SUICIDE
Half Alive (ROIR)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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Though they were lumped in with the New York punk movement of the 70s, Suicide was really more like the extreme conclusion of the beat generation, The Silver Apples and the most extreme performance art aspects of The Doors rolled into two guys -- Alan Vega (vocals) and Martin Rev (synthesizers) -- who were either extraordinarily talented or simply able to convey raw emotion at will. Rev would create bizarre, dissonant sounds with a bank of synths while Vega would do any damned thing that came to mind. Sometimes he'd just scream as if in great pain for an entire song. I find it fascinating and at the same time feel guilty for finding it so completely annoying when Yoko does it.

Half Alive is another cassette thankfully rescued from the ROIR vaults and released on CD for the first time, complete with three bonus tracks. The 0rigin of the music is spelled out in the title: half of this is recorded at live concerts, including shows at CBGB's, and half comes from various studios, including their own. There are a few tracks from 1974 and 1975, but the majority comes from around 1978. The performances are what you expect from Suicide: wonderfully bizarre, huge sounding spell-casters that'll leave you drop-jawed.

Take it as a whole work, despite the fact that it wasn't ever intended as such. Trust me. NO HEADPHONES! Trust me on that, too, or you'll be hurtin'. Just turn up the speakers, turn down the lights, turn off your mind and float downstream.

Track List:

Harlem II * Las Vegas * Love You * Cool As Ice * All Night Long * Sister Ray Says * Johnny Dance * Space Blue * Long Talk * Speed Queen * Chezazze * Dreams * (Bonus Tracks) All Night Long * Sweetheart * Scream & Shout

© 2001 - DJ Johnson