Half Alive [Live]

Editorial Reviews
Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of RN'R
“ahead of their time...a link to rock n'roll tradition, with a form of controversial art performance on stage.”

Product Description
“Half-Alive consists of live tracks circa 1978, plus a hand full of unreleased lo-fi studio gems from 1974-1975. Suicide warrant legend status. They found their most fertile reception outside America in the form of Soft Cell, Woodentops, Spacemen 3, Sigue Sigue Sputnik. They should have been the American “Kraftwerk.” -Spin Alternative Record Guide We are releasing in digitally re-mastered and re-edited format the legendary ROIR Suicide cassette of 1981, with three bonus tracks, in cd format. This release with original Liner Notes from Lester Bangs has been one of the most requested (“please put this out on cd”) releases in our 21 year history.

Half Alive [Live]

Half Alive,Suicide,Roir,American Punk,Electronic,Electronic Godfathers- Probably no other American rock n' roll group has had such major continuing influence on the international rock world scene as this pioneering electronic punk duo who started gigging in the bowels of NYC almost 30 years ago. (ROIR),New York Punk,Pop,Post-Punk,Punk,Rock,Rock/Pop

Half Alive [Live]

Tracks:

Career/Quimby #1
Bryan Is Experimenting
Career/Quimby #2
I Can't Stop
Open Up!
My Dilemma
Spoon Guy (Instrumental)
Ugly Town (Epstein-Barr Variation)
Bryan Is Coughing
Skunk
Good Dolphins #1
Good Dolphins #2
Sort Of Performing Miracles
1988 In Hell
Day Of The Cow - Part One #1
Day Of The Cow - Part One #2
Snowcow
Sweating In School
Day Of The Cow - Part Two
The Unhappy Monologist (Rehearsal)
The Unhappy Monologist (Instrumental)
The Desired Effect

Tracks:

Dot-Da-Da-Dot-Dot-Dot-Dot-Daaaahhhh
Dhen Tin
Cheddar
The Car Song
Top Of Stove Melting
Aglow
Lightnin' Roy
Blameless
Power To Love
Bad Dolphins
Immigrant Song
Spoon Guy (Vocal)
Uglytown
Career Politicians
Performing Miracles
Love Theme From Vulture Fun
Gypsy Queen
Scotch
Vent (Bonus Studio Track)

Customer Reviews:

A masterpiece!.......2004-03-10

I appreciate this CD more and more with every listen. Keneally's brilliant mind flashes in a million sparkling ways on this release, featuring a live CD, and a "live" studio CD. The guitar work is ecstatic, wild, quirky at times, and precise to the ultimate degree. Lyrically it ranges from sad and chilling ("If there is a God there's no skin on his face, a fiendish skull that rains terror on me...") to hilariously funny. In The Car Song, for instance, he tells a minor story that's really a joke, and not a funny one except as delivered by Keneally.

Bryan Beller is an amazing bassist, perfect for the job. Toss Panos's drumming is so amazing that in my 30-some years as a rock fan, I can't say I've ever heard a drummer so completely outstanding in every way.

Mike's liner notes give interesting detail to the songs- he has something to say about each tune. His web site includes all lyrics. He includes a track of the band creating a song from scratch, and just enough out-takes to give the listener a pretty good sense of the band. What more could you ask for? Mike and the band playing live in your living room?

Spin this CD, and that's right where they are!

A fun and brilliant live album!.......2000-01-26

This is one of those albums that after falling in love with it, I can never imagine removing it from my CD player. Mike Keneally is a musical genius with a load of ideas, total originality and a knack for making all of those things be fun. There is such an incredible live feel to this album. Directions are given to band members, jokes made, and witty dialogue exchanged. All this stuffed between some of the most engaging and challenging music that you will hear. I am a big Keneally fan and this CD is super accessible for those scared by the super musicianship and any fear of the Zappa connection (blasphemy!). I love a good live album, and this is in my Top 10 of all time. Listen, enjoy, laugh.

Nothing Can Describe this cd!.......1999-02-12

This cd shows that he is pure genius. Only he can play guitar and keyboard at the same time. Where else can you hear a band make up a song as they play "The Unhappy Monologist", its incredible. 2 thumbs up on this one. Buy this. No matter what music you like. BUY it. It has everything. Angry songs, pop songs, funny songs. instrumentals that will make you go crazy trying to play. The best ever.

Mike Keneally's stunning power-trio plays live.......1998-09-01

Great live-album from the talented Mike Keneally (ex-Zappa, Z, Steve Vai) and beer for Dolphins. The first CD is recorded live in the studio, and combines top-of-the-line musicianship with hilarious goofs and unrehearsed jamming. It's amazing to hear how a three-piece band can reproduce the multi-layered sound of Keneally's prior studio albums.

The second CD is a "real" live-in-concert recording, and it showcases Keneally on keyboards and guitar simultaneously! Drummer Toss Panos and bassist Bryan Beller play fantastically well together.

