Lucky Pierre - "Communiqué"

When you read the post on Prick a few weeks ago, did you follow the link to Kevin McMahon's new site and business venture, Lucky Pierre Music? If not, treat yourself and head over there to get the Lucky Pierre compilation featured there, as well as the other releases up for sale as MP3s, FLACs and CDs. Great stuff and very worthy of your time and attention.

That said, as wonderful a compilation as the Lucky Pierre release is, as it features almost every single released under that banner, all of which are practically impossible to obtain otherwise (at least in good quality), it somehow skips some of Kevin's best-known material. Specifically, the "Communiqué" EP and 7", both of which are completely different from each other and as essential as anything else in the Lucky Pierre or Prick catalogs. Apart from Man Against The Wall, the closing track from the "Communiqué" EP, the other four tracks were all re-recorded as Prick songs and have been left off the Lucky Pierre compilation. One could argue this was because the songs haven't changed that much and the Prick versions may be considered definitive, or that the original versions sound dated, but neither argument holds water. If we're talking about dated sounding recordings, why reissue any of the Lucky Pierre singles? They're mostly from the seventies and early eighties and sound like it. If we're talking about definitive versions, why bother releasing alternate or "inferior" versions in the first place? Kevin has re-recorded Lucky Pierre songs on more occasions that just the first Prick album. Regardless, Kevin should be commended for finally making these records available again, but he should have made them all available, not most of them.

I'm sure no one will be surprised that I have both the "Communiqué" EP and 7" here for you to download and examine for yourselves. As to how they're different from each other, the 7" was released in 1984 and I've copied the text from it's discogs reference for your viewing pleasure:

Limited to 100 copies & came in a plain white sleeve. Features a very early version of "Communiqué" on the A side, recorded in Tom Lash's living room to 4-track w/Kevin McMahon playing pots & pans as drums and singing into a $5 microphone run through a guitar amp. The B side has lyrics etched into it, and plays an approximately 12 second backwards segment of "Communiqué" before hitting a locked groove that plays a short loop over & over.

That description of the 7" is spot-on accurate! As for the EP, it was released in 1988 with the reformed group and sounds very much of it's age. Hell, Trent Reznor even makes an appearance on backing vocals and saxophone. YES! TRENT ON THE SAX!

Unfortunately, that's where the Lucky Pierre story ends until Kevin recorded some LP songs for the second Prick album, The Wreckard, in 2002 and then in 2004 when he released a new album, ThinKing, under the Lucky Pierre name. For me, I'm okay with him not putting new stuff out as Lucky Pierre, the real LP stuff ends in 1988 as far as I'm concerned, I just wish Kevin would release music under any other name more frequently. He's a true talent and, despite what he may fear, he's not remembered solely as a NIN-related project, he's remembered for being himself and writing great songs.

Enjoy the music and remember to visit Lucky Pierre Music for more great music from Kevin and company! Also, if you'd like to see more information on the "Communiqué" EP, follow this link to it's discogs reference.


Lucky Pierre - "Communiqué" 7"

01 "Communiqué"
02 Locked Groove


Lucky Pierre - "Communiqué" EP

01 "Communiqué"
02 Tough
03 Analyst Says
04 I Need To Get To Know
05 Man Against The Wall