suede - a new morning

I seem to be one of the only people in the world who likes the final Suede album before they split for a while in 2003 - A New Morning. It pretty much bombed when it was released, barely scraping the Top 20 (all their previous albums made number 1), the accompanying singles didn't bother charts much (though "Positivity" was one of their biggest sellers in most European countries - especially Denmark) and despite generally favourable reviews from the press it was the fans, crucially, who had always defended Suede against every criticism, who seemed to turn against the album. Quite why is a mystery. Suede's concerts from 2002 and 2003 were some of the best, and best received gigs of their career. Critically acclaimed shows, sold out everywhere, yet the album they were promoting sold next to nothing. 

To add insult to injury 2003's Singles collection didn't even reach the top 30 despite containing all 21 of their singles, most of which had been top 10. It seems that by 2003 Suede had become utterly irrelevant to the general public. A strange and very sudden turn of fate - in 1999 all the singles from Head Music had charted well, and that album was their biggest seller.

Anyway, A New Morning, whilst not being the strongest Suede album is by no means the disaster that everyone seems to think it is. The opening track and lead off single "Positivity" is delightful - summery, up beat and very catchy, backed with a lovely string arrangement. I'm at a loss to explain why this song attracted so much disdain. Maybe it wasn't murky and grimy enough for the old Suede fans. The next track "Obsessions" is a real return to basics - a classic Suede rocker with Brett on top form vocally. His singing voice had lowered slightly from the whine of the first album to a more gravely rasp vaguely reminiscent of Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs. Many of the following tracks adhere to the band's initial desire to record a sort of electric folk album. Gentle guitars, piano, mellotron and strings mix with some glorious backing vocals and genuinely uplifting and laid back melodies - "Lost In TV" is a wonderful example of this, with it's catchy chorus it could have been a great summer hit. 

Interestingly the whole album was recorded at least once before being scrapped and redone. The original versions, recorded with Beck producer Tony Hoffer, circulate and it's hard to hear why they were dropped. Not only do they sound excellent, with some intriguing electronic flourishes, but the eventually released versions recorded mostly by Stephen Street, really don't sound that different and none of the released versions are appreciably better. It's as if Suede had a weird crisis of confidence that was never satisfactorily resolved.  

There are still some harder songs - "You Belong To Me" is up there with the best ever Suede riffs, though on this one I find Brett's vocals strongly reminiscent of Scott Walker (and why was it relegated to bonus track status??). The song is fast and pounding with a great circular guitar signature but somehow the vocals are cool and relaxed and remarkably similar to Scott's laconic drawl on some the Walker's more up beat numbers. "One Hit To The Body" is classic Suede, but arguably the most impressive songs are the quieter ones - "Astrogirl" has a delightfully woozy mellotron sound, and the hidden track "Oceans" is gorgeous. 

It's a feel good album, full of nifty tunes and melodic invention. Should have been a much bigger hit, and really deserving of rediscovery. 

suede - bloodsports

After a chance encounter with "For The Strangers" from Suede's 2013 album Bloodsports, I was reminded that I'd not played this record all that much, as it was unfortunately issued around the same time as Bowie's The Next Day and then somehow got a bit overlooked last year.  

Bloodsports (and the 8 extra tracks that were issued as b-sides or whatever they are called in these digital times) basically give us enough songs for a double album. And generally it's darned fine stuff.

 

It's Suede, sounding just like Suede. Nothing terribly new, or experimental, just big riffs, big choruses, lotsa swagger and fire and pouting and whooo-hooooing. The intention for the album was to create a record chock full of potential Suede singles. This is achieved admirably, but perhaps this is also the only real downside to the album too - as it ends up being perhaps a little bit much. After side one (and it's definitely an album with two sides) I can't help wishing that they'd dialled it back just a touch - the songs are terrific, the passion is there, everyone's having a great time but it's perhaps a little too frantic, too busy. Some of the tracks might have worked better if they'd left off that extra guitar overdub, if they'd calmed down the drumming, if Brett had reigned himself in a tad.

This may seem a little odd, as the last thing you'd want is Suede phoning in their performances, but in trying to recreate the power of the debut album or the pop/rock sensibility of Coming Up, it seems that Suede are trying a little too hard. This would be a better album with everything turned up to just 9, not 11 - same songs, same performances even, but just a little more restraint. 

Interestingly the b-sides are generally calmer, more reflective and more varied in their approach - with less pressure on the band to recreate that Suede sound after ten years away, they've come up with, arguably, better songs than those that were chosen for the album.  

A new album is being worked on at the moment and early indications are that, with Bloodsports having re-established Suede as ongoing band, this time the songs are more experimental, longer, and more far-reaching. This, in my mind anyway, has got to be a good thing.  

I love Suede, always have, and probably always will, and regardless of my comments above, Bloodsports is a very worthy addition to their catalogue. Arguably their best album since Bernard Butler left. Really.