DO THE VEGA
I was a big fan of Suicide and actually saw them perform live in the UK back in 1978, I think. I picked up both their first and second albums and even dipped into their solo careers when singer Alan Vega and keyboard player Martin Rev went their own ways for a bit. I must have not been too enamoured because
I’m ashamed to say that I have an American pressing of Vega’s Saturn Strip LP still in shrink wrap! Talk about Mint! I’m curious if it’s worth anything as I note that it’s not listed in the RRPG which only lists his second solo LP Collision Drive from 1983 at £15.
Liam Rourke via email Alan Vega was the frontman for the legendary American duo Suicide where he was backed by keyboard player Martin Rev. Musically dark and electronic, they found an appreciative audience and critical acclaim in the UK and Europe during the early punk era and even supported The Clash. Though their debut LP Suicide (Red Star/bronze BRON 508, UK, 1977, £60) and follow-up Suicide: Alan Vega Martin Rev (Ze/island ILPS 7007, UK, 1980, £50) didn’t chart, they did sell reasonably well.
Both Suicide albums were also released in America, as was Vega’s eponymous first solo LP (PVC/ZE PVC 7915, US, 1980, £40), which wasn’t released in the UK. This accounts for it not being in the RRPG. His second solo LP, Collision Drive (Celluloid/island ILPS 9692, UK, 1983, £20), was.
One crucial figure in the Suicide story was Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, who not only produced Suicide’s second album but was instrumental in getting
Vega signed to a solo deal with Elektra. With The Cars scoring international hits, Ocasek also produced Vega’s first LP for Elektra, Saturn Strip (9602591, US, 1983). This is the record you own. When it came to promoting the album
Stateside, Vega told Billboard in August 1983 that he felt he was literally starting from scratch in his native country: “In Europe this is my fifth album but as far as this country is concerned Saturn Strip is my first record. It’s like, who is Alan Vega? Go to Europe and you are famous, come back home and it’s nothing. But it’s beginning to pick up. They’re beginning to see me on MTV, on medium rotation.” This was indeed the case, with Elektra making a promotional video for Wipeout Beat, which was only released as a 12” promo in America, but did make it onto 7” in France, Germany and, surreally, Australia.
One of the fascinating things about the interview is how Vega compared the sound of Suicide to the solo material on Saturn Strip. “Suicide was always rockabilly, or rock’n’roll and country & western, which has always been implied in American music. And it was always there in Suicide, but nobody ever heard it because it wasn’t put down by a twangy guitar, but by a twangy synthesiser and rhythm machine. So on this record, I wanted to show it was the same thing, but with a guitar and drums playing it. They used to ask what is Suicide, and when I said rock’n’roll they said I was nuts. But now they are not saying it anymore.” Saturn Strip did not chart in America or the UK, though Vega was already looking forward to his next LP: “On the next record for Elektra I will try to put down something commercial, though there might be something like another [Suicide track] Frankie Teardrop on the other side. I’m learning, too. After all these years trying to get on a major label the thing then becomes to try to stay on a major label.” His second Elektra LP, Just A Million Dreams (9604341, US, £15) came out in 1985. When neither the LP nor its single, On The Run, sold well, Vega was dropped. But there were more solo albums as well as more Suicide music in his future.