Excuse Me While I Bore You All About Suede
As you probably know, I am somewhat obsessed with Suede.
It annoys me that their legacy has been largely forgotten, except by a few sad Suedeheads like myself.
But what with their recent return to the stage with their amazing gig at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, I've been revisiting their music.
Suede "Suede" (1993)
Suede "Dog Man Star" (1994)
Suede "Coming Up" (1996)
The first three albums are pretty damn perfect as they are, despite the change in line-up and direction on the third album.
The worst you might say is that some of the b-sides (especially from the first two albums) are even better than a couple of the album tracks on each record.
It's a minor gripe, and one that made their singles essential buys, and spawned the epic b-sides album "Sci-Fi Lullabies".
Suede "Sci-Fi Lullabies" (1997)
But then they undeniably went downhill.
Having rose from nothing, become the most famous band of the early 1990s,
fallen from commercial grace with their willfully difficult but critically lauded second album,
and trouncing their critics with their most commercially successful, unashamedly pop, and critically adored third album,
Brett fucked it all up.
His heroin addiction led to a lazy effort on album number four.
The band were at their peak and should have capitalized on their success,
but instead of crafting a masterful follow up to a 10 track album that spawned 5 Top Ten singles,
the band ploughed on on auto-pilot, only occasionally capturing their previous brilliance.
For the first time, their b-sides were not up to scratch.
"Head Music" was patchy. 13 tracks, with little musical cohesion to them.
Part of the problem was replacing their long-time producer Ed Buller with the trendy Steve Albini.
The first track they recorded with him was "She's In Fashion", which, when fans heard it,
immediately divided them into lovers and haters of their most radio-friendly song ever.
It didn't really sound like Suede.
I love it, but it's a red herring for the rest of the album, or at least what the album might have been.
Suede "Head Music" (1999)
Track Listing:
01. Electricity
02. Savoir Faire
03. Can't Get Enough
04. Everything Will Flow
05. Down
06. She's in Fashion
07. Asbestos
08. Head Music
09. Elephant Man
10. Hi-Fi
11. Indian Strings
12. He's Gone
13. Crack in the Union Jack
I'm just going to say it, I hate the title track, and I hate two of the singles, "Can't Get Enough" and "Everything Will Flow".
They're so... plastic. And I like plastic! It's just not what I want from Suede.
There are some really good sleazy, dirty, neon-tinged moments in here, and they're drowned out by the attempts at selling ballads to people in Asda.
Every Suede fan I knew (and know) had mixed feelings about this album.
Most of us agreed it could have been a solid 10 track dirty little sister to "Coming Up", but we didn't agree on which songs to cut.
Which suggests that while the bunch of songs they came up with weren't bad, they were not an album -
just a cobbled together mish-mash of sounds, experiments, and some real fucking gems too.
For what it's worth (i.e. nothing), I've dug out some old CD singles,
hummed and hawed and wrestled with myself, and finally admitted I don't like the album the way it is.
It heralded the downfall of my favourite band. Boo. Hiss.
But thanks to the wonders of modern science, I can recreate "Head Music" the way I want it.
And I want it sleazy, sad, and beautiful.
No comedy moments. No supermarket-friendly arms-aloft anthems. No experimental waffle.
If it's going to stay, it's got to have a heart of darkness.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gn9615
01. Electricity (the most "Coming Up" moment)
02. Savoir Faire (influenced by Prince)
03. She's in Fashion (melancholic behind the strangely EQ'ed keyboards)
04. Leaving (lush b-side)
05. He's Gone (lush album track, but not the heart-stopping kiss-off they thought it was)
06. Indian Strings (it literally is all about the strings, Brett's most lyrically abstract song)
07. Down (beautiful junkie ballad)
08. Popstar (b-side, coz they "didn't want any more songs with stars in them", the fools)
09. Asbestos (slinky little tease of a song)
10. Crack in the Union Jack (political acoustic footnote, they got this right the first time)
But Jaysus, if we thought that was bad, the final album "A New Morning" was a total dog's dinner.
Suede "A New Morning" (2002)
Look at the cover! Horrible.
There was not one, but two secret tracks (yuck),
there was even less cohesion to what the album was supposed to be about
("Astrogirl"? Really? Cardboard skies? Obsolete technology? Look, Brett, you're not David Bowie, OK?),
a brilliant track that was recorded for a film sound track and literally no one ever heard was not included,
and, basically, the good stuff was either bizarrely concealed from the listener or just mired down in shite.
It didn't help that they chucked Beck's producer and got Stephen fucking Street in instead.
Stephen Street has had the honour of working with some brilliant bands,
and every single time the production on otherwise brilliant albums has been rotten (that includes everything he did with The Smiths).
Anyway, in the mire of shite that was the making of this album,
there were ten stunning tracks which, properly put together, would have made a fucking great record.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hufykm
01. Morning (obvious album starter, bizarrely hidden in the middle of the CD)
02. Positivity (lead single, shouldn't have been, but a lovely pop song)
03. One Love (Brett does the Grange Hill theme, b-side)
04. Simon (film track, stunning ode to a suicide)
05. Lost in TV (I named a chapter in G.A.A.Y after this song)
06. Lonely Girls (neat, pretty, brilliantly chic ballad)
07. Beautiful Loser (rousing!)
08. Obsessions (arousing!)
09. Untitled... (critic's favourite, switches between happy and sad)
10. Oceans (showcasing again Brett's talent as an acoustic balladeer, sadly another hidden track originally)
Also, it deserves better artwork than this, but it's the best I could do.
