(Photo by Renaud Monfourny) The 35th anniversary release of Suicide’s third studio album, “A Way of Life”, will be available on May 26th, 2023 through Mute/BMG. The album has been remastered and includes previously unreleased tracks. Suicide, consisting of members Alan Vega and Martin Rev, was a pioneering duo in the punk and synth-pop scene.

The anniversary edition of “A Way of Life” will be released on transparent blue vinyl (including an art card and two bonus tracks), CD (with a 4-page booklet and five bonus tracks), and digitally. Jared Artaud discovered the unreleased bonus tracks while working on the Vega Vault archives. Denis Blackham of Skye Mastering, who worked on the recent remastered reissues of Suicide’s first and second albums, remastered the album. The album’s artwork design and concept were created by Artaud and Michael Handis.

Listen to the unreleased version of Suicide’s 1988 live cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” right below.

“A Way of Life,” originally released in 1988, more than a decade after their groundbreaking self-titled debut, features classic Suicide tracks like “Surrender”, “Jukebox Baby 96”, and “Dominic Christ”. For the production of the album, Alan Vega and Martin Rev collaborated once again with Ric Ocasek, frontman of The Cars.

Suicide, formed in the early 1970s, became an integral part of the New York punk scene by 1976. Their debut album has since been recognized as a significant influence on countless artists and musicians, such as New Order, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen, KLF, Spiritualized, Moby, Soft Cell, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Sisters of Mercy, Primal Scream, and Nick Cave.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Out on 25 March 2022 on Mute / BMG is the official collection, “Surrender”, by Suicide (Alan Vega and Martin Rev). The release holds sleeve-notes by longtime fan and friend of the band, Henry Rollins. As Rollins explains: “This gathering of songs is not a ‘best of’ nor is it a ‘definitive’ all-you-need-to-know compilation. It is an introduction that will hopefully compel you to explore the albums.”

“Surrender” includes tracks from their debut album “Suicide” (1977), through to their final studio album release, “American Supreme” (2002), plus two brand new, unheard tracks: “Girl (Unreleased Version)” and “Frankie Teardrop (First Version)”. The track-listing has been collated by Martin Rev, Liz Lamere (Alan Vega’s collaborator and wife), Henry Rollins and Jared Artaud.

All in all 16 tracks which will be released on blood red double vinyl with an embossed, mirror-boarded gatefold sleeve; CD with embossed outer sleeve and digitally.

Here’s already a previously unreleased version of “Frankie Teardrop”, with alternative lyrics. The accompanying short film was directed by Douglas Hart (My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, The Jesus & Mary Chain).

About Suicide

Suicide formed in the early 70s, reemerging in 1976 at the heart of the New York punk scene.

Their debut album – which was given barely any credit at the time – has had an incalculable influence since its release in 1977, and went on to feature in numerous magazine’s Greatest Albums of All Time lists. The volume of artists and musicians they went on to inspire throughout the decades is huge, with New Order, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen, Moby, Soft Cell, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream and Nick Cave just a few who have acknowledged their debt to the duo.

The band continued releasing and performing for 40 years, until Alan Vega’s passing in July 2016.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Last weekend we had a poll up on Twitter to know what our Twitter followers would be voting for during the presidential elections in the USA. 493 people completed the poll, of which 26% voted for Donald Trump, and 74% voted for Hillary Clinton. We do have indications though that the results have been rigged.

But first the poll results below on Twitter:

Who will you vote for? #DonaldTrump #hillaryclinton #industrialvotes

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) November 5, 2016

And you can still cast your vote on this new poll:

[poll id=”2″]

As we suggested in our intro, the Twitter results don’t tell the complete story, as we also received a lot of messages from people who wanted to share their thoughts in something more than just a poll on Twitter. We received plenty (close to 180) of pro-Clinton emails and DMs. Alas, they almost all looked pre-formatted so it makes us really wonder if just maybe Clinton fans have also rigged our Twitter poll.

Anyhow, let’s stick to what real people sent us:

The first message comes from an artist who wanted to remain anonymous (being anti-Clinton is still dangerous for your musical career it seems) and who has decided to certainly not vote for Clinton: “Clinton is being portrayed as a benevolent/patient/wise “mother” here, while Trump is being portrayed as Hitler, ready to turn America into a Nazi camp. And the kids here are incredibly brainwashed by the media. Their political opinions are based on Facebook memes, comedy show skits, and whatever garbage the “news” reports.”

Clinton-fan Barbara Jennings wrote us this short phrase: “Only stupid homophobes vote for Trump.”

Melissa Aalto, also a Clinton voter, was a bit more elaborate in her response: “Clinton is pure evil, no doubt about that, but I just can’t get myself to vote Republican. So I’m stuck with that woman who has ordered hits on Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and so many other people who just want justice to prevail. It literally makes me sick…”

Harald Davids: “It’s the first time that someone in my family will be voting Republican. My family is and always has been very favourable to the Democrats, hell, my grandfather has even worked for the Kennedy administration at some point. But this time around, no, it’s just no longer justifiable… What the Clintons have done with their so-called charity foundation (editor’s note: The Clinton Foundation) for instance is outrageous: they have spent very little money on direct aid, IRS documents showed that the Foundation raised over $500 million from 2009-2012, and yet the Clinton Foundation only spent $75 million on programmatic grants. All of the money went to travel expenses and even to the wedding of Chelsea Clinton… go figure! Plus, it’s clear that it was a pay-for -play scheme where donors ($1-5 million from Qatar, $5-10 million from Kuwait, $10-$25 million from Saudi Arabia, …) would receive ‘something in return’. Sickening… so no Clinton for me, no thanks!”

Martia S.: “We have the choice between the pest and the cholera. I will vote Trump because with Trump I at least will have a good laugh, while Clinton will send more of our boys to war, just to satisfy her war hunger. She is bad news for everyone. There’s just too many things that this woman has done wrong and is still doing wrong. My heart as a Democrat bleeds, but I do not want to be held ethically responsible for having voted for her.”

We also received a rather ironic mail from Jill B. Hull: “When so many artists say Clinton is good, such as Robert De Niro, Jay-Z, Kate Perry, Bruce Springsteen, it’s because she is good. She might have some ‘b-sides’, which don’t flatter her, but in the end she is the only valid candidate. Just look at this video: (link)” The link leads to the rather funny video below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com