Suede

I would've liked their 2nd album lots if it weren't so damn over the top AND stupid. Brett Anderson should not trill. From what I've heard after that rekkid, he hasn't improved much. The music was quite agreeable, though (if a bit grandiose and grandiose).

That all being said, Suede are both classic and dud. Suede with Bernie were absolutely fantastic (despite godawful production), dogmanstar was one of my favorite albums for ages. Then Bernie left. Brett's voice has gotten continually worse (which would've happened with or without Bernie, just very convenient it happened when it did), and the song structures are not as good. They've become a parody of themselves. Though the dance mix of Everything Will Flow is fantastic.

Search: The first two albums, Stay Together EP

Destroy: Neil Codling.

But they do a cover of Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding" that I absolutely love, probably more so than the original. It's shorter, less subtle, and very glam, but great because of that .. check it out, if you're a Suede afficionado.

Most unfair, he's left the band too. ;-) I always appreciated his Louche Bastard nature on stage.

Anyway, I'm hardly neutral in this, as I fired up the Suede fan mailing list six years back and have stuck with it ever since. They've definitely had their ups and downs, but I still like 'em -- still, the new album really does need to do better than the last. Right now I'm looking forward to the DVD video collection, and they just played in Portugal and apparently did a great job.

I think : Bernard-era - not very good at all. Bad production, bad Bowie impersonation from Anderson and as everyone agrees, mainly dire words. "To the Birds" (B-side of The Drowners) is ace though.

"Coming Up" - similar production, slightly worse songs, a few good hooks - overall the sound of wheels spinning.

"Head Music" - Their best. Inessential, but likeable.

As for Pinefox's question about significance - I'd say not, at least not in any definition of 'significance' that I recognize. They were/are a competent glam-rock band for the 90's who failed to transcend their all-too-obvious influences (Bowie/Steve Harley/Roxy).

Anyone heard Bernard's solo LP? It was so boring and bland I wanted to fling it in the garbage; traded it in for a couple bucks instead.

That said, Head Music was the absolute end for me. It was painfully dull, and the lyrics were so beyond the pale it just seemed ludicrous to keep listening. I tried liking it (in fact I still sort of like Can't Get Enough), but in the end I've lost all affection for them.

Still, I'd probably get the dvd if it wasn't Region 2 encoding.

But I did think them significant. I think they represented a union of 'indie world' and 'media hype' - of alternative and mainstream, more simply - which seems natural now but was genuinely strange then. They did on (retrospectively) a homely scale what Oasis then went and did on an absurd scale. In other words, I think they represent a major stage in The Reclassification Of 'Indie'.

I also think they had good material, and good musicianship. The first LP was a fine debut, but DMS beat it - it was a remarkable record, a masterpiece, within the Suede perspective. If you don't like that 'world' (lyrics, sound etc) then it's just an ugly folly, I daresay, but if you do (as to an extent I did when it came out) it felt like a very major achievement. Better, I'd still say, than Different Class, This Is Hardcore, The Great Escape, Be Here Now and a bunch of other Britpop behemoths. (But not necessarily better than, for instance, Parklife - another record I view as Significant.)

I loved the flashness of Coming Up when it came along in the autumn of 96. You just had to admire Anderson’s survivalist instincts despite it being obvious they were never to be centre stage again. It had a cetain romance about it. They went for that deliberately cold, robotic, and mechanized sound with Head Music but what initially to me sounded brilliant soon wore away after a few weeks – it was the Suede LP that was stranded without context.

Saw them from speaker distance in the 100 club between their first 2 singles at the height of the hype and it was fantastic esp. after spending the summer at lank haired grunge gigs. I remember some of the radio interviews around the time of the DMS release. Brett seemed fucked out of it from the drugs but the album seemed like a strange but necessary anomaly in those last months of 1994 amongst the explosion of jungle, trip hop and Loaded culture. Anderson might have been an asshole but rather him than the whining and supercilious musoness of Butler.

Fave songs: The Chemistry Between Us, Wild Ones,

But THEN I SAW SENSE

I mean, just think of it this way, Brett looked less Instant Decadance than the Manics did. I mean, talk about putting any old clap on and then pretending to be fabulous, lordy.

NICK YOU HAVE NO SENSE.

So what does everyone think of the McAlmont & Butler album then?

Well, he did usually sport a builder's crack, and not to great effect.

Now he looks like Steve Dallas, at least that's funny...

I'm not really overly concerned or critical about the lyrics because they're supposed to be cryptic, OTT and rub people the wrong way. Bernard Butler really poncey and a bit phobic about Suede lifestyle things but he was the one I saw in Hampstead walking away from Diana funeral motorcade passage so perhaps secret royalist/conservative?

The difference between Suede decadence and Ritzy decadence is the former is queerish and the latter reads no books and loves no art.

I knew there was something weird about him, this makes sense (and is very funny)...

They met cos: Brett and Justine were at architecture college and togeth-ah for that duration and decided to form band with Mat, Brett's best friend. Drummers were tried, including Mike Joyce from the Smiths, then they got Simon and stuck with him. Bernerd was thrown up by a Melody Maker advert. Rule A is that the last one in on the advert is always the first one chucked. Ally, you won't like this but they wrote a great big long letter to Nick asking for their great hero Momus' verdict on their stuff; he wrote a sniffy one back saying they were so mediocre they'd be massive. Justine left band after leaving Brett for Demon Allbran.

Justine should've just stayed in Suede, she'd probably be better off.

But I'm paying for it now, just bringing this up has placed unsavory mental images in my head.

The Drowners
My Insatiable One
Metal Mickey
Animal Nitrate
So Young
Stay Together (edit)
We Are the Pigs
The Wild Ones
New Generation
Trash
Beautiful Ones
Saturday Night (edit)
Lazy
Film Star
The Chemistry Between Us
Electricity
She's In Fashion
Everything Will Flow
Can't Get Enough

(80:09, this one was easy to compile as a hits survey. the non-single tracks are my essentials - and remember if you disagree, post yours!)

I guess it's not that much of a surprise, but I just randomly put on the latter and it hit me like a falling anvil.

As it happened, I brought the singles disc with me to work. Revival time!

Heck no. A noted fan is one Mr. John Darnellye of the Goats of Mountain, who wrote a wonderful essay on the album in one of the last print editions of Last Train to Jakarta.

when is LOVE AND POISON coming out on dvd then do we think?

I'm kinda surprised the website is still up. Did Mat, Richard and Simon just decide to retire and relax?

Underrated "Filmstar" moment -- that shift between the NIN/Zeppelin crunch on the verses and the none-more-psych tripped-out chorus. If you will.

aces. brett in a shirt n tie, first performance of 'by the sea'...sweet.

Also, I faithfully bought all the editions of all the CD singles, right the way up to, and including, Positivity.

When I did my UK trip to celebrate Tom's wedding in 2003, I was invited, thanks to me running the mailing list, to stop by Suede's management office, Interceptor. This was after "Attitude" came out but just before the singles comp got released and, subsequently, the band decided to call it quits.

The band weren't there but Charlie Charlton, David Barnett and Ben Myers were -- all very good folks -- though I think there were a few low-key tensions that probably made sense a few weeks later. Anyway, while there they invited me to rifle through all the releases as I wished -- I had pretty much everything but this way I was able to pick up the most recent singles and the non-"London" Suede editions of most of the albums, rather handily.

I was listening to the fanclub only See You in the Next Life as well, released when the band wrapped it up, and I do love the unlisted bonus -- it's the full string arrangement from "Still Life," minus Brett or the rest of the band. V. dramatic.

Ha, for me it was (unranked outside the top 10), 4th, 2nd, 6th, and I didn't bother with "A New Morning" either.

On the most overlooked early bsides is Bernard's rocker "Painted People." I think it was on the Animal Nitrate single.

Like others I was not interested when A New Morning came out. About a year after the release I found the import for real cheap and bought it. I really isn't that bad and was expecting something much worse. The problem was, just like the Tears, I rarely played it and don't have a complete evaluation of it. When you loaded the CD into your computer you could go to this web site and hear the original Tony Hoffer version of this album that the band aborted.

(2004-present) Post-break activity
(Tears stuff chopped)

Alex Lee played a short set with Patrick Duff at the Tsunami Appeal Gig at the Bristol Carling Academy on Saturday 19th February and continued to tour with him. He now plays guitar and keyboard with Placebo. Neil Codling has toured as keyboardist for pop singer Natalie Imbruglia and has played as a duo called Barry O'Niel compromising him and Harriet Cawley. Gilbert is currently the drummer for international band Futon, based out of Bangkok, Thailand while Osman plays for the U.K. rock band Mista Brown.

Brett Anderson also has confirmed that he has a self-titled solo album planned for early 2007.

His participation sounds somewhat considered.

dog man star + bernard tracks on sci-fi lullabies unquestionably >>>>>>>>>> all other brit-pop but what the hell is up with the first album? the production/mix is so flat and shit.. it boggles the mind as to why/how its b-sides sound so stellar! i only really like "animals nitrate" and "the next life" on the thing anyways..

i have visions of a rollicking extended full-band version of "the living dead" possibly with the "if i was the wife of an acrobat.." part as a refrain/chorus or something

also repping for billy mckenkie while dissing brent anderson = dud

Both names wrong. Good work.

Reforming! (minus Bernard obvs)

Beyond that one-off benefit gig?

Nothing concrete so far. But i bet there'll be a small tour @ least.

I thought they would give it a few more years before reforming, especially as Brett has finally just put a really good solo album.

Mr. Butler wishes them well.

Quick note for all -- friend of mine is flying in to London for the reunion and would like someone to go with on the 20th. Drop me a line if there's interest!

My memories of a lunch.

