Why Be Blue? [Expanded]

Performer: Suicide
Engineer: David Heglmeier; Nicholas Ceresole; Catherine Ceresole; David Heglmeier
Producer: Ric Ocasek; Ric Ocasek
Distributor: Caroline Distribution

Notes: Suicide: Martin Rev (various instruments); Alan Vega. Personnel: Alan Vega (vocals). Audio Remasterer: Martin Rec. Recording information: Le Palace, Paris, France (04/17/1989). Photographer: Ric Ocasek. Suicide originally formed as an art band during the early '70s. Legendary for its anarchic proto-punk rock performances (Vega, along with Iggy Pop, was no doubt an influence on punk scatologist GG Allin), and having imploded several times during the last three decades, Suicide has a substantial, but sadly neglected, body of work. Of all Suicide's releases WHY BE BLUE is probably the least known, which is a shame as, next to its dynamic first album, it may be the band's best, most focused work. The title track has an almost rap quality, where Vega comes across as a bizarre hybrid of Kurtis Blow and Lou Reed, while "Last Time" is a blend of disco with a Las Vegas-style show tune; here Vega summons up an appealing croon. "Hot Ticket" presages Wall Of Voodoo; after all these years Suicide deserves due recognition. Highly recommended for both newcomers and long-time fans. The two-disc reissue of 1992's Ric Ocasek-produced Why Be Blue?, originally released on Break Out, appeared at the same time as Mute's similar treatment of 1988's A Way of Life. In addition to being notable for its upbeat temperament (the title isn't ironic), the album shows Alan Vega and Martin Rev at a point in their career when they were neither ahead of nor with the times. And, despite "Mujo"'s resemblance to Peaches & Herb's "Shake Your Groove Thing" -- a disco reference, very out-of-place for 1992 music that wasn't house or shiny dance-pop -- and the mid-'80s sophisti-pop melodic structure of "Flashy Love" (it could almost be an ABC cover), they weren't exactly behind the times. They were somewhere else entirely, if vaguely in line with the groups that continued to look to Suicide's past work for guidance. The album, remastered by Rev, is packaged with a Paris gig from 1989. More audience recordings of Suicide: groan. But take into account that most of the songs in the set never appeared on any of the studio albums, including the battering "Johnny" and a disorderly "Rock Train" (dedicated by Vega to Bruce Springsteen, this tune generates all sorts of rowdy crowd participation). Unlike the just-decent performance that comes with Mute's reissue for A Way of Life, this set would've been deserving of its own separate release. ~ Andy Kellman

Option (Sept.-Oct./92, p.132) - "...reveals that Suicide still has that primal, in-the-groin punch that marks their best work of the late '70s. It's great to have them back..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]he live stuff's terrifyingly intense."

As Suicide, New York City's Alan Vega and Martin Rev created a type of music unlike anything else going on around them in the punk era. Combining Vega's punk/futurist Presleyisms with the electronic squeaks and squawks of Rev's keyboards and rhythm machines, Suicide created a sinister yet strangely joyous noise that inspired everyone from the Cars to the 21st century Electroclash movement. Though they'll forever be identified as part of the downtown NY no wave scene of the 1970s and early 1980s, they've periodically reunited in the decades since.

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