Alan Vega Commits Suicide

"There was a time when you could dream. Now, now . . . it has become a crime to dream."

'Station Station' - Alan Vega's back singing his lungs out for a crowd of "dream losers". Everybody's favourite viet vet with the signature scarf on his head is back in top form with an industrial trip hop album that makes Ministry and the Revolting Cocks sound like Timberland on poppyseed sticks.

'Station' is a relentlessly painful, semi-tragic, angry album. Vega hasn't lost the conviction from his early days with the seminal Suicide. There is no Ric Ocasek on this latest offering. This ain't no 'Saturn Strip'.

Back in his brief Elektra days, Ocasek thought he could make Vega into a pop star, kind of like an antichrist version of Billy Idol. 'Saturn Strip' rocked but mainstream radio didn't get the joke. Vega's album bombed and Ocasek left the Cars.

Who was this Sal Mineo of rock? Suicide invented the lead singer, mystery keyboard player set against a loud drum machine. This dated back to the Mercer Arts Centre in NYC back in the mid seventies. The Dolls and Wayne County and the Electric Chairs were on the scene. Richard Hell was just a newborn toying around with his mother's safety pins. The Ramones probably had brush cuts and were still in Junior High.

Soft Cell and the Pet Shop Boys took Suicide's primitive two-man line up via drum machine and commercialised it for mass consumption. 'Frankie Teardrop' got raped and re-surfaced again in the eighties as 'West End Girls'. Everyone took their cue from Marty Rev and Alan Vega, but most would never admit it.

Take track three for example - 'Psychopatha'. Vega laments - "Moms and Dads, take your kids to deadland. It'll make you a man. B brain. Get a medal. That's it. Go to deadland. It'll make you a man."

The drum machine crunches in on a war-like stampede. The troops are coming in and we're all doomed. But life goes on in Sucide land. Vega convulses like Rasputin the Mad Monk. This classic Vega with traces of paranoia and disturbing realizations.

'Crime Street Cree'; a 6-minute tour-de-force which puts Vega back on the radar. This is Vega's swansong. "It's the street of no chances. It runs to infinity. This is as bad as it gets. I'm a dead marine. I'm way to young to die."

Vega lashes out with an explosive wall of disjointed atonal synth riffs sandwiched between a machine-like, pulsating beatbox rhythm. He sings of going through hell and coming back on the other side. It's a living nightmare and this song leaves you feeling Vega's anguish and desperation. This is rock'n'roll (but not as we know it).

"The traceman dies. It came from the sky, to die. Lookin' for a human. Why? Ask why?"

In 'Traceman', Vega unveils a distorted mix of vocal samples, female spoken word, jumbled beats in a haze of macabre rhythms. It's another last ditch attempt, a hypnotic plea for help. Stunning, classic Vega.

In 'Gun God Game', Vega delivers his triple G's in spectacular fashion. Orchestral backing vocals on a demented death defying loop and some of his best lyrics in years. . .

"How many time do you need to live out of control. Rip it into that twisted wind. The wave goodbyes, the heavy hearts. It's the takedowns, the breakdowns, the humiliations. Gun God Game. Yeah, the future's determined that you can never beat that game. So why try? Not believing. I can't believe it. Hey, how many times driving to the uncontrollable release of the events twisting all around you? It's there for cryin' out loud. Give it up says the ghost of nothings. Ripping through your heart forever. It's the endless attempts of bringing back what's not there."

Alan Vega is an undisputed genius. Nobody in music can touch him. "Station" is his milestone album. Hail New York City's finest.

Here's a gem from Vega's "Saturn Strip" album. The song's called "Wipeout Beat" - produced by Ric (The Cars) Ocasek.

Candie Payne: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

New on the UK music scene comes Liverpudlian songstress Candie Payne. Her debut single on the Deltasonic label is entitled 'I Wish I Could Have Loved You More'. It's kind of like a throwback to mid sixties Avengers style sound track music, with an instrumental spaghetti western type of vibe.