Brett I remember looking at the menu a bit with a very, very considered air. He looked…not totally unapproachable but definitely knowing that yes, he was the star, or at least a star. We chatted for a short bit after the meal was over and I remember him adding a drawing of his cat Fluffington to the promo photo of him sitting in his flat, so that’s a nice touch.

looooooooooool

So the new 2 cd Best Of is out in a week or so. Biggest non festival UK gig ever at the O2 in December.
Artwork for the best of looks like this:
http://artcritical.com/DavidCohen/2008/images/peyton-september.jpg

Tracklist like this:
Disc One:

'Animal Nitrate'
'Beautiful Ones'
'Trash'
'Filmstar'
'Metal Mickey'
'New Generation'
'So Young'
'Wild Ones'
'Drowners'
'Stay Together'
'Lazy'
'Everything Will Flow'
'We Are The Pigs'
'Can't Get Enough'
'Electricity'
'Obsessions'
'She's In Fashion'
'Saturday Night'

Disc Two:

'Pantomime Horse'
'My Insatiable One'
'Killing Of A Flashboy'
'This Hollywood Life'
'Europe Is Our Playground'
'My Dark Star'
'Sleeping Pills'
'By The Sea'
'She'
'Heroine'
'The Living Dead'
'To The Birds'
'The Big Time'
'The Two Of Us'
'Asphalt World'
'Still Life'
'The Next Life'

Good job of compiling the hits on 1 disc and other good stuff on the other. Should have 'Moving' on it mind but hey ho.

like THIS rather

http://artcritical.com/DavidCohen/2008/images/peyton-september.jpg

'Positivity', a top 20 single, gets ignored. Presumably as the fans only bought it for the b-sides.

Disc Two:

'Pantomime Horse'
'My Insatiable One'
'Killing Of A Flashboy'
'This Hollywood Life' Daddy's Speeding
'Europe Is Our Playground'
'My Dark Star'
'Sleeping Pills'
'By The Sea'
'She' High Rising
'Heroine'
'The Living Dead'
'To The Birds'
'The Big Time'
'The Two Of Us' 'He's Dead'
'Asphalt World'
'Still Life'
'The Next Life'

would be pretty much my ideal Suede

or maybe like just Sci-Fi Lullabies Disc One

I mean, it's a great selection but it needs 'He's Dead' and 'High Rising' so very much

b-b--b-but "Sleeping Pills" is ker-lassic

gonna plead ignorance on those three in the middle I've nixed - DMS, SFL and parts of the s/t are my jam wrt this band

wait 'sleeping pills' is on the s/t

ok reinstated

'Daddy's Speeding' is so great.

^^^also this, it's the stealth highlight of DMS

it kinda is the most evocative of all the songs on that album

I used to like that whole album so much - now I realise it's kinda only really about We Are The Pigs, Daddy's Speeding and The Asphalt World, maybe The Wild Ones too (also got a soft spot for Black Or Blue)

the debut album was more consistently great

the songwriting improved greatly on DMS, imo. "the two of us" and "black and blue" really drag down the momentum of the album, though.
the production all over DMS is so classic. extra stuff like that unholy siren thing that comes in towards the end of "the power"... so cool.

Positivity', a top 20 single, gets ignored. Presumably as the fans only bought it for the b-sides.

― Morcheeba, simply happening. (PaulTMA), Tuesday, October 19, 2010 3:42 AM

I still remember the disappointment of hearing that song for the first time. Their were a couple of really good B-sides on that single that were much better than anything on that last album. Simon was probably their last great song.

The second CD of this new Best of is a great collection songs but the main problem is the choices from Coming Up. That album is all about Picnic by the Motorway and The Chemistry Between us for me.

As for the B-sides I would like to see Together on there along with a few more from the Coming Up era, maybe Young Men, The Sound of the Streets or Every Monday Morning Comes.

Is anyone going to see them live this winter? I really wanted to, but didn't have the money.

just noticed that Breakdown didn't make this set - i feel like the petulant wail of "Does your love only come ... in a Volvo?" might be one of Suede's best lines.

Certainly one of their (intentionally) funniest.

The drama of swedish automotives.

You know, I just relistened to "She's in Fashion" – much better than I remembered.

Brett n Bernard have done the remastering job on the Best Of *together* according to today's NME.

i wouldn't bet against him popping onstage for the encore at the O2.

xp Noo! It's terrible, terrible. Could be the combo of hearing it every day on Virgin 1215 in my shitty teenage job, or that horrible advert it was on, but I think it's bad enough on its own merits. To me it seems to be one of their laziest self-parodying singles. Love pretty much everything else they did up til then, though.

Love the swirly "Indian" strings and Anderson's falsetto this time around.

Head Music is a strange but sometimes great album -- I stick by my claim that the B-sides from that period are often wonderful. I still love how "Let Go" ended up being a fluke Swedish hit in its own right.

Also, how great is this, stepping back a bit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnANXROIGBo

I still love that song.

Never saw it with Bernard but I count myself very lucky it was the final encore at the Dog Man Star show I caught, full band rendition. The place went nuts.

And as long as we're talking alternate renditions of "Stay Together" B-sides:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELBkZK-PNZ0

Actually, here's something I scrounged up:

http://www.youtube.com/user/purplelazystarshine#p/c/9B33E41639289D65

It's a playlist of the 1997 fanclub show they did which was nothing but B-sides.

It's been said before, but those pre-1995 b-sides would make their own godly Suede album.

Wow at those two live 'Stay Together' b-sides. What great singing, the balls to do that in indie in 1992 - brilliant!

Love Bernard's little solo there. MTV's Most Wanted had a few nice singer-and-guitarist sets around that time. There was an amazing Verve one that I remember - Nick McCabe was playing a HUGE lead far too loud but it worked great. Must try to track it down.

I saw Bernard and Brett do The Living Dead at Glastonbury when they were The Tears, it was actually pretty special.

I still listen to Suede a lot but I can't say I've listened to Head Music in the last 5 years or so. I did love it at the time, not sure how I'd feel about it now.

The first disc of Sci Fi Lullabies stands up so well and if it was an actual album I would have no problem putting it in my all time top 50, there isn't a bad song on it.

Nice piece in The Guardian this morning. Only a curmudgeon wouldn't wish them the best.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/21/suede-reunion-best-of

Richard Oakes with a receding hairline? Time does pass.

a pleasant set of comments as well - they even bring out the best in the guardian

I'm really glad they are back in favour at the moment. I'm kind of split on if they should continue and make another album. I'm sure they could make an album better than A New Morning but I think these gigs are doing a great job of reminding people how great they were, another average album could ruin that.

Brett maybe be better off continuing with his solo career, after a couple of weak albums he finally nailed it with last years album. I'm interested to see what he does next.

Brett Anderson reminds us – sits in a hotel room on a darkening weekday evening, remarkably untouched by both time and excess

Um.

And a little more 1993.

Suede!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC7x0mT8z7Y

Oh wait.

Amazing! How did you come across this?

My friend Jason dug it up earlier today.

I hope Brett has seen it.

had no idea the song had such a singalong quality!

How can't you sing along to it!

So.. yeah.

http://a-different-place.co.uk/?p=893

Demon Music Group’s Edsel label is immensely proud to announce the acquisition of the license for the Suede catalogue. The first releases will be the re-issues of all five studio albums as Deluxe 2CD + DVD Editions in digipaks in June 2011, the first time that these hugely influential albums have been re-issued. All the packages are being put together with the full involvement of all current band members and Bernard Butler.

These Deluxe Editions will feature:

* the non-album b-sides (including many not previously compiled)
* demos from the collections of Brett Anderson, Bernard Butler, and Richard Oakes, including several previously unreleased songs
* DVDs featuring the videos for all the singles, and appropriate concert footage

And the 28 page booklets will contain:

* brand new, specially-written notes by Brett Anderson
* the lyrics for all the songs, including the b-sides
* Brett’s original hand-written lyric drafts
* studio tracking sheets where available
* previously unpublished photos from the collections of both the band and their friends

I'm really excited for these, I hope they turn out as well as those Pulp ones from a few years ago which were just perfect.

Think like most people I'll be buying the first three, Is there much point in a New Morning reissue? There is a theory that they picked the wrong songs and there are better versions out there but I'm not convinced. I did like maybe three songs from that period but they were wasted as bonus tracks and B-sides.

those hand-written lyric drafts could advance the cause of Suede scholarship by years, hope they've sent it to the legal deposit libraries.

'Suede' remastered and expanded, released 30 june, 2011.

DISC ONE

1. So Young
2. Animal Nitrate
3. She’s Not Dead
4. Moving
5. Pantomime Horse
6. The Drowners
7. Sleeping Pills
8. Breakdown
9. Metal Mickey
10. Animal Lover
11. The Next Life

DEMOS
12. The Drowners [Rocking Horse demo]
13. Metal Mickey [Island demo]
14. Pantomime Horse [Island demo]
15. He’s Dead [Rocking Horse demo]
16. Moving [Rocking Horse demo]
17. To The Birds [Rocking Horse demo]
18. Sleeping Pills [East West demo]

DISC TWO

THE B-SIDES

1. My Insatiable One
2. To The Birds
3. He’s Dead
4. Where The Pigs Don’t Fly
5. Painted People
6. The Big Time
7. High Rising
8. Dolly

EXTRA TRACKS
9. My Insatiable One [piano version]
10. Brass In Pocket
11. Diesel [instrumental] [previously unreleased studio outtake]
12. Stars On 45 [previously unreleased rehearsal room recording]
13. Just A Girl [early demo, featuring Justine Frischmann]
14. Sleeping Pills [strings]

DVD

SINGLES VIDEOS

1. The Drowners
2. Metal Mickey
3. Animal Nitrate
4. So Young
5. The Drowners [US version]

THE BRIT AWARDS, ALEXANDRA PALACE, 16th FEBRUARY 1993
Animal Nitrate

LIVE AT THE LEADMILL, SHEFFIELD, 27th FEBRUARY 1993

1. Metal Mickey
2. Moving
3. My Insatiable One
4. Animal Nitrate
5. Pantomime Horse
6. The Drowners
7. Painted People
8. So Young
9. Animal Lover
10. Sleeping Pills
11. To The Birds

LOVE AND POISON
Live at Brixton Academy, 16 May 1993

1. The Next Life
2. Moving
3. Animal Nitrate
4. My Insatiable One
5. Metal Mickey
6. Pantomime Horse
7. He’s Dead
8. The Drowners
9. Painted People
10. She’s Not Dead
11. To The Birds
12. Sleeping Pills
13. So Young

BONUS DVD FEATURE:
BRETT ANDERSON AND BERNARD BUTLER 2011 INTERVIEW, INCLUDING FILM INSERTS BY SIMON GILBERT

..and for the rest click here http://www.suede.co.uk/

pretty amazing reissue business!

