The Modern Dance

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Christgau's Record Guide	A−[4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
The Independent	[6]
Mojo	[7]
New Musical Express	10/10[8]
Q	[9]
Record Mirror	[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10[12]
Uncut	[13]

The Modern Dance has been critically acclaimed. Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1978, Robert Christgau wrote that "even though there's too much Radio Ethiopia and not enough 'Redondo Beach,'" he would be "listening through the failed stuff—the highs are worth it."[14] In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), he reaffirmed that "the highs are worth it, and the failed stuff ain't bad" in his revised review.[4] Ken Tucker, writing in Rolling Stone, called it vivid and exhilarating, even if "harsh and willfully ugly".[15]

NME named The Modern Dance the 11th best album of 1978.[16] Fact placed the record at number 31 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s.[17]

Pere Ubu

• David Thomas – vocals, musette, percussion, production
• Tom Herman – guitar, backing vocals, production
• Allen Ravenstine – EML 101 and 200 analog synthesizers, saxophone, tapes, production
• Tony Maimone – bass, piano, backing vocals, production
• Scott Krauss – drums, production
• Tim Wright – bass guitar on "The Modern Dance" and "Sentimental Journey", production

Technical

• S. W. Taylor – sleeve artwork
• Ken Hamann – engineering, production
• Mike Bishop – engineering assistance
• Paul Hamann – engineering assistance
• Mik Mellen – sleeve photography

• The Modern Dance at Discogs (list of releases)