It annoys me that their legacy has been largely forgotten, except by a few sad Suedeheads like myself.
But what with their recent return to the stage with their amazing gig at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, I've been revisiting their music.
Suede "Suede" (1993)
Suede "Dog Man Star" (1994)
Suede "Coming Up" (1996)
The first three albums are pretty damn perfect as they are, despite the change in line-up and direction on the third album.
The worst you might say is that some of the b-sides (especially from the first two albums) are even better than a couple of the album tracks on each record.
It's a minor gripe, and one that made their singles essential buys, and spawned the epic b-sides album "Sci-Fi Lullabies".
Suede "Sci-Fi Lullabies" (1997)
But then they undeniably went downhill.
Having rose from nothing, become the most famous band of the early 1990s,
fallen from commercial grace with their willfully difficult but critically lauded second album,
and trouncing their critics with their most commercially successful, unashamedly pop, and critically adored third album,
Brett fucked it all up.
His heroin addiction led to a lazy effort on album number four.
The band were at their peak and should have capitalized on their success,
but instead of crafting a masterful follow up to a 10 track album that spawned 5 Top Ten singles,
the band ploughed on on auto-pilot, only occasionally capturing their previous brilliance.
For the first time, their b-sides were not up to scratch.
"Head Music" was patchy. 13 tracks, with little musical cohesion to them.
Part of the problem was replacing their long-time producer Ed Buller with the trendy Steve Albini.
The first track they recorded with him was "She's In Fashion", which, when fans heard it,
immediately divided them into lovers and haters of their most radio-friendly song ever.
It didn't really sound like Suede.
I love it, but it's a red herring for the rest of the album, or at least what the album might have been.
Suede "Head Music" (1999)
Track Listing:
01. Electricity
02. Savoir Faire
03. Can't Get Enough
04. Everything Will Flow
05. Down
06. She's in Fashion
07. Asbestos
08. Head Music
09. Elephant Man
10. Hi-Fi
11. Indian Strings
12. He's Gone
13. Crack in the Union Jack
I'm just going to say it, I hate the title track, and I hate two of the singles, "Can't Get Enough" and "Everything Will Flow".
They're so... plastic. And I like plastic! It's just not what I want from Suede.
There are some really good sleazy, dirty, neon-tinged moments in here, and they're drowned out by the attempts at selling ballads to people in Asda.
Every Suede fan I knew (and know) had mixed feelings about this album.
Most of us agreed it could have been a solid 10 track dirty little sister to "Coming Up", but we didn't agree on which songs to cut.
Which suggests that while the bunch of songs they came up with weren't bad, they were not an album -
just a cobbled together mish-mash of sounds, experiments, and some real fucking gems too.
For what it's worth (i.e. nothing), I've dug out some old CD singles,
hummed and hawed and wrestled with myself, and finally admitted I don't like the album the way it is.
It heralded the downfall of my favourite band. Boo. Hiss.
But thanks to the wonders of modern science, I can recreate "Head Music" the way I want it.
And I want it sleazy, sad, and beautiful.
No comedy moments. No supermarket-friendly arms-aloft anthems. No experimental waffle.
If it's going to stay, it's got to have a heart of darkness.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gn9615
01. Electricity (the most "Coming Up" moment)
02. Savoir Faire (influenced by Prince)
03. She's in Fashion (melancholic behind the strangely EQ'ed keyboards)
04. Leaving (lush b-side)
05. He's Gone (lush album track, but not the heart-stopping kiss-off they thought it was)
06. Indian Strings (it literally is all about the strings, Brett's most lyrically abstract song)
07. Down (beautiful junkie ballad)
08. Popstar (b-side, coz they "didn't want any more songs with stars in them", the fools)
09. Asbestos (slinky little tease of a song)
10. Crack in the Union Jack (political acoustic footnote, they got this right the first time)
But Jaysus, if we thought that was bad, the final album "A New Morning" was a total dog's dinner.
Suede "A New Morning" (2002)
Look at the cover! Horrible.
There was not one, but two secret tracks (yuck),
there was even less cohesion to what the album was supposed to be about
("Astrogirl"? Really? Cardboard skies? Obsolete technology? Look, Brett, you're not David Bowie, OK?),
a brilliant track that was recorded for a film sound track and literally no one ever heard was not included,
and, basically, the good stuff was either bizarrely concealed from the listener or just mired down in shite.
It didn't help that they chucked Beck's producer and got Stephen fucking Street in instead.
Stephen Street has had the honour of working with some brilliant bands,
and every single time the production on otherwise brilliant albums has been rotten (that includes everything he did with The Smiths).
Anyway, in the mire of shite that was the making of this album,
there were ten stunning tracks which, properly put together, would have made a fucking great record.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hufykm
01. Morning (obvious album starter, bizarrely hidden in the middle of the CD)
02. Positivity (lead single, shouldn't have been, but a lovely pop song)
03. One Love (Brett does the Grange Hill theme, b-side)
04. Simon (film track, stunning ode to a suicide)
05. Lost in TV (I named a chapter in G.A.A.Y after this song)
06. Lonely Girls (neat, pretty, brilliantly chic ballad)
07. Beautiful Loser (rousing!)
08. Obsessions (arousing!)
09. Untitled... (critic's favourite, switches between happy and sad)
10. Oceans (showcasing again Brett's talent as an acoustic balladeer, sadly another hidden track originally)
Also, it deserves better artwork than this, but it's the best I could do.
