Recorded live at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center in 1981, Suicide's sometimes tortured intensity belies the positive, even life affirming, content of much of their music, as the anthemic "Dream Baby Dream," and anti-heroin, "Sweet White Lady" will attest. Manic, primitive and undeniably direct, "Ghostriders" is a raw, powerful document of an uncompromising band at the height of their powers.

In 1981, the year Ghostriders was recorded, Suicide had already been at it for 10 years, eliciting powerful reactions -- both positive and negative -- from audiences in their own New York City and beyond with a music so stripped down and confrontational that it always seemed ready to burst at the seams. Alan Vega's scathing vocal performances and perverse, shamanic, rockabilly stage presence have always been the perfect foil to Martin Rev's massive keyboard sound and relentless electronic rhythms, which are often stripped down to nothing but an almost unbearably propulsive, primal pulse. Recorded live at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center, the duo's sometimes tortured intensity belies the positive, even life affirming, content of much of their music, as the anthemic "Dream Baby Dream," and anti-heroin, "Sweet White Lady" will attest. Manic, primitive and undeniably direct, Ghostriders is a raw, powerful document of an uncompromising band at the height of their powers. Includes Suicide's previously unavailable cover of ? and the Mysterians "96 Tears." [CC] (August 31, 2007)