POLLing of a Flashboy - Suede, "Sci-Fi Lullabies"

My usual edit went 'We are the Pigs', 'Heroine', 'The Wild Ones', 'New Generation', 'This Hollywood Life', 'The 2 of Us', 'The Asphalt World'. It cuts out the unformed or boring bits, while keeping the ever-more-epic progression of the longer album.

'Still Life' is a beautiful thing, but it's just too much. I'd've preferred it as in its stripped-down acoustic form. I believe that's how it was premiered, as their encore headlining Glastonbury - they were pretty audacious, this lot

To the Birds

I'd never heard this stripped "Still Life," I like that a lot! I like the song but the over-the-top production relegated it to a rare listen.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Really great singing in that Still Life video, for a guy often thought to have an annoying voice.

Absolute best b-side not on Sci-Fi Lullabies = This World Needs A Father.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Quite right.

Not a great fan of Ismael's DMS edit tbh, I mean it doesn't have "Daddy's Speeding" on it for a start

Have listened to S-F L on Spotify a couple of times, and yeh, some strong tunes.

Have listened to S-F L on Spotify a couple of times again, and the massive standouts from Disc One are He's Dead and Europe Is Our Playground, closely followed by To The Birds and High Rising

standing by this as the definitive suede album & the only one anybody really needs to own

it's really pretty good

Hey brad w did you ever get a chance to listen to those Head Music B-sides?

definitely would've voted "whipsnade", such a pretty one. i had a poster of this album in high school, it got really mangled while moving at some point. kinda agree that this is all you need. 1st disc, anyway, is the most consistent full-length they've done. what the hell was wrong with these 90s british bands releasing some of their best songs as b-sides?

fuck me disc 1 is amazing, so much better than dog man star

the sequencing is great. the stretch from "the big time" through "my dark star" is so languid and dreamy... love how sort of gradually hushed everything gets and then the drums/guitar from "my dark star" kick in like sunlight peaking through clouds

i do think i slightly prefer DMS, though. and even though i'm usually a bitch about bonus tracks, "modern boys" is a kickass, riding-into-the-sunset way of ending DMS.

it's awesomely-sequenced and there aren't really ANY weak-spots. 'my dark star' is rapidly ascending my order of preference, but i think 'he's dead' is still greatness. mind you the opening track is a freaking stormer and 'high rising' is exquisite

first disc of this is the best album ever

It really is

I think we polled this another time too. Not sure if I will ever get around to doing this artist poll I signed up for 😟

without a doubt it's "My Insatiable One." this is one of the best b-sides compilations ever, i never bought it because i owned all the singles before this came out.

― Bee OK, Thursday, March 19, 2009 7:25 PM (fourteen years ago)

I can live with that but that Stay Together single with Star and Dead is almost unmatched

ivy. otm

when I bought the Stay Together EP in '94 I played "Dark Star" to death.

*MY Dark Star

it’s perfect. I love the unhurried windswept intro

I was lucky enough to see them do "My Dark Star" on the early 95 American tour for Dog Man Star as part of the encore. Great moment, great song.

my dark star and my insatiable one are both perfect songs but i'd have to have gone for the new version of europe is our playground, which rivals the 2 of us for my favourite suede song overall

i do not understand how every song is so good. "my dark star" -> "killing of a flash boy" happens and you're like, wow, that's two really amazing songs in a row, surely another can't be waiting around the corner, yet there is, and it's "whipsnade"

"Whipsnade" should've been 12 minutes long and given the Nerve Net-era Eno remix imo

the atmosphere and production is consistently great and it doesn't feel like these songs were recorded in separation sessions months-to-years apart but like they were recorded in a single session, intended for this particular sequence, even though they're arranged chronologically, even though disc one ends with three songs sans butler plus oakes!!!! it's impossible that this ever happened

i like disc two a lot too! obv it lacks the same dynamic

the atmosphere and production is consistently great and it doesn't feel like these songs were recorded in separation sessions months-to-years apart but like they were recorded in a single session, intended for this particular sequence, even though they're arranged chronologically, even though disc one ends with three songs sans butler plus oakes!!!! it's impossible that this ever happened

― ivy., Thursday, 18 January 2024 20:35 (six minutes ago)
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agreed

I think it's almost as miraculous that they didn't just find a replacement for Butler, they found in Richard Oakes someone that may have been the *best possible* replacement for Butler. Or, for that matter, have the *other* new guy, Neil Codling, who just happens to be the cousin of the drummer, eventually turn out to be a pretty good (and perfect for Suede) songwriter in his own right. Something in the water, I guess.

