the first album

suicide and suicide 2

thread closed

I started with the Ghost Riders live album on ROIR. It's still one of my favourites and captures them in their element.

Alan Vega and his chains screaming like a maniac and scaring off the punters.

Also, 23 Minutes over Brussels where the both of them get pelted with bottles and spat at.

Genius band

Some DVD or CD released in past few years of a (recent) live performance? Don’t know if it’d be worthwhile. But curious to see, nonetheless.

Anyone seen/heard it? Thoughts?

Oh. And…
‘Haaa-aarrrrr-le-le-le-lem-lem-lem-lemmm’

doo wop bop mmmmn doo wop bop bop bop DOO WOP BOP uuurghh DOO WOP BOP BOP AHH

their first two records are sublime. some of the best music in history.

their first record is my equal favourite album for accompanying a late night, high speed drive on icy roads with bald tires whilst chain smoking. the other is bruce springsteen's nebraska.

the two are strikingly similar.

bruce springsteen is a big suicide fan, he loves them

true fact

They've always been a little on the periphery for me. Lurking menacingly around. Only got my hand on some bits'n'pieces in the last year including some live at CBGB's stuff.

I probably should hunt out the first 2 albums in the flesh.

Nebraska, hey?...

indeed, puretokyo.

the boss has taste.

being a suicide thread, i should strictly stick to my rev/vega love, but....yes, yrspiritflares, nebraska - i would recommend anyone obtain a copy.

back to the suicide love.....rocketrocket USA, shootin' all over the skyway

it's doomsday

Springsteen's song Highway Patrolman is supposedly influenced by Suicide - the repetitive melody and yelps at the end convinced me.

Suicide's third album, A Way of Life is an equal favourite for me, but American Supreme is one of the worst albums I've ever paid money for ($10 at JB and it's still a rip off).

They're Nick's support band now...

wow just went through nebraska on itunes

state trooper pretty much sounded just like an acoustic version of frankie teardrop, for the 30 second clip

and re american supreme, it's pretty cool really, just gotta have the right mindset

agreed - american supreme was an immense disappointment.

for an alternate evolution of suicide, check the VVV albums, which are alan vega talking with the pan sonic boys providing the music

ok. american supreme was the one I was thinking about. shall avoid.

just get someone to make you a "greatest hits" cd. helluva lot of filler to wade through otherwise

make sure you put Shaddazz on that comp!

2nd albums worth it for diamonds/furcoat/champagne alone.

interesting hearing everyone's different feelings about this record. The way I hear it, I mostly can't even recognise it as the same 2 guys who made that first classic, dirty, heavy, paranoid-sounding record.

I love this band...but the Second Album sounds like a band imitating Suicide - almost like bad karaoke. like those dudes who perform at weddings with all the backing tapes. it's those lame 'dazzling' 80s keyboard sounds from the action scenes in Miami Vice or Knight Rider or whatever, and the lame ''pizazz'' of the soundtracks on those motivational videos the high school careers advisor would show us. it makes me cry.

Then again - what am I thinking? the 80s are back. This record probably sounds current again :)

I like the song Sweetheart - but then again it borrows heavily from Keep Your Dreams from the first record. In contrast there's Be Bop Kid, like Elvis grooving along to his digital keyboard at Allans Music in the city during his lunchbreak.

I love this band!!! i think they had a giant impact on music. but I dunno - I've tried for years to get into the 2nd record but I can't listen to it without cringing. At least they didn't do another song about ''Cheree''.

my vote still goes to the first album :)

OK - it's like that part of the movie Beat Street where Lee starts to get famous & he loses track of how he got to where he is. (Of course these dudes never really got paid but...) It sounds glitzy & glamourous, like they've sort of lost that 'street' connection. To me record #1 breathes the street. but with record #2 I can see the twinkling lights of the 80s NYC skyline.

have I lost anyone yet?

You lost me. It's a different sounding record to the first - no-one's going to argue with you there - but this whole 'bad karaoke' thing? You're talking crazy, man!

The ''street'' is still there but it's like they're looking at it from outside, maybe from the back of a cab cruising the city late at night, Travis Bickle-style, which could be why the themes of greed and corruption and shallow glitz are so heavy.

'Harlem' is a great social-protest-urban-soul-nightmare song and, like most of the record, the stench of corruption and decay beneath the beauty and humanity is strong. It's like 'Blue Velvet' (the movie), or something.

Actually the sense of the cinematic is probably something else I love about this record, without ever having thought about it before.

Which reminds me, has anyone seen 'Combat Shock'? It's a Troma film (unlike anything else they put out) with pretty much the same story as 'Frankie Teardrop'. To say it's bleak is an understatement.

The ''street'' is still there but it's like they're looking at it from outside, maybe from the back of a cab cruising the city late at night, Travis Bickle-style, which could be why the themes of greed and corruption and shallow glitz are so heavy.

haha - yeah fair enough, i can roll with that

I'm listening again to it now, giving it a few more chances... :)

Actually the sense of the cinematic is probably something else I love about this record, without ever having thought about it before.

good point

So how'd you go?

all your cinematic babble makes me want to hear this album. i only ever got the first one

It could be complete bullshit, I dunno, but I do like that record.

I still have issues with the second one, but 'Harlem' is just about the perfect Suicide song.

Interested parties should also check out the VVV albums Vega did with Pan Sonic.

Which reminds me, has anyone seen 'Combat Shock'? It's a Troma film (unlike anything else they put out) with pretty much the same story as 'Frankie Teardrop'. To say it's bleak is an understatement.

Dude, your post prompted me to watch it again. 1986. yeesh - that's one RAW film - and that Agent Orange baby is very disturbing!

definitely a look into the other side of 80s USA. the town & the street vibe reminds me of what I remember Newtown, Surry Hills, parts of Glebe, Pyrmont etc to be in the mid-80s.

'Harlem' is a great social-protest-urban-soul-nightmare song and, like most of the record, the stench of corruption and decay beneath the beauty and humanity is strong. It's like 'Blue Velvet' (the movie), or something.

'Harlem' is one of my favourites too, though I prefer any of the live versions that have been released to the album version. Vega's harrowing screams of ''Haaaaaaaaar-lem-em-em-em'' worked best on stage.

Dude, your post prompted me to watch it again

Me too. I watched it on Saturday morning instead of Hannah Montana. Not quite sure I agree with your comparison to mid-'80s inner west Sydney but they were bleak times, for sure.

I DO agree with you though Frankie, I just didn't want to mention it in my original post in case it made my argument look silly. The version on '1/2 Alive' is maybe my favourite Suicide recording.

That 1/2 Alive record is fantastic, I love the version of Sweetheart on it.

I found a Christmas album with Suicide doing ''Hey Lord''

OMG!

Did you BUY it?

yep... vinyl... $1.. got it!

VERY impressed.

Cheree Cheree....

almost like bad karaoke. like those dudes who perform at weddings with all the backing tapes. it's those lame 'dazzling' 80s keyboard sounds from the action scenes in Miami Vice or Knight Rider or whatever, and the lame ''pizazz'' of the soundtracks on those motivational videos the high school careers advisor would show us. it makes me cry.

Hey this aesthetic is totally what is popular with a certain crowd at the moment - the guy from The Skaters, Ariel Pink, John Maus, Dolphins In To The Future et al.