Universal Thought

The long-awaited collection of archived recordings from Universal Thought, the legendary and little-known experimental studio theater group from 1982 to 1987, featuring the work of Tad Baker, Lee Howard and the mad poet, L. Robuis, is now available!

 

Universal Thought was perhaps the most outrageous, offensive and courageous experimental studio theater/performance art project emerging from California in the 1980's. Combining absurd and powerfully-personal poetics with dynamic musicianship and studio-concrete tape-loop autonomous rhythm ambiences, Universal Thought's amazing collection of recordings -most of which have never been heard even to this day- mark what many believe to be the high-water mark in terms of pure and free creativity emanating from the United States.

 

The critic, Mark Montaigne, says this about Universal Thought:

 

"...And since here in the States, we have so little tradition with the absurd let alone poetic philosophical performance work, Universal Thought stood alone -and still does!- as one of the only performing absurdity ensembles in Amercia, and certainly must be considered one of our best...For my money, no one compares in terms of the range of free thought, subject matter and the risks they took in nearly every recording, recordings which are virtually impossible to perform in today's tightly-controlled politically-correct environment...Universal Thought, people, are NOT racists and homophobes, they PERFORM racism and homophobia, for example, to the extreme and by exaggerating the underlying thoughts and principles to show us what lies at the edges of our many of our emotional states...These guys had the testicles of Hercules, and they are sorely missed today..."

 

The recordings were made on ¼ inch tape at Chico State University's recording studio and with a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder and several Shure 57's in the Universal Thought studio from 1982 to 1987. These recordings capture Universal Thought's unbridled enthusiasm and pioneering poetic thought experiments. They are not for the politically-correct or faint-hearted.

 

There are 5 Universal Thought Compilations comprising their entire body of work which you can access below. Should you choose to listen to individual recordings of each piece, please visit Uncle Tad's YouTube channel by going here.

 

Universal Thought Compilation #1:

 

The Night I fell in Love with Lisa

Prelude/Nepal

Please Forgive Me

Unity of Prism

Supathesh

Slanty Pussy

The Whirling Fandango

Shy

Guilt

Winners

No Personal Problems

Darius Northwood

Fruition

Om Noma Shiva

C-Claw

 

Universal Thought Compilation #2:

 

Each of the Following Rights

David Kennedy

How do you plead?

Alpha

They

Peace/Piece of Mind

Hardly a day goes by

Plastic People/See you in Thailand

4 more years

Gnq4

Beirut

Death of the Soul

Universal Thought Compilation #3:

 

We must not fear Death

Mountain of Jehovah

Closet

I'm a fool/Beingengengulousness

Cleanup Team

Tones

I don't want to work

I'm tuning

The Risk

Paul Bradshaw: A Direction

Competing Chatter

Craig Hines: Montage of Thought (Attention Illuminati; Blood Red Lust; A Bottle into the Sea)

Universal Thought Compilation #4:

 

She has left me

I'm glowing/Lies

What is it I'm feeling?

The Artist

Without Him Now

Do you understand/Doesn't really matter

Change the Terms

The family is changing/The Plan

Death-die/Pregnant Man (Father-Mother)/Red Sky

Lenny Bias/John Law

Milque-toast Society

Mama Mama/Patriotism

Stop laughing at me!

Prey to God/Fuck You!

Kyrnva/Execution/Tunafish Cunny/Army-Navy

Zip-lock bags

Disobey

No Pressure

Universal Thought Compilation #5:

 

Smelly Pussy

HTLV-13

Giardia (instrumental)/Pataphysics

What is drug testing?

The Surface of God/Hepatits B/Miami 48/The Warrior

The Unintelligible Language of Truth

Vivid/Claims/La Vertu

Panel on Expertise

The Paul Bradshaw Poetic Montage

The Mess/Productive-Consumptive

The Standard Bearer/The Pawhe/Did Jesus ever say 'fuck you'?

The work...of Morgan Leach

How often will I be here?

#1 Party School

I love you, Baby, let's dance!

Bozo

Here are a few individual sample recordings of some of Universal Thought's body of work:

Guilt

How do you plead?

Disobey

Winners

We must not fear Death

No Pressure

4 More Years!

Tones

Panel on Expertise