Vocally, Candie comes across like a hybrid of Nancy Sinatra meets Julie London, with shades of Julie Driscoll thrown in. A touch of 'This Weel's on Fire' meets 'Man In A Suitcase' - it's a retro John Barry meets Monty Norman James Bond fast-forward, with monochromatic vocals. A distant nod to Dustry Springfield wrapped up elegant psychedelic black leather gloves.

Candie arrives at a time when the British music scene is stuck in limbo. Her competition is spiteful and hideous, from overrated Phl Spector drag queens like Amy Winehouse to superbrat monkey girl Lily Allen.

Candie drops in like a breath of fresh air. The single is sexy, intelligent and effortless and makes Winehouse and Allen seem as if they're battling it out in as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in a dire remake of 'What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?'

Some say it's grim up North. This is a good reason to prove otherwise.

RUSH vs Iggy Pop: Let The Games Begin

Back in the early seventies, when Iggy and the Pop toured the Raw Power album, there was this rock trio called RUSH. One of the guys in the band, Geddy Lee, went to my Dad's school, Northview Heights (a few years before he went to the same school).

When he first started going to Northview he noticed a poster for a Friday night gig in the school cafeteria. The poster pictured these three rockers with shag hairuts dressed in what looked like skin-tight metalic Sweet outfits. At that time Rush were on their first album and they kind of sounded like a Canadian version of Led Zeppelin.

In those days my Dad and his friend's hated Led Zeppelin but really liked Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls. I reckon they were more into punk before it was really known as punk, although years later, my Dad met Iggy several times in NYC, Toronto and the UK.

Getting back to Rush performing a gig at their high school, well, it was a choice between my Dad seeing Rush in concert at his high school or seeing Iggy Pop at the Victory Burlesque Theatre on the corner of Spadina and Dundas Street (the place has now been converted into a Chinese bank).

My Dad and his friends said - "Who do Rush think they are? We give this band three years and they'll be gone."

Thirty-Three years later Rush have morphed into one of the biggest album rock bands on the planet.

Not only did they pick up a new drummer along the way (Neil Peart), but they've just released one of their best studio albums of their entire career ("Snakes & Arrows"). Gone are the shag haircuts and the tight sequin trousers and platform shoes.

Stranger things have been known to happen (www.rush.com).

Jerry Casale of DEVO on David Bowie at the Public Auditorium, Cleveland, Ohio, 1974

Today the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper published this fascinating Q&A with Jerry Casale of DEVO. The band will embark on a UK tour (their first visit to the UK in 15 years) at the Brighton Dome on June 18th 2007.

Jerry was recently interviewed from LA about his favourite all time gig. Bizarrely, it happened to be David Bowie's Diamond Dogs tour.

I saw the same show, but instead of catching Bowie's show in Cleveland, Ohio, I saw the show in Toronto. My impression of the gig was similar to Jerry's. I thought Bowie was the best thing in rock and was miles ahead of everyone else.

Here's what Jerry had to say to the Daily Telegraph newspaper today (May 17th 2007) -

"The gig was part of David Bowie's Diamond Dogs tour. I'd never seen anything as spectacular before. The tour was choreographed by Toni Basil, and the stage was designed by a New York theatre company. The result was hypnotic, weird and fantastic."

"At the start, an 8ft diamond descended to the floor of the stage. The front opened forward and Bowie jumped out wearing a Kabuki outfit, pulling dance moves reminiscent of Broadway."

"I lost count of the number of set changes and dance routines. It was seamless - an incredible fusion of rock music energy, theatrics and disturbing assexual innuendos."

"The show solidified right then and there what I wanted to do with Devo. We'd spent way too much time smoking pot talking about ideas and doing nothing about it. Here was someone who'd taken the time to do it for real."

Devo tour the UK next month, starting at the Brighton Dome on June18. For tickets call 0870 735 5000, or visit www.bookingsdirect.com or visit www.clubdevo.com

Interview by Tim Burrows

Mr Hudson & the Library (hot band with the dumbest name of the year)

I saw this new band on Later With Jools Holland (BBC1) earlier this year. I taped one of Holland's TV shows back in December but didn't end up watching the show on my Sky+ until a few weeks ago (Sky+ is Britain's bastard relative to America's TIVO). The show wasn't outstanding, but one band did stand out from the rest of the hipper than now crowd. They called themselves Mr. Hudson and The Library.

