Suicide - SuicideI’ve just played this twice straight through. Therefore, although it may not be one of my favourite albums, I obviously like it a lot.
Self titled debut from New York art-rock duo, released in 1977. They were adored by the punk cognoscenti of the time, less so by the punk audience, me included. By the time it came out, punk as an idea had fragmented into the cliche it became. Where’s the three chord thrash we all thought. It’s not difficult to understand why folk disliked them so much at the time. In a landscape populated by the likes of The Lurkers, Sham 69, and a host of other second division new wavers, these two must have stuck out like a sore thumb. In fact when they supported The Clash on a UK tour, the audience took against them so violently that someone once threw an axe at them.
Comprising of keyboardist Martin Rev and vocalist Alan Vega, Suicide never reached the heights of this truly astonishing debut ever again. To describe it as minimalist would be to credit their sound as an orchestra. Rev played a Farfisa organ run through various pedals, and backed by the most primitive drum machine imaginable, a Seeburg Rhythm Prince. In order to get their quite frankly astonishing sound, the whole thing was then played through a transistor radio, and then fed into a single track in the studio. It sounds amazing.
Vega was enthralled to rock n’ roll, and mimicked Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran in his delivery. So as you can imagine, their sound was somewhat of an acquired taste back in the heyday of safety pins and bin liners. But as I’ve gotten older, it’s a sound I’ve come to love. Almost ignored upon release, it’s subsequently gone on to become one of the most influential albums ever released, and regularly appears on greatest album lists to this day.
It’s a brilliant album, but I suspect that I’m the only person on here who’ll listen to the 10 minute Frankie Teardrop twice in a row.
Best track,
Ghost Riderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn0_fDjvI_s
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