| Commercial Suicide | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Chamber pop, art pop, minimal wave | |||
| Length | 41:54 | |||
| Label | Crammed Discs | |||
| Producer | Colin Newman | |||
| Colin Newman chronology | ||||
| ||||
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]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
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]