14. The Asphalt World [original unedited version]

This couldn't be the rumoured sixteen-minute version?!

'Shipbuilding' doesn't seem to be on any of these discs, which is a shame, but otherwise A+

has anyone ever re-released their Help tracks under their own name?

yeah the Shipbuilding video clip is on the CU reissue but not the song itself.

Radiohead re-released Lucky on OK Computer i suppose.

What was Help, was that the Bosnia charity album? If so, Radiohead used 'Lucky' really soon afterwards.

did they not record a different version?

hm maybe. didn't sound much different.

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/suede-we-are-the-pigs-live---casino-de-paris-november-1993/820412289001

iTunes Genius Playlist stuck a load of random Suede songs on my iPhone, and I have been grooving all weekend! So much from Coming Up and Head Music which I had forgotten about but has been perfect in this shitty, rainy spring!

check the interactive reissues thingamajig here. some great artwork! especially the alternate Dog Man Star cover.
http://www.facebook.com/suede?sk=app_220955937932158

woah! don't love the alternate cover myself tbh but this whole site is kinda cool!

check that Coming Up out-take o-0

way interesting and exhaustive new interview with Ed Buller here:
http://www.repeatfanzine.co.uk/interviews/ed%20buller.htm

can't do any music listening on work PC :(

or did you mean the boobie picture? lol!

ha yeah that's the chap.

<3

Suede may be one of the few bands to have been at various times among the most popular, the most overhyped and, ultimately, the most underrated bands.

I've ordered the first two albums already but looking at that site I kind of want the whole lot, I know deep down there is no reason to ever own a reissue of A New Morning.

I wish it were 5 years ago and I could justify spending more than, like, $15 on these, since they look awesome. Assuming they were even released in the US.

Why did they leave off Be My God, Art, Wonderful Sometimes and others from the new release? It doesn't seem to be because of their sound quality, a lot of the demos on the new issue sound pretty bad.

Maid In London is the one i always liked.

ah, I forgot entirely about Wonderful, Sometimes. Great song!

I picked up Dog Man Star today, mostly for the promised extended 'Asphalt World'. I was a little disappointed by this, it's only a couple of minutes longer, and half of that's the radio randomly tuning to the form guide for Newmarket at the end, which isn't quite in keeping imo.

But now I've got the album proper on and woah is it something - it definitely didn't sound as warm and clear as this back in the day, everything's been properly separated and there are tons of things going on in the background that I swear never used to be there. Shame it's taken seventeen years to put right (a pity, too, that it shows up the rhythm section as a bit leaden, but hey it's not like you could draft in Sly & Robbie to patch that aspect up).

Interesting, also, that Brett writes in the notes that nowadays he'd sequence it: Introducing - Pigs - Heroine - Wild Ones - Daddy - Dark Star - Flashboy - Hollywood Life - New Generation - Living Dead - 2 of Us - Asphalt World - Still Life. You should've just went for it here matey, that sounds great!

I am so glad these are pretty reasonably priced here, considering they still seem to be classified as "imports". I've been holding out for reissues for really diving into Suede.

I have SUCH a weird relationship to this band though. Up until I picked up Singles in the Tower closing sale, all I had was Sci-Fi Lullabies, which I dubbed to cassette and was my go-to driving tape for like eight straight months of college. With their pretty limited exposure where I was living (Oasis, Blur, MSP, Radiohead, etc all were relatively easy to track down import singles of, Suede was not for some weird reason), this meant that for the longest time I knew these guys more through B-sides than anything else at all.

If there's one band where that works though ...

Oh I know! When I first picked up Sci-Fi, I had no idea it was B-sides strictly, I thought it had A's and B's. I grabbed it on a complete whim based on what I'd read of them in the undergrad library's copy of NME.

Lol brett's tracklist replaces all the crap with the b-side bangers, good work.

Oops. Hit enter too soon. Anyway, I was blown away when I found out it was all B-sides.

But I'd go all the way and sub whipsnade for 2 of us.

Yeah I just got the Dog Man Star reissue today, really happy with it. I too was a little disappointed The Asphalt World was only a bit longer but apart from that they've done a brilliant job. I especially like the We Believe In Showbiz demo.

That's really interesting Brett picking his ideal tracklisting, I wouldn't say the songs he replaced are bad at all but there's no denying it could have been even better with those additions. Flashboy is probably my favourite Suede song ever.

I have the debut on it's way to me and I'm thinking I'll pre-order Coming Up too. It's kind of a shame that once I have all the reissues I won't have any need for Sci-fi Lullabies, it's one of my most played albums ever.

Has anyone watched the dvd disc yet? pretty interesting interview with Brett and Bernard. Even though they are obviously both grown up and theres a lot of water under the bridge there is just something really uncomfortable about them being together, like they just don't trust each other or something. Still no idea how they made that Tears album together.

Not overly impressed by the remastering of "Suede" tbh, seems a bit overcompressed and needlessly enloudened. A quick comparison with the previous Sony release seems to confirm the volume's been wacked right up. All I was hoping was they'd tweak the low-end a bit so it wasn't so tinny. Disappointing.

May still pick up DMS, if only to have those rare b-sides on disc.

DMS was at the time my favorite album of '94.

The first album still sounds patchiest to me: two ballads too many, "Animal Lover" a redundancy. And doesn't "Moving" sound more like a B-side -- an inessential one -- than "To the Birds" or "My Insatiable One"?

I've just had on the Paris gig - hilariously rudimentary picture, but actually quite reasonable sound. They were damn good live.

And now onto fnac for a four-song set that opens with 'Dolly', then 'High Rising'. Really giving the public what it wants there, guys. Pretty lovely songs to be fair.

ah, funny was just watching the dvd to "suede" ! the interviews are interesting and yeah, they don't seem too comfortable with each other but then again I don't think I've seen a video, even from 93 where they seemed like best mates etc !
I'm also a bit disappointed by the remastering job on "suede". not that it's bad or anything. just that I don't feel like there's much difference. some sounds are a bit clearer.
I've ordered DMS anyway.
takes me back to my teenage years as I really loved "suede" when it was released and butler changed my (musician) life.
I was thinking that it's been almost 20y since the debut album was released and coming back from the record store I thought I was exactly like the guys who went to buy sgt pepper on cd in 87 for its 20th bd. funny cos 67-87 seems a much longer time than this ! (of course cos it's 2years longer, one may say...).

my fave Breet n Bern interview is this, and they do actually kinda get on in a matey way.. only to then they split up within a few months
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5cT0gd5uGQ
kinda eerie actually; them sitting in the same posture and finishing each other's sentences. they were big big mates pre Suede fame by all accounts.
these ere DVDs should have THIS kinda stuff on as it's way more revealing than any 18 years-after-the-fact-chatter.

this is probs the most telling bit of footage from the just-weeks-before-the-very-end era of Suede Mk 1; Matt Osman looking forward to pretending to beating Bernard up(!)
and Brett clearly as high as a novelty kite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di_6IqUwKu4

That making of the video clip is fantastic. I don't know which is my favourite bit, Brett forgetting what he's talking about, Bernard's "that's mr Anderson for you" or the grin on Matt's face when talking about battering Bernard.

haha it's priceless innit??
shame that those of us in Suede worshipping, non Satellite receiving homes (musta been 95% of the country in 93/94) were starved of all this amazing stuff until You Tube appeared.

Pithf*rk weigh in with an 8.4 for the debut and an 8.9 for DMS:
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15493-suede-deluxe-edition-dog-man-star-deluxe-edition/

ahah, just watched the videos. the US interview one is hilarious. talking about bernard and brett being uncomfortable ! at times bernard looks like a rabbit in headlights !
and the interviewer has an interesting haircut...
our lads looked so out of place !

the PFM review is one of the best it's run recently.

yeah that review is a winner alright. almost bang on the money aside from the bit about 'Cast' who were nowt to do with early 93/94 Britpop but that's nit-picking.

so I got the DMS one. still not impressed by the remastering job. the final version of "wild ones" is clearly much better than the initial one with the pointless solo/jam (and I'm a huge butler fan !). still it's good to listen to all this stuff again. and I kinda like the interview. butler is very talkative and it's interesting to hear his side about some of the reasons why the band exploded. also I wonder why they put the fnac showcase. it's fun to watch but it's quite an awuful performance/mood (especially "animal nitrate" where brett is completely off key and he's clearly hates being there during the whole thing !).

The sound quality of the demos on DMS--those tapes must have been kept in a hot shed and regularly sprayed with vinegar

I don't have the remasters, and probably will not buy them (I do have the "Sci-Fi Lullabies" compilation anyway), but the debut album was actually unusually "un-loud" for a 1993 release, so if it has been loudened a slight bit, that wouldn't matter too much IMO. Hopefully not going to beef up "Coming Up" too much though, as that album was already a bit too loud on its original release ("To The Sea" was way too loud for its own good).

Well, this is strange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2iURgYVoDk&feature=player_embedded#!

my god this is horrible ! but what's the point ??

High on diesel...to start with.

Mostly classic!

