Vinyl Finds: Mag & The Suspects - Erection/Thousands Dead (12" Maxi, 1981)

Steve M.'s house was the party house.  Through Steve and his sister J., a wildly diverse collection of disenfranchised suburban teens and twentysomethings had gathered there, some from "broken" homes, some runaways, some kicked out—others just looking for a good place to party.  This was our pre-River's Edge River's Edge, and though we never covered up a murder, we did just about everything else.  I lost my virginity under the big tree in Steve's backyard.  There were empty Budweiser cans and overflowing ashtrays all over the house, and for a while there was an "orgy room" set up in the attic (which was only moderately successful.)  I once hid in a closet in Steve's house to escape an ass kicking from a bikeless biker (for some reason, a breed so prevalent in N.J.) whose girlfriend I had slept with; I'd seen what he had done to a guy who owed him 10 bucks and I wasn't having any of it.

The inner sanctum of the house was Steve's bedroom on the second floor.  There he held court, and though the door was often locked and I wasn't always allowed in, I did eventually spend a lot of time in there, talking to Steve, who as we spoke would dole out samplings of the main feature of his room:  a staggering collection of several thousand LPs lining the walls, mostly acquired at garage sales and flea markets.  I was exposed to records like Ataraxia - The Unexplained, several years before I came to WFMU and found out who Mort Garson was.

One of the most dazzling chips off of Steve's monolithic collection was this 12" single by Mag & The Suspects, released by the very major London label in 1981, and clearly the label's singular stab at Rough Trade-style arty post-punk.  Both sides are absolutely killer, one an erotic recitation over minimalist thump, the other a deceptively carnivalesque commentary on how TV alienates us from global suffering.  This single should be at least as revered as The Normal's one-off classic "T.V.O.D./Warm Leatherette".  Right now, you can't imagine yourself humming the phrases "burning corpses are missing" or "soon, it's gonna get in, real hard" over and over, but just you wait, wait and listen.

Mag & co. released only these two songs in several formats and have virtually no Web presence.  Any biographical or "where are they now?"-style information on the band would be greatly appreciated (though to me, the record screams L.A., and would sit comfortably amongst the Posh Boy discography.)  I have never seen this record since; these mp3s are ripped from a cassette dub of Steve's vinyl.

Mag & The Suspects - "Erection"
Mag & The Suspects - "Thousands Dead"

Comments

[K]

Bwahaha! What is it about NJ and bikerless bikers? Mine was a fella by the name of "Butch", I kidd you not, southern fried trash with a mulatto girlfriend that had got the hotts for yrs truely. Follows the usual parking lot shouting match, and a few nervous evenings with a loaded 12 gauge by the bedside. But he wasn't that serious, and split for warmer climes. Later, her neighbor (a cop) told of arresting B. in the area. Seems he killed a girl on contract in Texas, fucked up hiding the body, and the Texas Rangers were on his ass. So he fled for the tristate area, and got popped. Better for both of us, I suppose. But mostly me.

[Pol Dodu]

Hello,
The name Mag & the Suspects rang a bell when I read it, and the title "Thousands dead" clinched it : you don't mention it because you're probably not aware of it, but I think Mag & the Suspects were a French band.
They seem to have released another single, in 1984, on French CBS :
http://euthanasie.propagande.org/discographie/p01gM.htm

[WmMBerger]

Pol Dodu, thanks for the info. This at least proves that Mag & The Suspects released another record (though the creator of that Web page did not even have an image of the sleeve; so frightfully obscure!) "Mag"'s accent is distinctly North American throughout both tracks posted here. If they were indeed a "French band," which I'm not discounting as a possibility, their singer was nonetheless American or perhaps Canadian. One need only listen to the spoken bit at the very beginning of "Erection" to discern this (or the tracks themselves, as the vocalist doesn't really "sing".) Having perhaps released a single for French CBS does not make them Marie et Les Garçons.

[sssnole]

I am pretty sure "thousands dead" will be the new summer jam of 2008.

[Mike G.]

I'm a big fan of this record. "Thousands Dead" is also on the "Colours" compilation on Virgin, which I picked up a few months back, and can't remember anything about.

jon bernhardt played 'erection' today on his show (breakfast of champions, wmbr 88.1) and i loved it...google led me to this, which i thank you!

[Andreas]

There is a third song "Boots & Guns" on a Virgin France 12".
Get it at my tumblr : fotnot.tumblr.com

[jolyon]

I first heard this on a 1982 mix tape from Ancienne Belgique, a nightclub in Antwerp. It was also a popular underground record in Ibiza, believe it or not, probably first taken to the island by a Brussels based DJ called Jean Claude Maury.

Funnily enough I found a 12" of it in a bargain bin in Brussels a couple of years ago so it was obviously quite a popular track in the more underground clubs in Belgium when it came out.

[Schorn]

These are indeed brilliant obscure songs, and it must be noted that "Erection" is 2 minutes longer on the 12" than the 7".

Hope more people can share info on this band :)

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[Blindspot]

I just listened from my 7" single. Funny though my single says that the band is "Mac and the Suspects".

[Ibiza Property]

Yes this is good need to share this radio more and more..