Dream Baby Dream: Suicide – A New York Story

(Omnibus Press)

Kris Needs

Kris is a long-term fan of Suicide, and has met both protagonists repeatedly over the years. So this book is a long way from being a rehash of someone else’s cuttings and relies upon the author’s own interviews and his experience of the band, just like a good rock bio should. It does however take a while to get going with Alan Vega and Marty Rev only meeting each other for the first time at the end of chapter seven. Before then we have been given potted histories of many luminaries of the New York scene, including the Dolls and the Velvet Underground. These feel unnecessary – it is a fair assumption that anyone who buys a book about Suicide will have at least an outline know ledge of the bands that preceded them. Kris talks about how originally he was going to write a series of books detailing the New York music scene: only the Suicide book got written but it feels as though he has included some of the work he did elsewhere in the current volume. Despite this the book is detailed, intelligent and opinionated. It would have been improved by more vigorous editing but if you are a fan of Suicide you will find this an interesting read.