Originally released at the height of Grunge in 1992, legendary NYC duo SUICIDE'S fourth album "Why Be Blue?" was once again resolutely out of step with the day's prevailing musical trends and also something of a departure after the abrasive, serrated electro edge of their previous studio album "A Way Of Life" from 1988.
Actually, the excellent "Why Be Blue?" stands alone among Suicide's work to date, as it's by some way their most optimistic and celebratory record, and the one where their interest in the Detroit-related house scene and the dancefloor in general gelled into something wholly memorable.
Once again, Cars' mainman Ric Ocasek is in the producer's chair, but this time it seems Alan Vega and Martiv Rev allowed him a freer rein, and from the euphoric bounce of the opening title track on in, it's clear this will be a poppier Suicide than ever before. The song is imbued with House's communal, loved-up rush, and the end results suit Vega and Rev surprisingly well, even though Vega's usual Elvis-meets-Iggy vocal delivery appears to have been temporarily replaced by a weird sing-along approach that's mid-way between latter-period Iggy and Mark.E.Smith. Curious, but effective.
This thriving pop pulse refuses to desert the duo as the record progresses. Indeed, tracks like "Play The Dream", "Last Time" and "Flashy Love" are among the best songs Suicide have presented us with thus far. "Play The Dream" - built around classic, house-y piano grooves and nagging rhythms - is especially intoxicating and should've been a hit single by rights, while "Flashy Love" brings us some seriously passionate disco floor action and sounds like an updated take on the cool rhythms that informed NYC's cutting edge clubs like the Paradise Garage and Danceteria during the 1980s.
Elswehere, the strident Hi-NRG of "Cheat Cheat", the breathless, flanged -out "Pump It" and the cavernous and echo-ey "Chewy Chewy" are all infused with dark, Detroit-style noir-techno, while "Hot Ticket" demonstrates Vega and Rev hadn't entirely binned their patented mutant 50s electro-clash either. This is typical of the Suicide we know and love, but even here the duo sound spacy and unusually sensual and the end results are truly satisfying.
The closing "Universe" is the one slice of bitter, streetwise beat poetry we've come to expect from Vega, as he vividly describes a "posse of freaks, busy with crime" and generally addresses the precarious state of the wider scheme. Even here, though, Rev has created a musical backdrop that's vast, reflective and weirdly soothing to counterbalance the effect and it all adds up to a notable way of rounding off a consistently strong and under-rated album.
|
As with the "A Way Of Life" re-issue, "Why Be Blue?"s new deluxe edition comes packaged with an extensive bonus live disc. This time it's from a Paris show in the spring of 1989, with the boys playing to an adoring audience at Le Palace. Inevitably darker and harder-edged in execution, it can't quite scale the innovatory heights of the studio album, but is nonetheless fascinating for long-time Suicide heads as it showcases a number of tracks Rev and Vega have yet to record officially in the studio. Pick of the bunch are probably the swampy, semi-improvised "Mambo Mambo", and the coy wurlitzer jukebox rockabilly of "Rock Train" (dedicated to long-time Suicide fan Bruce Springsteen, of all people), athough the dreamy, hymnal and redemptive version of rare 1983 12" single "Dream Baby Dream" runs it close, as does the downright lecherous blues of the closing "On Fire".
As is the often the way with Suicide's impossibly contrary gameplan, it would be another decade before they would make a fully-fledged return with "American Supreme", but "Why Be Blue?" remains an album deserving of far wider kudos than has been meted out on it thus far. It's the one where Rev and Vega meet pop's old Nick at the midnight crossroads and if not sell their souls then at least come to a gentlemens' agreement over a bottle of bourbon and a large bag of quaaludes. As you can hear for yourself, it's an intoxicating bargain they made.
|
