"Dub Housing" is the second album by the American rock band Pere Ubu, released in 1978 by Chrysalis Records. Widely regarded as one of the band's best works, the album is often cited as a key post-punk recording, with Trouser Press calling it "simply one of the most important post-punk recordings."
The title Dub Housing is a multi-layered reference. It alludes to the repetitive visual pattern of identical row houses in Baltimore, which is mirrored in the album's echoing, reverberant sound. The term "dub" also carries a deeper meaning related to Jehovah's Witnesses, or "Dubs," a reference to the religious community that lead singer David Thomas was a part of. Thomas himself later referred to his living situation in a 1979 concert bootleg recording during the song "Sentimental Journey," ad-libbing the line, "I live in a dub house!" The cover photo for the album features the apartment building at 3206 Prospect Avenue in Cleveland, where band members lived during the recording process.
Dub Housing received widespread acclaim from critics. It was named the eighth best album of 1978 by NME, and placed 13th on Sounds' year-end list. Robert Christgau gave the album an "A" rating in Christgau's Record Guide, praising its abrasive, visionary, and eccentric qualities, while also noting that it led him to re-evaluate the band's debut album The Modern Dance. The album ranked number nine in The Village Voice's 1979 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and The New York Times referred to it as "one of the finer recent new-wave records" and "well worth hearing."
Over time, Dub Housing has continued to garner respect in the post-punk and experimental rock scenes, with many considering it one of Pere Ubu's defining albums. It has been reissued several times, including on CD by Rough Trade Records in 1989, Thirsty Ear Records in 1999, Cooking Vinyl in 2008, and Fire Records in 2015, in both CD and vinyl formats.