Disc One being so good has helped to quell any thoughts I've had about whether they got the debut album tracklist right (it's one of my all time favourite albums) - we can have both of these amazing things

High Rising as the closing track ahead of The Next Life, though...

Whipsnade wuz robbed.

the outro to “whipsnade” is the most intoxicating piece of music ever

They’d had Whipsnade knocking around since the debut album sessions supposedly. There’s a really good book(let) that comes with one of the many recent box sets that has BB and BA going through the early years track by track and it’s wonderful so it is.

disc 2 is super fascinating too for how much darker and dreamier in tone it is compared to coming up. I think I like it better actually?

better than coming up I mean, I’m not that messed up

Gotta say that chatting with them all again the other year (well, not Butler obv but otherwise the quintet) confirms something I felt when I first met 'em back in 1993 -- they're just solid and friendly people! Seen it all but absolutely commit to the performance.

Got Stay Together single for my 13th birthday and it fooled me into expecting b-sides on CD singles to be of that standard

Thanks for leading me back down this rabbit hole ivy. Like Oasis, their first two albums along with their B-sides comp is all you pretty much need. Tho Suede are on a different level even if the other band was more popular. I do like parts of the next three albums but haven't played any of them in years. Post reunion is a blind spot for me...

What's the best album from their second life, including that Tears album? I'm sort of in the mood to play Head Music right now.

Oh man, if you haven't heard Autofiction, fire it the hell up.

Autofiction and Bloodsports are both fantastic.

I love Night Thoughts.

A New Morning is the only genuinely patchy one imo. But my unpopular favourite is Head Music - even though it is a bit patchy too (the title track, Elephant Man).

I've been listening to Here Come the Tears, and without ever being bad it's fairly lackluster, like the furtherest extent of their ambitions was, "let's make A New Morning that's adequate rather than weak".
Bloodsports had a few very good uptempo songs but the ballads felt thin in inspiration and texture.

Actually the only Tears album also reminded me of the only Zwan album: a 90s malcontent tries to embrace "positivity" and joy in a way that is convincing personally but not so much musically.

the atmosphere and production is consistently great and it doesn't feel like these songs were recorded in separation sessions months-to-years apart but like they were recorded in a single session, intended for this particular sequence, even though they're arranged chronologically, even though disc one ends with three songs sans butler plus oakes!!!! it's impossible that this ever happened

yeah I thought it was at the least re-ordered to make the flow smooth. like, "Europe is Our Playground" doesn't feel right as anything but a closer. I've never quite gotten behind disc 2, but disc 1 is the best album they ever made

I also think I didn't vote in this because "Whipsnade" has been my favorite for years

how did "Whipsnade" earn no votes, for god's sake

^^^ the outro to “whipsnade” is the prettiest thing in the world

Flashboy and Whipsnade are incredible songs but can't imagine them as part of DMS

Brett came up with this alternate tracklisting in his liner notes from the DMS reissue:

ALTERNATE ‘DOG MAN STAR’

Listening back to all this stuff makes me want to re-write history. If I could do it again I’d do it slightly differently:

Introducing The Band
We Are The Pigs
Heroine
The Wild Ones
Daddy’s Speeding
My Dark Star
Killing Of A Flashboy
This Hollywood Life
New Generation
Living Dead
The 2 Of Us
Asphalt World
Still Life

^^^ the outro to “whipsnade” is the prettiest thing in the world

The bridge is pretty amazing too. Might be my favorite Suede song

Brett's revised tracklistings are a load of nonsense IMO

Great albums + singles with no bad b-sides was a wonderful time all round and I wouldn't change any of it