many of the dances on New Picnic Time.
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