Suicide S\T

So Suicide had been one of those bands that I had read about over & over again in books such as Please Kill Me. I knew they were from New York & had started at the same time as the Dolls. I also knew that no one liked them until punk broke & even then, they were meant to be hard to take. I was then given a copy of the Fear of Music by Gary Mulholand. This book talked in glowing terms about the first Suicide album that mixed uber primitive synthesizers with bent rockabilly vocals - I was intrigued. 

I then got a lead that there was a vanyl copy at a new 2nd hand store called All Time Record Emporium up at the Balgowlah shops. It turns out the shop was run by Mick who has been selling quality 2nd hand records at markets all over the Northern Beaches for years. Anyway he had a mint UK pressing of the Suicide LP. I laid down my hard earned cash, took it home & the LP blew my mind. The synthesizers were so relentless. The vocals were also truely twisted. Gary Mulholand mentioned that both Bruce Springsteen (on Nebraska) & Lux Interior from the Cramps had been influenced by Alan Vegas vocals & he wasn't wrong. A bizarre echoing Rockabilly. I realised half way through the first listen just how much Spacemen 3 (another band I am taken with at the moment) been influenced by Suicide. 

After constant rotation for a week on both the turntable & my headphones the Suocide LP has now rocketed into to my all time top 10 albums (for this week anyway). It is definately not for everyone though - I can see how people didn't get them in early 70's, as I have played it to people now & some of them struggle. But who cares what they think this album rules - long live Martin Rev & Alan Vega.