Search: 'Suede', 'Dog Man Star', 'Coming Up', 'Sci-Fi Lullabies (Disc One)'
Destroy: 'Head Music', 'A New Morning' (except 'Obsessions'), 'Sci-Fi Lullabies (Disc Two)' (except 'This Time').

And here we go:

http://thequietus.com/articles/09986-suede-recording-new-album

"Ed Buller is producing it."

:/

Ha, they considered Trevor Horn! Love Suede, love Ed Buller's anemic production, but not sure how I feel about this, because I don't love the last several things Anderson and/or Suede have done.

Butler's production on The Tears record is everything negative said about Buller's to the power of 10

Are any of Brett's solo records not boring?
Ppl were in a mild lather over the last one (due to the reunion, yeah?), but the tracks I heard were average pleasant predictable at best.

I actually really liked The Tears record, so... it's not like I'm the most discerning listener either. heh

I'm actually quite pleased to hear that Ed Buller's producing the record, I don't think it can be contested that the band did all of their best work with him behind the desk. I liked The Tears' album, rather than loved it; I thought it would have been much better if the album had been a couple of songs shorter. 'The Ghost Of You' is a classic Anderson/Butler composition though, IMHO.

The Tears album was really good but the live shows were even better.

I've heard all the Brett Anderson albums. The self titled one is dull with terrible production. Wilderness is a tiny bit better but sounds like a bunch of rushed demos. Slow Attack is his best work since Coming Up due to the massive Talk Talk influence, it's really beautiful in places. His last album was more of a band effort and had some good songs but nothing really special, kind of how I imagine a new Suede album would sound.

This is a new song they've been doing live that might make the album, it's just ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvhLfvBirBk

I feel kind of weird saying this but I kind of want them to come back with something that sounds like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umU0r8r76to

Turns out they premiered a few songs last year on tour, according to Wikipedia:

They then performed in Athens on 11 September 2011, and wrapped up their touring commitments in Russia on 16 and 18 December 2011 where they showcased new songs "Falling Planes", "The Only", "Someone Better", "I Don't Know Why", "Cold War", "Future Nightmare" and "Sabotage".

Of course he would do a song called "Cold War"! In Russia!

Meantime in a fit of organization, scrounging through all my singles again and some headscratching, I think I've figured out a playlist of everything that didn't end up on the remasters, so I just called it The Uncollected B-Sides and Rarities. A bit of fudging here and there -- the first three songs barely got released if at all and the Modern Rock Live session tracks were only ever released on a Sony promo disc, but everything else one way or another got a formal release on Nude, Sony/Epic or the Suede fanclub. Honestly surprised how much they ended up leaving out even with the inevitable live/alternate overlaps, this is three and a half hours worth of music! So in hopes fellow obsessives find it of interest:

Wonderful Sometimes
Be My God
Art
Just A Girl (1994 version)
This Hollywood Life [Modern Rock Live session]
The Wild Ones [Modern Rock Live session]
Killing Of A Flash Boy [Modern Rock Live session]
Animal Nitrate [Live - New Generation CD 2]
The Wild Ones [Live - New Generation CD 2]
Pantomime Horse [Live - New Generation CD 2]
Shipbuilding
By the Sea (live) [Coming Up US 2 CD version]
She (Strings)
Elaine Paige
We're So Disco
By The Sea [Acoustic Version]
Picnic on the Motorway (live)
She (live) [Coming Up US 2 CD version]
Europe Is Our Playground (live) [Coming Up US 2 CD version]
Saturday Night (live) [Coming Up US 2 CD version]
Killing of a Flash Boy (live) [Coming Up US 2 CD version]
Lazy (live) [Coming Up US 2 CD version]
Digging A Hole
Another No One [Sessions CD version]
Europe Is Our Playground [Sci Fi Lullabies rerecording]
Implement Yeah! (live at Reading Festival with Justine Frischmann plus Head Music demo clips and interviews)
Indian Strings [Protocol Demo]
She's In Fashion [Protocol Demo] (full version -- for whatever reason the one on the Head Music remaster loses a minute)
Can't Get Enough [Sessions CD version]
Beautiful Ones [Sessions CD version]
Savoir Faire [Sessions CD version]
Saturday Night [Sessions CD version]
Weight Of The World
Head Music (Arthur Baker Remix)
Everything Will Flow (Rollo's Vocal)
She's In Fashion (Lironi Version)
Since You Went Away [Sessions CD version]
Everything Will Flow [Sessions CD version]
By The Sea [Sessions CD version]
Untitled [Stanbridge Demo]
Simon (Instrumental)
Simon (Radio Version)
Attitude (demo)
Attitude [Mick Jones Remix]

I forgot about Wonderful Sometimes! Such a sweet little song.

The Sci-Fi Lullabies re-recording of 'Europe Is Our Playground' is the definitive studio version as far as I'm concerned!

I'm kinda curious now if there's anything rumored left in the vault that the remasters plus all the tracks above missed. I guess the release of the full length "Asphalt World" and the studio take of "Music Like Sex" were the two big ones from the remasters.

Well, there's 'I Don't Need A High' and 'Teenage Rose' which were two songs they were rumoured to be working on alongside the likes of 'Attitude' and 'Golden Gun' etc. They were performed live, but I'm unsure as to whether they got recorded.

The full length 'The Wild Ones' with the original ending was far more of a revelation to me than the full length 'The Asphalt World'. I really wish they'd retained that part. The bands decision to edit 'The Asphalt World' down for the album was justified, I thought.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if, rather than cropping and recolouring the photo they used for the sleeve of their debut album, they actually used the full photo like they were originally intending to.

Someone has scanned it in here, for those that are curious/don't have the remastered edition/have never seen it before...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16953040@N08/5952716714/

Meanwhile here's some of what Richard's been up to as well:

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2012/07/18/interview-artmagic/

Both David Barnett and Jude Rogers posting today about how they're off to record handclaps today on a new Suede record so there you go.

I love Sleeping Pills; its the song of their's I always go back to. I also remember seeing them at the Phoenix Festival in 95. Butler had just left, the press said they were all washed up, and it was pouring with rain. They played a blinder.

A legendary show, that one. They debuted "By the Sea" that night.

How handy, YouTube has it to hand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25jreCPK3D0

The bass on that sounds ridiculous, I don't remember the record sounding like that at all.

and lol at them drafting in outside help to do the handclaps

That bass is very silly, but it's a good song. I'd love them to do a great new record. Seems hardly possible.

and lol at them drafting in outside help to do the handclaps

the selection of hand clappers insures a good write up in certain publications.

cynic. me ?

What I want to know is, are they paying their crowd-sourced handclappers industry standard union musician rates?

They're a last minute substitution as Abu Hamza is suddenly unavailable.

Hey! Jude is one of my irl good friend's best friend. She's great! Small world.

Well maybe not for music people but she is great in any event.

Hamza's a mean triangle player, I hope they did those parts first

He's good at coming up with hooks as well... *gets coat*

it's hanging over there, on the polemicist

I wouldn't say I was ever an obsessed fan or anything but...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A4iJ6dnCEAAHBHD.jpg

Then again maybe I was.

Is that Fernando Saunders on that track from yesterday?

So apparently there were a LOT of people on handclaps:

http://www.suede.co.uk/gallery/

So it was some kind of "All You Need Is Love" supersession? Oh, I see, no not quite.

Re: the remasters, Ismael said this about Dog Man Star way earlier:

But now I've got the album proper on and woah is it something - it definitely didn't sound as warm and clear as this back in the day, everything's been properly separated and there are tons of things going on in the background that I swear never used to be there. Shame it's taken seventeen years to put right

Listening closely now, I have to agree. There's this oboe part at the end of "The 2 of Us" I swear I never noticed before which is just amazingly melancholic.

New album is called Bloodsports:

http://thequietus.com/articles/11054-listen-suede-barriers-new-album-bloodsports-details

One new track, Barriers, available to stream (watch out for big Brett face):

http://suedebarriers.viinyl.com/

I dunno.

Kinda not hating this song at all.

The song is not bad, but the production is kind of, hmmm, boring?

Love Suede, glad Suede is back, don't need new Suede. Have enough Suede.

It's OK. Sounds like something I wouldn't mind but would mostly ignore on daytime Radio 6. Editors or something.

Weird how basically nothing happens in the middle 8 before it goes back into the chorus. Some strokes of the guitar but hardly a solo. Maybe Richard wasn't that fussed (he doesn't look too fussed nowadays).

I first listened on headphones, and it's ugly how it jumps into the chorus. VERY LOUD.

Another thing: the second time the word "barriers" is used in every chorus, something musical happens that makes it sound very very Suedey. There's this chord/key change that they've used a million times before, but it is distinctive.

I'd be bored by an album full of this kind of stuff but will probably buy it nevertheless.

Yeah. I don't think the song is great by any means, but it does sound very Suedey.

Cashing in on Richard Osman's new found fame.

It's bugging me what the first two lines sound like! More specific than 'other suede songs' like the rest of it...

intro sounds very

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxM42rG0a08

yeah it does! That's not what I'm thinking of, though.

don't mind this, but fuck me producers are getting lazier and lazier, it feels like there's so much more that could have been done with this

I really like this. I'm so relieved.

I really like this. As it's 'just' an album track I look forward to the singles.

Dammit, overshadowed by Bowie again.

Not this time, I think. This gets better the more I listen to it ('too much reverb' mix notwithstanding). The new Bowie track I couldn't ever imagine wanting to listen to again.

Another thing: the second time the word "barriers" is used in every chorus, something musical happens that makes it sound very very Suedey.

It's got that Suede trademark odd 'wuergh' chord change. If you know what I mean. Kind of the exact opposite of what Noel Gallagher would come up with.

i didn't actually think clicking on the Suede link today would get me a new song. what a pleasant surprise.

on first listen it sound pretty damn good to me, at least it's not all slow and stuff. like others have said, it sounds like Suede. now looking forward to hearing the album.