If you're into Zappa, you just have to check out Keneally's strong songwriting, ming-boggling guitar playing, brilliant lyrics and sense of humor.

Tracks:

Lover Come Back To Me
It Had To Be You
Wee Dot
After You've Gone

Amazon.com

This 1959 live session is much more than an average blowing session. With Zoot Sims and Al Cohn on tenor saxophones throughout, adding Phil Woods on alto for half the recording, the four tunes are each miniature studies in the way multiple saxes intertwine to form a kind of choral horn effect. The tunes are all standards, with J.J. Johnson's "Wee Dot" the most hard-swinging. The best thing about this recording is its impromptu showing--its revelation of the way these musicians scoped out testing grounds for multiple but similar textures in a live gig. Among the other great things, though, is the piano comping from Mose Allison, who elevates this CD at times to a veritable all-star group before most of the group's members were truly "stars." Rife with rhythmic pulse--provided amply by drummer Paul Motian and bassist Nabil Totah--this is a treasure trove that again points to the value of the current jazz reissue phase, a phase when the catalog is into its second and even third tiers. --Andrew Bartlett

Average customer rating:

AAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHEHHEHHEHHEHYAHYAHYAHYAH!!!!
The greatest Suicide live CD with Zero Hour
Sacul Repooc

Half Alive
Suicide
Manufacturer: Roir
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Suicide
Suicide (First Album)
A Way of Life
Ghost Riders
American Supreme

ASIN: B00004TQXU
Release Date: 2000-06-06

Tracks:

Harlem II
Goin' To Las Vegas
Love You
Cool As Ice
All Night Long
Sister Ray Says
Johnny Dance
Space Blue
Long Talk
Speed Queen
Chezazze
Dreams
All Night Long
Sweetheart
Scream And Shout

Album Description

“Half-Alive consists of live tracks circa 1978, plus a hand full of unreleased lo-fi studio gems from 1974-1975. Suicide warrant legend status. They found their most fertile reception outside America in the form of Soft Cell, Woodentops, Spacemen 3, Sigue Sigue Sputnik. They should have been the American “Kraftwerk.” -Spin Alternative Record Guide We are releasing in digitally re-mastered and re-edited format the legendary ROIR Suicide cassette of 1981, with three bonus tracks, in cd format. This release with original Liner Notes from Lester Bangs has been one of the most requested (“please put this out on cd”) releases in our 21 year history.

Customer Reviews:

AAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHEHHEHHEHHEHYAHYAHYAHYAH!!!!.......2003-12-19

i bought this initially on cassette in austin while picking up furniture for a friend. on the way home, she decided to take a nap, so, needing to pass a couple of hours & being fairly sleepy myself, i needed a little music to keep me going. i unwrapped the cassette, popped it in, & sat back as the leader tape rolled. what followed was the sound best described in the title for this review: no music, just alan vega heavily echoed YELLING AT ME. snapping it off instantly, i listened to pleased to meet me instead, because, come on, shut up, guy! only after i got home & played the rest of the tape was this music redeemed because this RULES! half alive is apt: there's a lot of early demos which are fuller & more cluttered than what shows up on suidide's first 2 albums. essentially some simple heavily chorused synth lines and reverbed vega vocals repeating the title of the song over & over again. (by the way, this isnt placing judgement or denigrating the tunes, merely describing them). the live stuff is much more raw & sloppy, back when audiences quite disliked what they were having to listen to. alan vega is totally in his element therefore; harlem 2, sister ray says, & going to las vegas are all delightfully manic & unhinged, & all night long (which is really just dance with a different title) has alan really frustrated that he's pleading with someone to dance all night long with him, but it clearly isnt happening. to sum up: not for beginners, but man oh man if you loved the first couple albums, you will LOSE IT to hear this. epilogue: the aforementioned cassette that started this review eventually got eaten by my car's tape player, but before breaking, it would fitfully struggle through the tape heads, resulting in a stop & start painfully slow marching gruel of keyboard grunts & deep drawn out screams. almost as good as the real thing, i tells ya.

The greatest Suicide live CD with Zero Hour.......2002-05-04

The Suicide lives are so different than the albums and so great by themselves that I wonder why they don't put out more of them in CD. In this one, Harlem 2, Johnny Dance, Sister Ray Says, the 2nd All Night Long and, above all, Sweetheart are masterpieces. By the way, it would be the least for the greatest band ever to put out more live CDs.
When are we gonna see a few other ones issued, from the 70s, 80s, 90s...??!

Sacul Repooc.......2000-06-28

Suicide are as close to the real thing as it gets. I LOVE THIS CD. It makes all other electronic punk outfits look like B-movies. Marty Rev and Alan Vega invented a unique new genre and defined the parameters to which it could be extended. Every electronic band exists because of these joined-at-the-hip downtown NYC punk-rock scavangers. The ROIR cassette was great...the Cd even better with 3 bonus tracks from the same era and the original classic liner notes by Lester Bangs you can't go wrong.