The song that hit me was "Take Me Somewhere New". It's one of these immediate pop masterpieces. There's a Hunky Dory quality to it (which is no bad thing). But there's also nods to Cockney Rebel and Danny Wilson.

Sometimes when you hear a new band, they play one signature track and it just sticks. A few weeks later I almost forgot the name of the band, but somehow, their name was so wack - I just didn't forget it.

I knew "library" had something to do with it. It was the "Hudson" that escaped me. I then did a Google search and ended up on their official site - http://www.mrhudsonandthelibrary.com/.

The sound production their songs are crisp, punchy and direct. Vocals are cool. Kind of sounds like the Feeling, but it's more simplified and doesn't savage ELO in an obvious way.

The lead singer has definitely got a way with pop hooks. The Library have a clever use of piano and the acapella vocals are infectious. This is a band where less means more in the production department. The Killers could never make an album like this.

Their website streams several tracks including a live version of "Take Me Somewhere New". If John Peel were still alive, these guys would be a household name. I also love there white reggae track "Too Late".

This is probably the best debut album I've heard from a new band this year. The Library are the Burt Bacharach of rock. "Take us out tonight . . . in the backseat please. . . take us somewhere new."

Bjork Declares Independence with Volta

I read some reviews of Bjork's new album "Volta" in numerous national newspapers here in the UK. One review said something along the lines abou the fact that all the news songs sounded old Bjork who was at her avant-garde peak 10 years ago, or that she was trying to sound retro and that now she was outdated.

To appreciate Bjork you have to be in love with her passion for music. Problem is, we live in such a fast-moving download digital world, where informationi flows instantly, to the point where jadded rock critics (who get their CDs send to them for free), tend to lose attention to detail, and because they don't pay for the music, their criticisms aren't authentic.

"Volta" is a unique and special album from one of music's greatest minds. Nothing is obvious on this album, and Bjork doesn't turn into a cliche nor does she try to re-invent the past. Yeah, sure there are some nods to older songs via the signature style of her vocal delivery, hoever, I defy anyone to tell me there is anyone doing what Bjork is doing at the moment.

There are no pop singles on this album, and for good reason. On "Hope" Bjork asks the question "What's the lesser of two evils? If a suicide bomber made to look pregnant, manages to kill the the target or not?" The music is slow. Bjork plays clavichord and sine bass. Timbaland triggers pre-recorded percussion loops.

On "Innocence" the track kicks off with a hip-hop vocal grunt which is repeated as a percussive sample. The track is like homemade beats with a techno wack impact. Timbaland produced the track and provides keyboards and beats. It's wild and inspiring, and believe me, Gwen Stefani could never sing this track like Bjork does.

Stand out track is "Feel The Independence" where Bjork sings "Declare indpendence, don't let them do that to you. Start your own currency, make your own stamp, protect your language, make your own flag..."

DEVO: Still eliminating the ninnies from the twits

DEVO, the famed Akron, Ohio rock band return to UK shores for the first time in 15 years.

The very idea of DEVO peforming a string of concert dates in the welfare states in intriguing. Just when Tony Blair was on his way out...

DEVO play Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown on June 19th at the Royal Festival Hall in London. They also plays dates in Brighton, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and a second London show on June 26th at Shepherds Bush Empire.

I recall a video they made for the single "Through Being Cool" which included the lyric "Separate the ninnies from the twits." The sentiment is quite apt today. I'm subjected to working with a lot of twits. It's nice DEVO wrote a song about it.

The "Through With Being Cool" promo is hilarious as it depicts American teenagers dressed up in DEVO gear jumping around in what looks like the backlot to Michael Jackson's Thriller video. There's even a breakdancing sequence towards the end. This is pre-Beastie Boys without the hip-hop element.

Kids with guns. Video stars. Young alien types (you know the kind).