''Commercial Suicide'' is the fourth studio album by English musician
Colin Newman
Colin John Newman (born 16 September 1954) is an English musician, record producer and record label owner. He is best known as the primary vocalist and songwriter for the post-punk band Wire (band), Wire.
Early life
Newman was born in Salisbury ...
, released in 1986 by record label
Crammed Discs
Crammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released around 400 albums and 300 ...
.
A massive change in style for Newman, ''Commercial Suicide'' is reflective and highly orchestrated. His next LP, ''
It Seems'', followed a similar path, albeit with far more use of
sequencers – something Newman would continue to work with for a number of years. Both ''Commercial Suicide'' and ''It Seems'' featured
Malka Spigel
Malka Spigel (; born 19 July 1954) is a London-based Israeli musician and artist. She was a founding member of the Israeli-Belgian rock band Minimal Compact. She has also worked as a solo musician and as a visual artist, exhibiting in prominent v ...
, who married Newman in 1986, and who has been included in all subsequent solo and collaborative work.
Reception
The album received positive reviews. ''
Fact
A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...
'' called it "an unmitigated delight: a complex, consoling, literate pop classic", going on to rank it the 69th best album of the 1980s.
Wilson Neate of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that the album "approaches listeners in a more subtle, measured fashion, its sound often deliberate and spacious, at times recalling the abstract textures of ''
Provisionally Entitled the Singing Fish'' (1981). That's not to say this album lacks a pop sensibility." He went on to write that it "prefigure
..the deconstructed symphonic pop done so well by
Blur."
[ ]Jim Derogatis
James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of ''Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', ''Guitar World'', ''Matter'' and '' Modern Drummer'' ...
and Wilson Neate, writing in ''Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...
'', said that ''Commercial Suicide'' combined Newman's "ambient and pop interests by bringing a more spacious, minimalist approach to vocal-driven tunes."
Track listing
#"Their Terrain" - 5:01
#"2-Sixes" - 5:17
#"Metarkest" - 5:12
#"But I..." - 4:53
#"Commercial Suicide" - 4:02
#"I'm Still Here" - 3:47
#"Feigned Hearing" - 4:02
#"Can I Explain The Delay?" - 4:55
#"I Can Hear Your..." - 4:46
References
External links
*
{{Colin Newman
1986 albums
Colin Newman albums
Crammed Discs albums
Post-punk albums by English artists