Since there's an "ILX covers" for the new Bowie, wouldn't it be fun to have one for the new Suede, in parallel ?
I don't think the tracklist has been released yet but I'm pretty sure Ned would be the man to run this project too, huh !

Yeah no tracklist, also Bowie's return is way more of an open goal/out of nowhere effort from a much more notable musician, so.

yeah, of course. just the idea of suede and bowie releasing an album at the same time after such a long time seemed fun !
I'm not even sure enough people care about suede on ILX to make an EP cover !

I think there'll be enough interest if they release a tracklisting with typically Suede-y song titles.

To make the first listen of the forthcoming Suede album more fun, I've devised a little game for myself called 'Suede lyric bingo'... basically, as soon as Brett sings one of the following words, cross them off the list and see if you can get a line or a full house:

'he', 'she', 'dead', 'gone', 'shaking', 'obscene', 'machine', 'killer', 'street', 'sound', 'underground', 'sex', 'nowhere', 'town', 'house', 'estate', 'cheap', 'gasoline', 'petrol', 'car', 'star', 'shit', 'fuck/fucker/fucking', 'bed', 'motorway', 'new', 'head', 'film', 'girl', 'boy', 'woman', 'man', 'stupid', 'beautiful', 'council', 'life', 'together', 'another', 'stay', 'stereo', 'heavy metal', 'stutter', 'thug', 'mouth', 'city', 'aaaaa-haaaaaaow'.

Actually I think you just wrote a new song for them.

you forgot "nuclear" !

and 'maisonette'

also 'anything that might be a vague J G Ballard reference'

instead of covering the tracklist for the next suede album we could imagine the tracklist !

you forgot "nuclear" !

― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, January 11, 2013 11:56 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and 'maisonette'

― scattered to the nine vectors (snoball), Friday, January 11, 2013 11:58 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Added both of those to the list... also 'wind', 'rain', 'mind', 'smack' and 'crack'.

This is that new rap direction they were supposed to be going in, right?

Actually I think you just wrote a new song for them.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, January 11, 2013 4:19 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If David Bowie ever fancies doing another one of his cut-up lyrics, I'd be interested to see what he'd come up with with this bunch!

Bowie has a computer program which can do the cut up process electronically, without having to write out all the words on little bits of paper. Someone should give him a link to ILX.

Oh, and 'lover', got to get 'lover' in there as well.

Bowie has a computer program which can do the cut up process electronically, without having to write out all the words on little bits of paper. Someone should give him a link to ILX.

― pure dressed up like a white ninja (snoball), Friday, January 11, 2013 6:19 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You never know, Bowie likes his internet doesn't he? He probably might have stumbled across these parts at some point or another. In which case... hi, Dave! Drop in, see you around, come back if you're this way again!

We got art!

http://cdn3.pitchfork.com/news/49181/da107943.jpg

We got tracklist!

1. Barriers
2. Snowblind
3. It Starts and Ends With You
4. Sabotage
5. For the Strangers
6. Hit Me
7. Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away
8. What Are You Not Telling Me?
9. Always
10. Faultlines

*cough* ILX pre covers album *cough*

maybe "sabotage" is a beastie boys cover ?
the art is a bit cheap.
and he didn't use ANY of the lyric bingo words (in the titles) !

Snoball: if I wasn't hipdeep in the Bowie precovers album then yes.

Meantime if you're made of money

http://www.thestereoboutique.com/eu/s/suede/?intcmp=130115/suede/wmi/hp_sp/s_hp/but/bdy/row/store

maybe "sabotage" is a beastie boys cover ?

Nah...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKoAzDv9F40

I like the artwork... very Suede-like. Almost like a darker version of the Coming Up sleeve art, even! It's great that they've at least gone with something which has a bit of continuity to it rather than go with something wildly different.

oh it's totally suedey. but I dunno, I find the picture very cheap. it's certainly the idea, though !

too bad for "sabotage" that would have been an interesting concept (also the video)...

But instead of US 70's cop shows, they could have done it in the style of The Professionals.
http://watchplayread.com/files/2011/03/theprofessionals.jpg

Like the sleeve too, did Peter Saville do it?

Actual first single.

https://soundcloud.com/lunamothsuede/suede-it-starts-and-ends-with

That's two out of ten songs I like now, that's already better than A New Morning.

Not bad! Like "Barriers" a touch more on first blush but both good indeed.

I'm so desperate for them to pull this off and make a great album, even more than when the Tears album came out.

this will be a good album.

hum. the link doesn't seem to work anymore...

1h 15 minutes into this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qfhrd

Found it at 1h25m in that programme. It's kind of an innocuous radio song. About as good as The Tears.

I'm trying to hold off listening to this for as long as possible, try and keep as many surprises as possible for the first listen.

Official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D54iGj64dis

fact : bands that use same logo/font throughout their career = classic ..

Well the sound on that YouTube clip isn't as mangled as that 6Music stream, but I still can't make out the first bit of the chorus:

Shoot up on
Justin's farter
Crawl up off my knees
of water
I cling on by my nails
to the sweet Cinzano

Didn't expect to be interested in hearing a new Suede album in 2013, but between this and "Barriers" I am.

I wasn't massively excited when I first heard these two songs, but they're pretty solid after a few listens.

Yeah, "pretty solid" covers it, but sometimes "pretty solid" is what you want.

Well exactly, this makes the current will.i.am/Britney joint sound like it's made of, ahem, balsa.

I really like Barriers but I love the single. The video is a bit dull but I guess they're just trying to keep it simple. I'm so excited to have them back!

Poor Suede. Bowie blowin up their spot when they put out "Barriers" - MBV doin the same for this...

Pretty good tune though!

Listening to a live version of 'Sabotage' on BBC 6music while waiting for the new OMD single to be played. Sounds pretty damn good.

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/10/173863969/first-listen-suede-bloodsports

Ok, this is great. It's everything I wanted from the album. I'm such a happy Suede fan right now.

They've just posted a link to this stream over on Facebook, going to fire it up for my first listen in a few minutes... feeling very excited about this!

Listening to this now. Sounds pretty good so far. I'm not playing 'Suede lyrics bingo', but I couldn't help notice the word 'aerosol' just now.

I'm not playing 'Suede lyrics bingo' either... but I'm onto the 4th track right now and this a very unexpected and pleasant surprise! I don't know if it's a great record yet (of course, that'll come with many many more listens), but right now I'm enjoying this record in a way that I haven't done with a Suede record since Coming Up!

In his lyrics I noticed a lot of things that are like other things, especially in the single and For The Lovers. Sadly no skylines or gasoline in sight.

I'm on my third listen, I'm chuffed to bits with how solid this is. The big pop songs are great and sound like they could be hits (if they were released in the late 90's) and the ballads near the end are moody and mytserious just like Suede ballads should be.

Hit Me is the most instant song on the album, good to hear Brett singing those "la la la's" again.

'Hit Me' is my favourite song on the album, the crunchy guitars and Brett's just-a-bit-too-ridiculous lyrics ("hit me with your majesty"). The second half of 'Always' is pretty good as well. I'd have liked the album to be a bit more like that. Better than 'Coming Up' and 'A New Boring'.

It's definitely better than A New Morning and Head Music. I still rate Coming Up quite highly, but I don't get a Coming Up type of vibe from this album, especially on the second half.

whoops I meant 'Head Music', not 'Coming Up'
Anyway, aside from 'Hit Me' this is definitely one of those albums where I'd have to be in the right mood to listen to it (as opposed to albums that force you into the mood to listen to them).

I don't know, I think the first half of this album is quite immediate stuff... the second half, with all the moody numbers, is going to take me a couple more listens... but my feeling at the moment is that this album is definitely a keeper. Better than I could have possibly imagined.

Hitting the fucking spot, this.

It's really pretty good, isn't it?

My wife and I went to see them at a showcase last week. She was a fan in the early 90s. Seeing Brett close to made her all girlish. She took photos. She has never done that at a gig before. Was fun being with someone getting so excited about the show.

I'm quite surprised this album gets such good critics.
I might even start to be interested and listen to it !
the track they released a few weeks ago wasn't particularly good, though...

On second play now and I think Barriers may be the worst track. This is much better than expected, even if the production isn't amazing (and I have no qualms with Ed Buller's 90s stuff, like everyone else seems to).

Importantly, it's appears to have their best melodies since the Coming Up-era.

I'm not quite sure what the worst track on the album is at this stage, but I can definitely say that I don't think 'Barriers' is it. I've had that damn chorus pop up in my head every so often since the track was available to listen to... same with 'It Starts And Ends With You'.

I think the weakest track for me might be For The Lovers, but it's not a bad track in the slightest, it's just the safest sounding song on the album. I love how they really went a short album with no filler. I always thought if they trimmed Head Music and actually The Tears album they would have been better albums.

Also I'll be the first (and maybe) last to say it, I think this album is miles better than the new Bowie one.

Good. "It Starts And Ends With You" was much better than it had a right to be.

Unrelated to the new album, I was flicking through some of their later B-sides on Spotify and came across Let Go from the Head Music era which I'd never heard before. That is one great song, they should have saved it for A New Morning or put it out as a single or something.

One quibble with the album is the sequencing, which seems to have been done with short-concentration-span digital listeners in mind - ending with four ballads in a row. They're all pretty good, especially the first of them, but in a row they don't work. I imagine they wanted to frontload the album with upbeat stuff, though. An old fashioned two-sided album would have allowed much better sequencing.

xpost -- Yeah, "Let Go" is a treat -- and it became an honest to God fluke hit single in Sweden in its own right!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVQ6qBfukU4

http://www.discogs.com/Suede-Let-Go/release/1881031

I don't know why but seeing brett peform with a guitar feels wrong.
a bit like jagger.

