Suicide - Dream Baby Dream (12" Full Length)

Suicide - Dream Baby Dream (Full Length Mix) / 12 Inch Extended Remix (HQ Audio)

Dream Baby Dream has aged like a fine wine.

It's hard to believe that Suicide, and this track, saw so little mainstream success in their seminal 1977-1980 period.

Whilst this track didn't chart or receive any significant radio play, it's gone on to be covered by Neneh Cherry, Bruce Springsteen, and Savages, was featured in the Adam Curtis documentary HyperNormalisation, and is the closing track in the Alex Garland film Civil War.

Suicide have also been referenced or cited as influences by The Horrors, Primal Scream, M.I.A., and perhaps most notably by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem who, whilst in character in their famous spoken-word track Losing My Edge, says, "I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City. I was working on the organ sounds with much patience."

So what's the story behind this track that has grown to become so loved and respected?

Well, ZE Records boss Michael Zilkha certainly had a grand vision for what Suicide could deliver for the follow-up to their eponymous 1977 album. He booked them into New York's famous The Power Station studio, gave them £10,000 to spend on new equipment, and a copy of Donna Summer's recent Giorgio Moroder-produced club hit I Feel Love.

"It wasn’t a ton of money, but it was a lot of money for us," says Suicide vocalist Alan Vega. "For us it was like Rockefeller! It was fucking amazing. Ten grand to spend at Sam Ash, buying keyboards and guitars."

As well as the equipment, Zilkha hired The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek to produce their second album, as he had a reputation for working with up-and-coming bands.

Ocasek played a key role in the sound of Dream Baby Dream, ordering in a brand new Roland CR-78 drum machine for the session. The drum machine is one of the signature sounds of the track and later became so for many big hits of the era, including Same Old Scene by Roxy Music, Enola Gay by OMD, and Heart of Glass by Blondie.

The sessions differed from those of Suicide's debut album, with Alan Vega and Martin Rev's live jams replaced by the pair separately working on their own parts and building up the tracks in layers. Typically, Rev would provide a backing track for which Vega would write and perform lyrics. Vega would then add overdubs to complete the tracks.

Despite this more structured approach, and despite the more expensive studio and equipment, Suicide's raw, electro-punk sound remains throughout. Michael Zilkha's vision of a Moroder-style disco album didn't come to fruition, though Vega and Rev say they were heavily influenced by the increasingly electronic disco sounds of the time, and the equipment that made them.

Dream Baby Dream was released to critical acclaim, if not commercial success, in 1979, with the full album, Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev following in 1980.

Featured here is the full-length version from the original French 12" pressing, released through Celluloid Records in 1981.

As for the much higher profile cover version Bruce Springsteen released 35 years later, it turns out Bruce was not a latecomer to Suicide and Dream Baby Dream, as so many others were.

He was recording his own album, The River, in the next room at The Power Station during Suicide's sessions.

"Bruce was just a few feet away," says Martin. "When we felt the album was pretty much done, he came into the control room one night and listened to the whole playback. He said something to Alan, while I was sitting off to the side listening. Then he came over to me and said, 'I really like what you guys do.'"

"He liked it right away," says Alan. "When Bruce was there, his roadies would stay with him, because they really love the guy. I used to hang with him a lot. His manager didn’t want him to be drinking or anything, but I used to keep a bottle around all the time. It was like kids in school, going to the bathroom to smoke cigarettes. He’s just a great guy."

Year: 1981 Label: Celluloid Records Cat no: CEL 6590