2026 will mark the tenth anniversary of Alan Vega‘s passing and the 45th anniversary of his self-titled solo debut, a marvelous psychobilly affair the American artist issued around the time his band’s SUICIDE released their sophomore effort “Suicide: Alan Vega And Martin Rev” that only goes to show how much material this musician had on his hands. Surprisingly, Alan’s minimalistic longplay produced a hit, when “Jukebox Babe” dented the charts in France, and proved to be rather influential, what with “Bye Bye Bayou” getting covered by MERCURY REV almost three decades later. No wonder, then, in the platter deserving a deluxe edition – even though what’s to see the light of day on January 23rd isn’t really deluxe, apart from packaging, as there’s just a bunch of demos added to the freshly remastered album.
Still, those demos – the prototypes of all the tracks, apart from the aforementioned European success – provide a great insight into the singer’s restless mind, so this version of “Alan Vega” is a thing worthy delving into.
Alan Vega
1. Jukebox Babe
2. Kung Foo Cowboy
3. Fireball
4. Love Cry
5. Speedway
6. Ice Drummer
7. Bye Bye Bayou
8. Lonely
bonus tracks – demos:
9. Ice Drummer
10. Fireball
11. Speedway
12. Love Cry
13. Kung Foo Cowboy
14. Lonely
15. Bye Bye Bayou
