Search - Alan Vega :: Jukebox Babe & Collision Drive

Brilliant blend of synthrock and rockabilly

Pieter | Johannesburg | 10/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This set contains Vega's albums Jukebox Baby and Collision Drive, of which the second is the greater. The title track Jukebox Baby is a lilting, melodic number with a hint of rockabilly. Despite its name, Fireball is an understated midtempo number, whilst Kung Fu Cowboy has a slightly faster tempo and more of Vega's howls. Love Cry is a subdued slow ballad whilst the pace picks up with Speedway with its attractive handclaps and catchy tune. Ice Drummer has atmospheric guitars, soulful vocals and even something that sounds like a harmonica! It is quite a poetic, moving and memorable song. The long track Bye Bye Bayou has an interesting arrangement with plenty of instrumental and vocal variation; this great album closes with the rock ballad Lonely.



Magdalena 82 opens the Collision Drive album, a classic through and through. This track has all of Vega's trademarks: a nervous rockabilly beat, soulful voice and breathtaking guitar. Be Bop A Lula has that same electro-rockabilly power, a brilliant marriage of the 1950s and the 1980s, whilst Outlaw has an urgently droning, hypnotic quality that veers closer to the work of Suicide. Guitars and drums take over on Raver, an anthemic song with a powerful hook, once again a seamless and gripping blend of rockabilly with synthesizer rock, with particularly beautiful guitar embellishments.



Ghost Rider is a highlight of this remarkable album, another impressive electronic drone overlain by driving guitar and Vega's soulful vocals, including gasps and yelps. The mood turns sorrowful on the moving torch song I Believe. The extended piece Viet Vet is harrowing and anguished and a stunning display of his remarkable vocal dexterity. This double album is a must for all Suicide and Vega fans. I also highly recommend his Saturn Strip album. Overall, these early classics by Vega are more accessible than most of Suicide's output.

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A more organic approach.

loveandflowers | a future age | 12/19/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This two-fer is worth hunting down for Suicide fans. Most of Alan Vega's work is difficult to find, but this one seems to pop up in used form every once in a while.It's a bit of a shock at first to hear Vega's Elvis-in-hell voice supported by guitars and drums, but the hypnotic minimalism that made the first Suicide album so compelling is present throughout most of "Jukebox Babe"; it's just relayed differently. This is more like a kind of disturbed rockabilly, as opposed to the monolithic dronetronica of "Suicide". On something like "Ice Drummer", Vega even sings in a (for him) somewhat conventional manner. The results are almost creepy. Rockabilly soul on a cocaine binge.The second half of the CD is devoted to "Collision Drive", which doesn't have the cohesion or magnetism of the first eight tracks, but finds its saving grace in "Viet Vet". A one-chord nightmare of a song, it's almost in the same class as "Frankie Teardrop", if not quite as terrifying.The copy I have also features copious liner notes that appear to be quite informative. Unfortunately, they're in French, and I've forgotten most of the mechanics of the language."