He got pretty good at the guitar though - he accompanies himself capably at his solo shows.

The "All you need is everything" backing vocals on Let Go are just killing me right now. Great to see it was a hit somewhere else but yeah as I said they should have put it out as a single here.

I was watching some of the interviews for those 2011 reissues. They asked Brett about A New Morning and why they put Oceans (probably the best song on A New Morning) hidden away as a bonus track, Brett just said "I've no idea" They really did make a lot of strange decisions in those last few years. A New Morning could have been almost decent if they had included Oceans, Simon, Let Go, Cheap, Instant Sunshine, You Belong to me along with Obsessions and maybe Lost in TV (I forget what the other decent songs on that album were)

Anyway back to the new album. I'm really starting to wonder how this album is going to sell next week, I really don't have any idea how well it will do.

This is a massive improvement upon A New Morning. I would go as far to say I love it. Nice one, Suede.

i love that i was alerted to this record via facebook by the lead singer of aerosmith.

I don't know why but seeing brett peform with a guitar feels wrong.
a bit like jagger.

did he play the guitars on "The Power"?

checks to see if i own this single with "Let Go" on it...well yes i do. it is about were i stopped buying their singles however.

did he play the guitars on "The Power"?

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, March 13, 2013 2:14 AM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nope, he didn't... a session guitarist came in and basically recreated the guitar parts from the demo that Bernard had left behind. The session guy was uncredited on the album, and to my knowledge remains uncredited.

so I've listened to the album.
I have to say I don't really understand the enthusiasm.
I didn't find it interesting at all (not a single song grabbed me).
I guess I'm not a suedehead anymore !
maybe I'll give it another chance...

I love this album! I feel like a nutso teen fan again, which is probably what they were going for.

hum. I must be missing something !

I think Bloodsports might be my album of the year so far, this feels really odd. I haven't bought an album on the day of release in a while but today is one of those days.

Me in the Quietus about being a forlorn(ish) American fan:

http://thequietus.com/articles/11661-suede-america

A friend of mine saw them here behind that first album, when the group was iirc opening for some bigger band ... Belly? I do remember Radiohead opening for Belly. Anyway, he recalls a pretty serious case of gay panic among the dudes in the crowd, who did not dig Suede's prancing androgyny. At the same time, I recall the mocking members of the Juliana Hatfield band or Lemonheads or some combination offered to sleep with Brett after he made that boneheaded claim of being "a bisexual who has never had a homosexual experience." Same with Oasis, I guess, the US just wasn't ready for the confrontational ego of a band acting larger than life, since we were in the midst of grunge's false modesty.

Cranberries, I'm guessing. Same time of year (fall 1993).

Gotta admit, this is pretty good. After a couple of listens, I definitely prefer the second half of the record. Reviews made it sound like it ended in a series of dreary ballads but this isn't the case at all. More like mid-paced melodrama.

Mat Osman is kind of an unsung figure in rock, but some of the best bits of the album are on his bass.

The only negative is that Suede remain the band most likely to make you think your speakers are fucked. Someone should have turned the reverb down just a notch.

I recall the mocking members of the Juliana Hatfield band or Lemonheads or some combination offered to sleep with Brett after he made that boneheaded claim of being "a bisexual who has never had a homosexual experience.

was it? The interview, which appeared in Select, began with the JHT guys baiting Suede but the reporter added no inflections. I took it...straight.

Gotta admit, this is pretty good. After a couple of listens, I definitely prefer the second half of the record. Reviews made it sound like it ended in a series of dreary ballads but this isn't the case at all. More like mid-paced melodrama.

― Eyeball Kicks

I'm starting to agree with that, the first half is so instant and really good but those ballads at the end just keep sounding better and better. Hit Me is still my favourite song on here by quite a long way but surprisingly there isn't any filler.

i see this is coming out in America tomorrow, wonder if they will still add London to their name?

Press release I got calls them the London Suede.

Yup. And on iTunes as well. rmg;lrsgjshjtjt;a

I'm so shocked at the good reaction this album has had, even from the critics.

http://www.metacritic.com/music/bloodsports/suede/critic-reviews

It really does deserve it though. Listening to it last night I realised I actually like as much as Coming Up. It's totally turned me back into a Suede fanboy.

When I was in America a couple of years back I bought a copy of Coming Up by The London Suede and took it back for my friend in the UK. He was delighted and just couldn't believe they had to do that name change in the first place. I should get him some Charlatans UK too next time I'm there.

I actually like the name London Suede, and find it much better than Suede UK.

Always makes me think of London Fog, though.

I like The British Suede and think they should be called that everywhere all the time. See also: The Chelmsford Squarepusher, The British Bolt Thrower, Morrissey UK and Anglo-Blur.

At least the US band the Charlatans was fairly popular and still shows up frequently on '60s psych-pop comps; I've never heard of the American Suede except in regard to the legal tussle with the popular British band.

Is this a thing? For some reason all these "XYZ UK" bands are all late 80s - early 90s

xpost That's why I think it's hilarious, that some DC area folk singer that no one has heard of forced Suede to change its name in the US.

xp - oops I meant: is this STILL a thing?

this sounds good but pluralizing "bloodsport" is simply terrible

http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Bloodsport-Remake-Phillip-Noyce.jpg

pluralising sport is simply terrible

It should be pluralized "spurts."

Bloodspurts.

bloodsports is usually plural isn't it? (at least in UK)

Bloodmaths.

Joining the chorus of this being surprising good.

ditto. Not sure about the final couple of tracks though, give me more like 'it starts and ends with you'

ROBBIE WILLIAMS SPEAKS OUT ABOUT BRETT ANDERSON
http://www.robbiewilliams.com/news-blogs/just-musing-a-supposed-brett-anderson-quote
THEN THANKS HIM
http://www.robbiewilliams.com/news-blogs/thank-you-brett

The only negative is that Suede remain the band most likely to make you think your speakers are fucked. Someone should have turned the reverb down just a notch.

― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, March 18, 2013 9:09 PM (4 days ago)

I've also never heard such a bad mastering job. The clipping on tracks 8 and 10, especially, is nuts.

PLEASE SAY HELLO TO YOUR DRUMMER
HE WAS CONSISTENTLY LOVELY WITH ME

is the drummer the gay one?

is the drummer the gay one?

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, March 22, 2013 3:39 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup!

Still very much enjoying this album!

consistently lovely with me

I've got two of the bonus tracks, but the Japanese-only one and the 7" single tracks are still out there...somewhere.

The clipping on tracks 8 and 10, especially, is nuts.

Do you mean that the recording is distorted? I should revisit those tracks and check it out. Not sure what you mean though.

The recording is distorted, yes, because it has been mastered to be too loud. Clipping sounds like crackling, not so different from your speakers being fucked or the noise you get when the reception on a radio isn't so great.

On track 8, What Are You Not Telling Me?, the crackling is worst from 2:23 to 2:40, but it's all over the track and other tracks.

this got me listening to Dog Man Star again - Christ that record is nearly perfect

The recording is distorted, yes, because it has been mastered to be too loud. Clipping sounds like crackling, not so different from your speakers being fucked or the noise you get when the reception on a radio isn't so great.

On track 8, What Are You Not Telling Me?, the crackling is worst from 2:23 to 2:40, but it's all over the track and other tracks.

― Eyeball Kicks

Yeah I noticed it on this song too, thought it was just the download I had. I am away from my CD's at the moment so can't compare it against a real copy.

Sad to see this album is looking like missing the top ten in the album chart. Album sales are so low at the moment I thought this would chart a lot higher. If the The courteeners can shift almost 30,000 copies of their album I thought Suede would easily be able to do the same.

Still proud of calling Dog Man Stae my fave of 1994.

Same here and that really was a great year for albums.

Sheer magnificence at Nottingham Rock City last night. Nine new songs - including the three closing ballads, played live for the first time - and nine old ones. Nothing from Head Music (or from A New Morning, which goes without saying really). B-side treat: Killing Of A Flash Boy, during which Brett was mobbed and sank from view for most of the song. Set opened with the first three tracks from Bloodsports, which worked very well indeed; Barriers is ideal as a set-starter, and It Starts And Ends With You induced actual shivers (surprising, but spines don't lie). Main set closed with Trash & Beautiful Ones; shit was duly lost. Encore closed with New Generation. Fucking hell they were good.

(I reviewed it for the paper, but it's vulgar to link to your own reviews, so I won't.)

(But here's a photo from last night: https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/150423_580979511915190_628883679_n.jpg )

This isn't you, is it, mike? http://nottinghamconfidential.blogspot.com/2013/03/suede-at-nottingham-rock-city-review.html?m=1

Ha, no! But I agree with the review - particularly the bits about Brett's enduring foxiness, ahum.

Wife and I agreed last night that she can leave me for Brett and I can leave her for Connie Britton should it all go horribly wrong at home. What Brett and Connie Britton would have to say about this remains to be seen, but I can't see they'd mind.

Don't think that much of the new record, but "Fautlines" is lovely, up there with the good stuff.

I don't think anyone else has pointed this out, but "Faultlines" pretty much recycles the melody from Brett's solo song "Clowns" - easily his best tune of the last decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyteb16owdk

The new album is terrific! The final mix is awful though: it hurts my ears.

Yeah it crackles pretty awful.

I don't think anyone else has pointed this out, but "Faultlines" pretty much recycles the melody from Brett's solo song "Clowns" - easily his best tune of the last decade.

― Eyeball Kicks

I guess he just figured hardly anyone heard that song so he would get away with it. Not sure what I'd nominate as his best song of the last decade. Maybe the song he did with Pleasure? I really liked his third solo album Slow Attack, maybe something off that.

I only noticed those crackles on What Are You Not Telling Me. Have you either of you listened to it on CD? So far I've only heard a download and figured the quality wasn't perfect. I do have the CD but I'm not able to play it at the moment as I'm away from my collection.

