Martin Rev joins M.I.A(s) on Letterman

More Suicide related stuff - Martin Rev joined M.I.A. and a load of her friends on Letterman this week to perform "Born Free", which samples heavily from "Ghostrider". The multi-M.I.A. thing plus Rev beating up his synth makes for one of the more surreal network performances in recent memory.

Suicide Covers

Blast First Petite continues its year-long celebration of Suicide frontman Alan Vega's 70th (fucking hell) birthday with more limited 10" singles featuring Suicide covers - among the latest sees Soft Cell's Dave Ball and Gavin Friday of The Virgin Prunes tackle "Ghostrider" and Peaches take on "Jonny". Previous highlights have included Sunn 0))) and Pan Sonic's woofer-bothering collaboration on "Che", long since sold out, plus contributions from The Horrors, Primal Scream and Bruce Springsteen. Not clear from the label's site how many are left to go, although I seem to remember Grinderman's effort is yet to be released. Ball/Friday and Sunn/Pan Sonic featured below, followed by Suicide themselves, and, just to be completist, Soft Cell with Jim Foetus performing "Ghostrider" live in 1983 in a performance that's just conceivably chemically enhanced on an unknown BBC program that probably isn't Swap Shop.

Suicide's self-titled debut remains an essential album, readily available on vinyl in a 2009 reissue from Red Star and on a 2CD reissue from Mute where the album itself is complimented by a live disc including a CBGB's soundboard recording plus the infamous 23 Minutes Over Brussels bootleg that sees the duo make a mortal enemy out of the entire population of Belgium in under 90 seconds.

Springsteen/Suicide Split 10"

Probably the most unlikely split single since Faith Hill and Anal Cunt teamed up for a live EP,* this new limited 10"/download on Blast First Petite (also available digitally from Amazon, eMusic, iTunes) finds Springsteen handling the cover of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream he performed as an encore on his 2005 Devils & Dust tour backed with a live Suicide take on the same track from 1978 and a cover of Mr. Ray by contemporary but defunct NYC band Beat The Devil. Worth the download - the first version is a great one, with Springsteen accompanying himself on pump organ (different/similar version on You Tube below). The Suicide version is, of course, Suicide, with Vega in more restrained mode than usual - see below for the original TV clip of that performance. I'd like to hear the Boss's cover of Frankie Teardrop now, please.

This is the first release in a series of monthly 10" singles commemorating Alan Vega's 70th - later releases feature Primal Scream, Lydia Lunch (doing Frankie Teardrop; should be terrifying), and Gavin Friday with Soft Cell's Dave Ball covering Ghostrider, a track Soft Cell occasionally covered live.

*isn't true