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Commercial Suicide is the fourth studio album by English musician Colin Newman, released in 1986 by record label Crammed Discs.

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, who married Newman in 1986, and who has been included in all subsequent solo and collaborative work.[1]

Reception

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The album received positive reviews. Fact called it “an unmitigated delight: a complex, consoling, literate pop classic”,[3] going on to rank it the 69th best album of the 1980s.[4] Wilson Neate of AllMusic 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[s] […] the deconstructed symphonic pop done so well by Blur.”[2] Jim Derogatis and Wilson Neate, writing in Trouser Press, said that Commercial Suicide combined Newman’s “ambient and pop interests by bringing a more spacious, minimalist approach to vocal-driven tunes.”[5]

Track listing

  1. “Their Terrain” – 5:01
  2. “2-Sixes” – 5:17
  3. “Metarkest” – 5:12
  4. “But I…” – 4:53
  5. “Commercial Suicide” – 4:02
  6. “I’m Still Here” – 3:47
  7. “Feigned Hearing” – 4:02
  8. “Can I Explain The Delay?” – 4:55
  9. “I Can Hear Your…” – 4:46

References

  1. ↑ Neate, Wilson. Colin Newman at AllMusic. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  2. 1 2 Neate, Wilson. Commercial Suicide – Colin Newman at AllMusic. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  3. ↑ Sande, Kiran (3 February 2013). “Lost and Found: Colin Newman’s Commercial Suicide – Fact Magazine: Music News, New Music”. Fact. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  4. ↑ “The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s: 69: Colin Newman, Commercial Suicide“. Fact. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  5. ↑ DeRogatis, Jim; Neate, Wilson. “TrouserPress.com :: Wire”. TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 31 May 2021.