Yeah, the crackles are on the CD. Tracks 8 & 10 especially. It was driving me crazy cos I was having some trouble with my speakers anyway, but then it was a minor issue in Suede forums and audiophile forums so at least my speakers were fine.

Which works! Those are the worst tracks.

No they're not. The weird thing about this record is that every song is kinda 8/10, without exception. Nothing above, nothing below.

Barriers is the worst and me think the album would be a huge letdown

LOVED Suede. Even really enjoyed the Tears record, but this one just hasn't hit for me yet. Seems relentlessly polite, unsurprising and middle-aged... like a British Gin Blossoms or something.

Enjoyed "It Starts and Ends With You" in the way one would enjoy an above average third single, but other than that... eh. I always lose interest halfway through.

Please tell me which song on here I should try listening to over and over to fix this problem I have. Wanna love it.

No they're not. The weird thing about this record is that every song is kinda 8/10, without exception. Nothing above, nothing below.

― Eyeball Kicks

Yeah I kind of agree with this, no weak tracks. Hit Me might be the only one I'd rate higher than a 9.

Please tell me which song on here I should try listening to over and over to fix this problem I have. Wanna love it.

― mr.raffles

Hit Me is my favourite song, it's the big pop moment. Maybe try Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away for the big dramatic ballad. For me the second half is the strongest part, those four ballads at the end just seem to sound better everytime I play it.

Much thanks for the pointer, KP. Glad to see you step up, as it seems we have a fair bit in musicalcommon, but...

hmm

def still not grabbing (hitting?) me. maybe a phase I'm going through, but I'd still stand by what I said before. what I've been able to get through still seems a bit restrained and character-less. gonna put on the back-burner for awhile. hope its charms reveal themselves to me when I revisit.

Went to see them doing an acoustic set at Abbey Road Studio 3 the other night, and the ballads from the new album were even better in that form.

Re-listened to this earlier, 'Always' has grown on me a fuckload!

The 'Dog Man Star'/Floyd breakdown is one of their best moments

I've always kinda scorned the box-set business, but I got an email about this Suede vinyl set and I felt some weird old-man thrill at the thought of owning Head Music, New Morning and Sci-fi Lullabies on vinyl (plus the ones I've already got). Yeah, I'll give them £130.

If I could afford that right now, I would damn well be buying it, even if playing Head Music on vinyl isn't going to make 'Asbestos' sound any better.

"Bloodsports" is sounding better than ever right now.

listening to Dog Man Star again - Christ that record is nearly perfect

― not feeling those lighters (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, March 23, 2013 11:34 AM (10 months ago)

It really is

Suede are playing the whole of Dog Man Star on March 30 at the Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Trust, but I think tickets sold out pretty quickly.

Well I live in America and don't have a passport, so it's totally moot

OK, I'll tell them to cancel.

Lol Thx!

seconded

it would have been great if bernard had joined...

Yeah that would be cool, but I suppose since they're keeping on going, and looking to record another new album, it might be kind of awkward. I always feel sorry for Richard Oakes - he must really get sick of hearing about BB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eswQl-hcvU0

yeah, he's been in the band for 20y but he's always been and we always remain a substitute... tough.
but that's for he signed for, huh !
I remember an interview of bernard getting mad because they hired a puppet to replace him.
thing is, rihard didn't make things easier by playing the same guitars and having the same stage moves (at least for a while).

Yeah, exact same moves - shaking his hair, stomping his foot etc. Beautiful Ones was a great riff but other than that, though post-BB Suede have loads of great songs, I can't really think of any amazing guitar bits.

thinking of it, it must have been really weird/ridiculous, even for the others in the band. maybe brett should have told him to get his own style for his own sake !

and yeah, the songwriting and production became less structured around guitars after bernard.

I think Oakes has gone on record saying he's not particularly into guitar solos.

it's not really about guitar solos (although bernard had awesome ones) but the riffs and structure of the songs.

yeah, he's been in the band for 20y but he's always been and we always remain a substitute... tough.

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, February 5, 2014 3:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Depends on the way you perceive it. I love Butler-era Suede as much anyone that loves Butler-era Suede, but I view that Coming Up era line-up as no less "Suede" than what came before. Of course Oakes was clearly influenced by Butler, it's why he got the job: it kinda helps when you have to perform the older material live. When it comes to the composition side of things, though, Oakes has his own melodic sense, which of course comes naturally from not being Bernard Butler.

Suede became less structured around guitars after Butler left not because of Oakes, but because of Neil Codling. If I recall, Oakes would rather have had Head Music be a guitar-based record, but Brett was keen to make a more electronic influenced record and wanted to involve Neil in the songwriting process more (with him being the keyboard player and all).

I agree with you mostly. After bernard left and considering richard had obviously less talent/vision than his predecessor, it was the best choice to try and go another direction...

anyway, with this thread and the 20th anniversary of DMS, I listened to it again and it is truely as great as ever... if not more ! I had shivers during "asphalt world" this morning.
even "black or blue" which I had never liked is enjoyable now. it has a debussy atmopshere. that and the ravel influence of the end of "still life" show an early 20s french aspect I had never noticed !
I also found interesting the fact that you find the brass and string parts at various moments during the album (from "pigs" to "black or "blue") before they all come back during the final of "still life".
the only song I don't find interesting or useful is "the power".

There was an interview with Brett just before DMS was released, and he said that "The Power" was the one song on DMS that was recorded after Bernard left, which is why it's lighter and breezier than anything else on the album. It's almost like a preview for "Coming Up", but they hadn't figured out what kind of band they were going to be yet post-Bernard.

I personally think Suede could have easily churned out Coming Up-like albums with that line-up until the end of time, but I think Brett started to change Suede's direction not because of Oakes' "relative lack of talent", but just because he wanted to try something different and had the resources to do so. Drugs, of course, also may have had something to do with it.

You've got to realise the circumstances with Butler and Oakes were very different: Butler was able to hone his craft and his guitar playing skills for a good while before Suede started to take off, whereas Oakes was basically forced into songwriting and playing to loads of people without having to "pay his dues" (for want of a better term). The fact that Oakes managed to come up with the music for 'Together' and 'Bentswood Boys' without having much of a background in composing music at that point is something I find very admirable, and there are plenty of Suede fans that still rate those tracks. So yeah, Oakes may not have been quite the "visionary" that Butler was, but he clearly had the talent to pull it off when he wanted to.

yeah, it's nice and all but I have never really liked it. and you clearly hear that bernard is not on it since the arrangements and guitar parts are way too simple. it should clearly have been left out as a b-side.

There was an interview with Brett just before DMS was released, and he said that "The Power" was the one song on DMS that was recorded after Bernard left, which is why it's lighter and breezier than anything else on the album. It's almost like a preview for "Coming Up", but they hadn't figured out what kind of band they were going to be yet post-Bernard.

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, February 6, 2014 12:50 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hmm. I don't know about 'The Power' sounding like a preview for Coming Up... personally, I find 'The Power' breezier than anything from Coming Up. It's definitely too breezy for Dog Man Star, in my opinion. If anything, I find 'The Power' reminds me of stuff like 'Lost In TV' from A New Morning

xpost
oh absolutely, I'm not denying the qualities and merits of richard. he did what he could and it was very good already.
as for the change of direction, I mean it's because brett didn't have a counterpart as heavy as bernard that he could (or had to) change.

I remember their first public performance EVER with richard. it was for a radio session in Paris and they had just recruited him.
I was so jealous because he was roughly my age and I was such a bernard fan !

If 'The Power' had been left off Dog Man Star, I wouldn't have complained. Especially with them having songs like 'Killing Of A Flash Boy' lying around, but I suppose if 'Killing Of A Flash Boy' had made it into Dog Man Star it would have been mixed with the same amount of excessive reverb as the rest of the album, and it would have spoiled the track.

they could have added another track ("flashboy", "dark star"...) or just leave the album with one less track.
I guess they fellt like it could be a single and they needed more single material from the album...

Yeah... it definitely sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the album. I mean, even if I didn't know that Bernard wasn't on it and that it was recorded after he left, it has a very different feel from the rest of the material on there.

what were the singles from DMS : "pigs", "power" and "generation", right ?

oh and "wild ones" of course !

I saw Suede in 1997 and the setlist suggested that for the most part, they were keen to move on from the Butler era as much as they could reasonably get away with. https://www.songkick.com/images/1988626

In the Love & Poison book, it's mentioned how the band and Buller were keen to try and be contrary to what Butler would do and I guess Brett wanted to continue distancing themselves from the initial 'Classic Suede' sound, which resulted in 'Head Music' and disastrously with 'A New Morning' and 'Love The Way You Love', before admitting defeat. Anyone who's heard 'Bloodsports' can muster a guess as to what Brett might have been thinking would be the most appropriate sound to return with...

^ during the Coming Up sessions, that is

xxpost:

'We Are The Pigs', 'The Wild Ones' and 'New Generation'.

Apparently, 'The Power' was officially supposed to be the fourth single on May 1st 1995 but it was pulled. Saul Galpern had the band record some potential B-sides for 'The Power' in LA, and the band came up with 'Sam' and 'Have You Ever Been This Low?' for this purpose. According to the Love and Poison book, Brett was convinced that Galpern had no intention of ever releasing 'The Power' as a single, and wanted to see if the band could come up with a "potential A-side" track like 'Together' so he had something new to release as a single instead, and because neither 'Sam' or 'Have You Ever Been This Low?' were potential singles, Galpern pulled 'The Power' from release.

The Power does sound lighter than other stuff on DMS. However, even though it was finished after Bernard left, this involved a session guitarist recreating Bernard's parts from the demo, so it's likely it would have sounded similar even if he had stayed - i.e. the relative lightness was intended from the start.

I bought the Suede vinyl box set a few months ago and it comes with a (great) book containing interviews with the band (including Bernard) covering every single song. I will look up what they have to say about DMS later and post some of the best trivia.