Average customer rating:

Half Alive

Manufacturer: Paul Rose Band
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CAGIZE
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Tracks:

All Along the Watchtower
Rise & Shine
Rollin' & Tumblin'
Touch Wood
Change
Redhouse
Cajun
Hey Joe
Con Trick

Average customer rating:

Helix - 'Half Alive' (D-Rock)
Half-Alive? This is all the way Alive!
this cd rocked. Whether your a helix fan or not
Good album, but not as great as other Helix albums.

Half Alive
Helix
Manufacturer: De-Rock
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Wild in the Streets
Back for Another Taste
Walkin' the Razor's Edge
Over 60 Minutes With...
Double Eclipse

ASIN: B0000067YI
Release Date: 1998-05-19

Tracks:

Shock City Psycho Rock
Wrecking Ball
The Pusher
Big Bang Boom
The Same Room
No Rest For The Wicked
Dirty Dog
Running Wild In The 21st Century
Animal House
When The Hammer Falls
Deep Cuts The Knife
Smile
Good To The Last Drop
Heavy Metal Love
Wild In The Streets
Rock You

Customer Reviews:

Helix - 'Half Alive' (D-Rock).......2005-01-22

Greatly under appreciated meat-and-potato Canadian rock and roll band.I've always totally dug this band.'Half Alive' is about a half-a-dozen new/er studio cuts along with mostly live tracks.Believe me,Helix is a great band to experience in concert.Most of the live songs come from the group's 1983's 'No Rest For The Wicked' and 1984's 'Walkin' The Razor's Edge' lp's.Just about every tune here rocks out,but the most memorable ones are "Shock City Psycho Rock","Dirty Dog","Running Wild In The 21st Century"(still see this video on Headbanger's Ball sometimes),"Heavy Metal Love",their cover of Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" and their metal anthem "Rock You".Line-up:Brian Vollmer-vocals,Dr.Doener-guitar,Daryl Gray-bass and Greg Hinz-drums.A must-have for all Helix fans.

Half-Alive? This is all the way Alive!.......2001-06-07

Wow!

After five years of silence, Helix came roaring back with this mostly live, partly studio recording. After the death of Paul Hackman in 1992, Helix became more a "project" than a band, with rotating members around the nucleus of Brian Vollmer (vocals) and Drayl Gray (bass). On Half-Alive we get appearances from past members such as Hackman, Greg "Fritz" Hinz (drums), Dr. Doerner (guitar), and even a song written by Mike Uzelac, their second bass player from the 70's (now a missing person).

Can the Helix of today cut it? The five studio tracks roar "yes"! A far cry from the acoustic rock of It's A Business Doing Pleasure, this is a return to the hard rock/metal sounds of Walking The Razor's Edge. Best tracks among the studio crop are "Wrecking Ball", Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" and a ballad called "The Same Room". Of course, Vollmer's voice is in fine form.

From there we go to the live material. Virtually all the hits are present ("Rock You", "Running Wild In The 21st Century", "Good To The Last Drop", "Heavy Metal Love", "Wild In The Streets", etc.) There's a new acoustic composition called "Smile", written by guitarist Gary Borden as well. What really sets this live stuff apart from other albums is Vollmer's friendly on-stage banter. As he relates a tale of staying in a hotel in Seaforth Ontario, you'll laugh along, especially if you've been there!

This live material was taken from various tours, 1992-1997, so there is a variety of material and band members (as noted above). Yet there's a cohesiveness that similar live albums lack. The songs are mixed together and flow seamessly, and you really can't hear the five years passing. The sound is hard, clear, and rocking, and begs the question: "What took them five years to release this stuff?"

The only drawback to this album is the horrible cover art. Although it brings back the Helix logo from the 80's, this picture of Vollmer's half-face, half-skull looks low budget and just plain stupid. Don't just this CD by its cover. If you are a Helix fan from any era, Half-Alive is pretty close to essential.

this cd rocked. Whether your a helix fan or not.......1999-05-17

When i first heard the new songs i did not like them to much. I went to the live songs next. They rocked. but I went back to the cd and i just love the whole thing. the new songs grew one me. Helix is back and Iam glad. they rule!!! I would recomend this tape to others.

Good album, but not as great as other Helix albums........1998-08-08

Half Alive is the latest effort from the Canadian rockers, Helix. Fans of earlier Helix may be somewhat disappointed upon first listen. I know I was! But by the second time, the songs grew on me. The "live" portion of the album IS classic Helix. Though, due to the untimely death of guitarist Paul Hackman, the original lineup is not responsible for the live portion, Brian Vollmer's vocals are in top form. For ANYONE who has had the pleasure of seeing Helix live, I recommend this album strictly for that. If you have never heard Helix before, I suggest some of their earlier work. For true fans, though, this is a good listen!!!