Can I keep you guessing
filterite | Dublin, Ireland | 05/16/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this just recently and I got quite a shock when I heard this. It wasn't like Wire's punky stuff or even their synthy stuff. It just sounded so alien and strange. Plus there was no beats which kinda gave it this world of it's own. I don't know why I found this in the world section because it could have easily be put in at the rock/pop section but that doesn't matter really. The music sounds haunted and Newman's vocals backed up by his wife Malka Spigel's rather ghostly vocals give up this rather spooky quality. I don't mean spooky in a " give me the creeps " sort of way - just a calm effect that you weren't expecting. The interview part is hilarious since Colin really has nothing to say and is talking " virtual rubbish " throughout the course of the interview. He says at one point " I'm not getting paid for this. Maybe I should!" and then we have the remix of the interview which has some things you might have missed out on from the original review. It's good fun and if you feel like joining in the fun you can always turn it off when Colin says for you to turn it off....but then you could always disobey"
How not to.
Paul Ess. | Holywell, N.Wales,UK. | 06/18/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am unashamedly fascinated by Colin Newman and I'm always baffled as to why everybody else in the world isn't. He's such a feisty, intense little character. Interesting too - at least to me and a few (unfortunately VERY few!) of his fans.
'Commercial Suicide' (a typical Newman title; good, but bleeding obvious and he DOESN'T CARE!) isn't as good as 'Not To'. Not many albums are, but as a music it's moved on, been opened out considerably. Now some of the arrangements are simply sensational.
The first song, 'This Terrain' is a neat example of the case in point. The whole entourage he's assembled here give it some proper welly to get us off and running. The sound is dense yet crystal clear. He's put together a top cast of mostly European musicians, who no-ones heard of, and they play beautifully a bewildering array of instruments, all flugal horns and oboes. In fact, that quietly blistering opener sounds like he's got a full brass band on board (I swear to you, he's been listening to Roy Harpers' 'When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease').
Perhaps all these Dutch and Belgian musos are something to do with his record label; Crammed (perversely pronounced cra med), who I think are/were based in that bastion of taste and excitement - Brussels. Pity about the inference, because 'crammed' sums a lot of his music up, as in full-to-bursting with novel ideas, wit intelligence and mystery.
NB; Newman himself lived in Brussels at the time, even though he's from Watford! You couldn't make it up!
Anyway, Newman and his continental cohorts attack 'Commercial Suicide' with such warmth and verve it is absolutely impossible to resist. The last four songs remind me a lot of the last four on 'Closer'. Not so much musically, but in their utter completeness, in their single-minded totality.
There is a school of thought that has at its core, the belief that some music can be TOO perfect, that even the most classic albums need a few flaws. I'm not sure about this. I understand the premise, but surely it's every artists duty (and responsibility) to make their work as good as it can be.(Fortunately, there's not many with this problem, see today's ludicrous pop scene.) and fortunately 'Commercial Suicide' does have a few imperfections to keep the 'rock' intellectual happy (It often puzzles me why sweet, melodic music like this is perceived as 'difficult' and only attracts pseuds and students, while monstrous, sexist, TUNELESS rappers and their ilk inhabit the upper reaches of the charts and win awards. Go figure, then e-mail me with the answer).
You could (perhaps) opine that 'Commercial Suicide' is too relentlessly, forcibly beautiful, but again, I'm not sure this is a down. Is it supposed to, at certain points, deliberately fail? Just a thought...
Not 'Not To' then but a sensibly creationist semi-follow up with Newman having enormous fun with an enormous music and you also get the added 'bonus' of him talking utter tosh over an ambient style backing for 10 minutes as an extra track (WHAT!?...exactly) - where our hero semi-seriously bemoans the fact that even if he got himself arrested, he'd NEVER make the tabloids
Being honest, this album is beyond unique. The title half gives it away, it IS an extremely commercial sound but Colin Newman knows that he - most definitely - isn't.
And being more honest I kinda like it like that, best kept secrets etc. I wouldn't begrudge him a few quid though.
Perhaps those Belgians......"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1