You've got to realise the circumstances with Butler and Oakes were very different: Butler was able to hone his craft and his guitar playing skills for a good while before Suede started to take off, whereas Oakes was basically forced into songwriting and playing to loads of people without having to "pay his dues" (for want of a better term)

I guess I dislike the assumptions you're making about craft and instinct? The first two Suede albums are their best, but Anderson and Oakes coming up with "Trash," "Filmstar," "Saturday Night," and "Beautiful Ones" suggest Oakes had no need to hone any craft: he had plenty already. Unless we've got info that those credits were gestures of generosity (<i>Coming Up</i> does boast Anderson's first solo songwriting credits)?

Yeah, "The Power" is a nice break from all the heaviness around it on DMS, but at the same time I wouldn't miss it if it was dropped from the album altogether.

The Power does sound lighter than other stuff on DMS. However, even though it was finished after Bernard left, this involved a session guitarist recreating Bernard's parts from the demo, so it's likely it would have sounded similar even if he had stayed - i.e. the relative lightness was intended from the start.

I bought the Suede vinyl box set a few months ago and it comes with a (great) book containing interviews with the band (including Bernard) covering every single song. I will look up what they have to say about DMS later and post some of the best trivia.

oh ! that'd be great !
I suppose you can't have the book without the boxset...

As for "power", maybe it replicates the demo but I really have a hard time imagining the final song would have sounded like that with bernard. there's not another Suede song from his era with such basic guitar parts. just the opening acoustic guitar strumming is almost opposite to his conception of guitar playing !

xxpost
funny I was wondering if it's possible that brett would have credited richard with some songwriting to give him some confidence and strenghthen the band.

The Power is one of the songs that Brett would have taken off (along with Black and Blue) to make room for some of the B-Sides according to those reissues. He would have put Killing of a Flashboy, My Dark Star and The Living Dead on there instead. Those are obviously the better songs but I love Dog Man Star as it is.

It's interesting that the record company were desperate for them to change We Are the Pigs as the lead single from DMS wanting to go with New Generation instead. I love that they went Pigs as they wanted it to be this big statement, I think they were absolutely right to do that. They always seemed to have some kind of issues with their lead singles though. They always seemed to put out the more obvious hit (or the song the record company would have chosen) as the second single. On A New Morning there choice obviously cost them the success of the album.

It's been said millions of times already but I'm still impressed that they released this crazy album, being one of the hottest bands on the planet at the time, as a follow up to their smash hit debut album. so gutsy (or suicidal) !
I guess MGMT did something similar (although I've never heard their 2nd album). are there other examples ?

de la soul is dead?

except they had their biggest hit (ring ring ring) on de la soul is dead, no ?

Rid of Me.

Six by Mansun?

I guess I dislike the assumptions you're making about craft and instinct? The first two Suede albums are their best, but Anderson and Oakes coming up with "Trash," "Filmstar," "Saturday Night," and "Beautiful Ones" suggest Oakes had no need to hone any craft: he had plenty already.

Well, yeah, that's what I was saying. I was defending Oakes, not slighting him.

funny I was wondering if it's possible that brett would have credited richard with some songwriting to give him some confidence and strenghthen the band.

― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, February 6, 2014 2:28 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The way the Anderson/Oakes partnership worked was wildly different from the way Anderson/Butler worked. When Bernard was in the band, Bernard would write and demo the whole chord structure of the song in its entirety, and then give it to Brett so he could work out a melody line and a set of lyrics to go with it. When Bernard wrote the music, it would often not change when Anderson got involved to write his part; the exception being the tracks on Dog Man Star which were edited down when Bernard left the band.

With Richard Oakes, it was different and far more flexible. For example, when Richard wrote the music to 'Together', the verse was originally the chorus and the chorus was originally the verse, and Brett made the decision to swap them around. A lot of the Anderson/Oakes Coming Up tracks were written in the same room together as a collaboration, whereas Anderson/Butler worked separately. On that album, Brett would often get an idea for the melody line first and then he'd go around to see Richard Oakes and work out the chord structure around the melody line, passing ideas backwards and forwards and adding bits/junking bits that didn't work until they completed the song.

yeah, I can totally see these two different ways of working. the main thing, for me, is that with richard, I suppose it was brett who had the upper hand and final word whereas with bernard the "power" (ah !) was more balanced (although brett was also older than bernard and recruited him by classified ad).
I think richard was more a collaborator than a songwriting partner. I don't know if this makes sense !

listening to "hollywood life" I'm still impressed by how dirty/powerful the guitars are !

Yeah, I totally understand what you're getting at. In Anderson/Butler Suede, there were essentially two bosses and neither would budge for each other. It's like "this is the music, and this is how it's going to be, and I want it to sound the way that I want it to sound" and "these are lyrics, I don't give a shit about whether you object to it being a squalid song about junkies, that's how they are and I'm not changing it". With Richard Oakes and Neil Codling, they chipped in with ideas but Brett was ultimately the boss.

exactly !
that makes me think of another question that's always seemed weird to me in songwriting partnerships where things are totally divided between music and words/melody as I've also made songs with a partner : I have difficulty thinking bernard would make the whole musical parts without ANY idea of the melodies.

there's John-Taupin. The latter writes lyrics without music, then hands them to Elton.

yeah the lyrics only aspect I can easily see. it's the dichotomy between music and vocal melodies that seems weird to me.

I have difficulty thinking bernard would make the whole musical parts without ANY idea of the melodies.

― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, February 6, 2014 5:00 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bernard has often remarked that the top lines and lyrics that Brett would write to his chord sequences would be completely different to what he was expecting. This is pure speculation, but I do think it's possible that when Bernard was writing the music, he had his own ideas of what lyrical themes and vocal melodies would go on top, which is why he was often a bit pissed off when Brett turned 'The Living Dead' into a song about junkies and called one of his pieces of music 'Killing Of A Flash Boy'.

there's John-Taupin. The latter writes lyrics without music, then hands them to Elton.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 6, 2014 5:07 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup, Difford-Tilbrook too.

i've posted this half hour Pete Pahpides-narrated BBC docu elsewhere but really it's amazing. it's from a series called Follow Up Albums on Radio 4.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01j6srs

You know, I can understand why they cut off the outro section for 'The Wild Ones', but at the same time I have a real fondness for the unedited version.

yeah me too it's fuckin great innit. i'm glad they cut Asphalt World in half mind. even that goes on forever. IMO.

Hum. That's one of the cases where I agree with brett's pop sensibility. Bernard's instrumental parts are not so good and necessary on the extended/original version of "wild ones". Which is funny because it might be his best guitar parts otherwise !

OK, I've just scanned in the DMS pages from the vinyl box set book that I mentioned. Kind of tricky because it's the size of a record and my scanner is just A4, but I managed. Here it is for those interested:

Part 1: http://imgur.com/cFtqCZg
Part 2: http://imgur.com/D1sE9oy
Part 3: http://imgur.com/2RQHm8O
Part 4: http://imgur.com/YA3KhxC
Part 5: http://imgur.com/ggPuEdn
Part 6: http://imgur.com/qy9nxLM
Part 7: http://imgur.com/X9faPDM
Part 8: http://imgur.com/QiP3V0S

I'm still impressed that they released this crazy album, being one of the hottest bands on the planet at the time, as a follow up to their smash hit debut album. so gutsy (or suicidal) !
I guess MGMT did something similar (although I've never heard their 2nd album). are there other examples ?

― AlXTC from Paris

Beauty Stab is always a good answer to this question.

amazing work EK, gonna rifle thru those now

Great stuff.

Oh yeah, that reminds me: where was everyone's votes for Bloodsports in the EOY poll!?

Thanks for uploading that Eyeball Kicks. Very interesting to read through it all.

Oh and Turrican, I had Bloodsports in my top 10. I did my best.

Really regretting not getting that vinyl box set now as it seems to have sold out everywhere. I bought those deluxe editions already and couldn't really justify getting these too, even though I'm much more into vinyl these days.

It's really nice. I think all of the albums (including Sci-fi Lullabies) are getting released separately on vinyl on February 17, though, if you want to pick any of them up. They're all on Amazon now.

Nice. That means I can skip Head Music and A New Morning and just get the good albums. Actually I do still like some of Head Music but don't see myself shelling out the money for it on vinyl.

oh wow, thanks Eyeball Kicks !

thanks Eyeball Kicks these are great.

Yeah thanks Eyeball, those make great reading. Would never have picked up on the Neil Young influence in 'We Are the Pigs' but I can totally hear Crazy Horse in the verses now.

yup, it's fantastic to have an insight into the making of DMS. I'd never heard about many of these.
it's funny how bernard is focused on the relationship with simon.
and regarding "power" I was right about the guitars not being what bernard would have done !

Man, have I been on a serious Suede kick for the last couple of days! They're that kind of band, aren't they? One you don't listen to for ages, and then just wanna binge on everything they've ever done.

It's pretty well known that Simon and Bernard didn't really get on well, especially during the Dog Man Star era.

Man, have I been on a serious Suede kick for the last couple of days! They're that kind of band, aren't they? One you don't listen to for ages, and then just wanna binge on everything they've ever done.

― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican)

Think I'm about to have one of those Suede binges myself. Might not quite go through ever thing (finally threw out my copy of A New Morning last year) but going to through all the good albums and B-sides very soon. Love this band.

As much as I don't rate Head Music or A New Morning as highly as the first three, Bloodsports and Sci-Fi Lullabies (the first disc of which is out-and-out amazing and might even be my favourite collection of Suede songs ever), I don't think I could ever bring myself to part with them. I still have more than a fondness for tracks like 'Obsessions', for example!

Jesus christ, 'It Starts and Ends With You' is like 10% verse and 90% chorus!

Head Music vastly underrated, imho. The third-best Suede record.

Head Music > Bloodsports