The 1986 Listening Post - Colin Newman

Colin Newman - Commercial Suicide

#459/2109

October 1986

Colin Newman

Commercial Suicide

Genre: Experi-Dream

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Their Terrain

Commercial Suicide

Hey, look! It’s another solo record by a Wire Guy. Only this time…it doesn’t suck. 

It’s lush and inviting and downright delightful for a while. But, eventually, like all the WireGuys, it mires itself in self-indulgent experimentation and I can’t wait for it to be over. Dammit. The Chamber Pop of the title track is delicious, though and is a harbinger of what’s coming from Britain in about 10 years. This album really teeters for me. Between the bells of self-indulgence and beauty.

This is somebody’s favorite album and I would very much like to meet that person.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/commercial-suicide/44342442

The 1986 Listening Post - He Said - Hail

He Said - Hail

#450/2099

October 27 1986

He Said

Hail

Genre: Music for people who hate songs

1.75 out of 5

It’s…the other guy from Wire. 

As great as Chairs Missing was, 154 was just all right. 

And we just heard Bruce Gilbert’s nonsense recently. 

I’m not a Wire historian so I don’t know what compelled them to pull a Kiss and go solo but it certainly wasn’t to sell records cuz no one really heard of Wire, let alone were clamoring for more Wire. 

The bass driven (no surprise, considering Lewis is the bassist for said parent band) opener sets the tone for to monotone industrial near atonality of this thing. If it wasn’t so ugly it would be somewhat interesting. Instead it’s more like someone listened to Scary Monsters and Super Creeps over and over during a bender and recorded a record with no one giving advice on when to stop. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/hail/1033803411