Suicide [CD]

The interview in the sleevenotes portrays the band's genus & origin, examples of that early music can be found on the bonus disc with the second album. Alan Vega (Vocals)and Martin Rev (Instruments) were the original duo later mimicked by Soft Cell, influenced by the approach jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane & Thelonius Monk took (as well as The Stooges), they ended up in the Project of Living Artists, New York. Living in squalor, the romantic life that recurs in things like Ask the Dust, Martin Eden & Tropic of Cancer, they began to develop- living for nothing but their music. Rev found a bowling-pin style machine and this became the DIY-basis for Suicide's music, which was a minimal approach to electronica- where The Ramones played minimal-length tracks, Suicide played an alien minimal music- which could go on a long-time: witness the epic Frankie Teardrop here...

The album opens with Ghost Rider (covered by Soft Cell, REM & Sisters of Mercy), which is the next step on from The Stooges and has lyrics that fit the era perfectly: "America, America is killing its youth...". Next up is Rocket USA (performed a few years ago by Suicide with Spiritualized; Suicide have also played with members of Can & Sisters of Mercy), which opens and drifts into this pulsing thing, hints of rockabilly lost in the past; Alan Vega is Elvis in space...Cheree appears twice- the remixed version from the single released with I Remember and remains a lovely song, really sweet for such a demented and extreme act.

Johnny & Girl sound like an advanced take on The Doors- if The Doors had dropped the bottleneck guitar, drums and rock&roll cliches also! The centre of the album remains Frankie Teardrop, Vega has been warming us up prior- this 10.24 remains one of the most disturbing pieces of music ever, Nick Hornby reasonably wondering in 31 Songs if it's worth listening to something like this? (I think so, but I change my mind all the time). This is one of those extreme works, and one to put on a compilation next to Nico's Lawn of Dawns, Cale's Rose Garden Funeral of Sores & The Pop Group's We Are All Prostitutes. Just that beat and Vega's vocals- the story of a guy whose a bit like Henry in Eraserhead, a regular Blue Collar job (..."just trying to survive")- Vega begins to scream and take us places The Doors' The End bottled out of going to: "Frankie can't make it...cos things are just too hard/Frankie can't make enough money, Frankie can't buy no food, Frankie's got evicted...Frankie, Frankie...(the drones get more intense)Frankie's so desperate, gonna kill his wife & kid/Frankie's gonna kill his kid/Frankie pick up a gun, point it a 6-month old kid in a crib/Oh, Frankie/AAARGH!/Frankie looked at his wife, shot her/AOODISFIFHFHKWHFIHFIHFIHQIFQOIPFOU!!!!!!!/What have I done?????"- those screams of Vega would influence even Bruce Springsteen, listen to Johnny 99. The most disturbing moment is "Frankie put a bullet to his head"- which is followed by strange industrial noises and Vega's sickening screams...

Hard to recover after Frankie Teardrop, though Che (covered by Spacemen 3) is more soothing- a love song to the dead Guevera. The rest of the tracks on the album are as great- I Remember is great in the repetition stakes and Keep Your Dreams (title borrowed by Primal Scream)is a great ending. Producers Craig Leon and Marty Thau captured Suicide in a wonderful manner...

The second disc is more than a curio, containing a six-song set at the fabled CBGBs and the mythic '23 Minutes Over Brussels' performance. The former fits in with Cale in Animal Justice mode, or the late No Wave scene in New York (or should that be No York?). Only I Remember and Keep Your Dreams are from the debut, a great cover of The Quotations' 96 Tears is offerred and three tracks that would appear radically different on the second album (Mr Ray, Las Vegas Man & Harlem). Personally, I prefer the electronics of the second album, but these versions show the band developing. The take of Harlem is way more extreme than things like Caustic Window and Kid 606 since, a pulsing seemingly infinite beat that is almost junglist and lots of insane screaming:"HAAAAAAAAAAARLEMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!"

23 Minutes...ought to be listened to by everyone, ever. You want to be in a band? You want to take abuse from the audience? You want to make art? Roy Trakin's notes in the liner booklet is a wonderful guide, describing this support slot to Elvis Costello & the Attractions in Belguim in detail, "It was something out of The Year of Living Dangerously meets Nosferatu. Suicide had evoked a similar reaction supporting The Clash, did it matter which buttons they pressed in the audience, whether the reaction was good or bad? They begin to perform, Ghost Rider-Rocket USA-Dance...finally we arrive at Frankie Teardrop and the crowd are becoming too much. Vega tries to relate their own life to Frankie's, looking for sympathy- they just want to do their thing. "We're all Frankies" he points out, attempting to get the mic back "C'mon???"- the audience holler abuse, you think Pop Idols get it in the ear? Suicide admit defeat and leave the stage; but in the long-term, they won and this, one of the greatest live albums, is the proof.

This double-disc set is a brilliant purchase, screaming (literally) good value and comes with one of the great album covers of all time. This and it's 1980 follow-up are must haves and one side of the myriad of joys in this golden era; all hail Rev & Vega: you know you want to! Is there anything more wonderful or positive than Vega telling us to Keep Our Dreams?- those lines alone a worth more than a library in self-help books!