Deuce Avenue is one of Alan Vega's rare misfires. Instead of quirky but elegant art pop, Deuce Avenue is loaded with dissonant synth rock, much as he tends to make with Suicide. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work. With Suicide, Martin Rev's defiantly crude, brutal synthesizers temper Vega's avant-garde tendencies, but here Vega gets assistance from keyboardist Liz Lamere. Lamere is far more polished than Rev, but without Rev's distinct sonic identity, the result is competent but anonymous musicianship that renders his songs fairly bloodless. Also, because Vega produced the album himself (instead of using his usual collaborator, Ric Ocasek), he lacks anybody to edit or shape his less successful ideas. Too many tracks are in sore need of a good producer to focus some ideas or bring out lively performances. A rewrite of "On Broadway" called "Sugee" and the incorporation of hip-hop scratching on "Sneaker Gun Fire" are the only truly notable moments here. The ballad "No Tomorrow" is another nice change, but the melody is too insubstantial to sustain the track's five minutes. For the most part, Deuce Avenue is little more than a Suicide album without Martin Rev, which makes it rather superfluous, and ultimately one of the least satisfying albums of Vega's career.
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