Are Suede criminally underrated?

I would agree, I think their rating is about right.

 

I think Dog Man Star is a bit underrated, rarely listen to them today. I saw them live in the 90s, and it was a great concert that sort of defined an era in british music for me.

 

Oh P.L.E.A.S.E.! I love Suede but they definitely are not in the same league as Bowie or Roxy. Can't be. As good as they were, innovators they were not.

 

They were very good during their peak period (1993-96), but unfortunately they are has-beens today, like many others.

 

I don't think they're underrated, though I'm not sure what the guide for that would be. They seem to to have done ok financially and their albums are usually critically well received.

I personally am a fan, though I would put Coming Up a little lower in my list of favorite Suede albums. It's very good, but I think Dog Man Star is their masterpiece.

 

When they recorded the album their producer gave them a copy of the T.Rex album The Slider and told them to listen to it. Almost every track on The Slider could have been a single. Suede obviously took listened and took note.

 

I liked quite a few of their songs, but was put off by Mr Anderson's voice. It sounded too fey and affected for my tastes.
I also thought that the reverb was rather over-done on many of their recordings (particularly on the vocals). I wouldn't have considered them to be under-rated at all.

 

OK... I may not rate them as high as Bowie - or fellow member antonkk - but with an album as strong and successful as "Blood Sports" you can hardly call them "has beens".

 

The Butler era stuff is absolutely brilliant...flawless, IMO. Coming Up is nearly as good. Apart from a handful of songs, Head Music and A New Morning are crap, but they came back strong with Bloodsports, which is a GREAT album.

 

"The Slider" definitely has a similar euphoric, druggy and trashy throwaway vibe. Both albums must have sounded perfect and super contemporary when they came out - OK...I know how "Coming Up" sounded in 1996 - but ultimately led to the temporary undoing of their creators.

 

Sorry, did not like it.

 

Me too.

 

They are my favorite band of the 90s, so damn right they're underrated. At the very least when the 'best of Britpop' discussions start, Suede deserve to be mentioned alongside (if not ahead of) Blur and Oasis.

 

Well... they are! Aren't they?

 

I agree about the importance of the bonus tracks but the mastering is appalling and destroys everything. I ended up selling all the deluxe editions because of that. It's a pity, really.

 

I would say Matt Osman is underrated as a bass player. Simon Gilbert is a good solid drummer, but nothing special.

 

I think they are underrated in the sense that they never made it in America. British people probably have a different perspective since they were actually pretty big there. But they also aren't that critically underrated or forgotten in the scheme of things either. They'd be in the top 5 or so names listed in a "Top Britpop Bands" list and probably have several albums in a "Top 20 Britpop Albums" list too.

I got "Coming Up" for a dollar the other day and I think it's absolutely fantastic. Doesn't reach the highs of their debut album but a better album overall.

 

"Coming Up" doesn't reach the highs of "Suede" but is better? Weren't you the guy that said - in the MBV remaster thread - that Bowie wrote substantially better songs than on "Low"?

Once again I can't agree. I don't think "Coming Up" is "better" than "Suede".

 

Dog Man Star is one of the best albums of the 90's, great record, and is up there with the best British albums ever made.

Suede is a great debut.

Coming Up lacks the magic of Butler and sees them drop down a level IMO, with Butler they could have achieved anything, without him they just became a normal band.

They are underated to an extent, as Blur and Pulp tend to get the critics vote, and Oasis the popular vote, in the Britpop summary, and of course Radiohead probably stole their thunder when Butler left in terms of great guitar work.

 

Suede and Dog Man Star are great. With Coming Up the goal was to write an album of hits and they succeeded, but I have no wish to listen to it today. It's too much of it's time, a real 90s artifact. Picked up Head Music cheaply and it actually has some excellent tunes.
If the crapfest they called Oasis is still rated, Suede are underrated. As are Elastica, on a related note.

 

Let me get the crits in first: they were highly derivative of several classic 70s/80s artists: Bowie, Brian Ferry and the Smiths were all too obviously present and correct in their DNA.

That said, the debut is great and Dog Man Star is one of the top three albums of the 90s. Picked it up earlier this year for only 50p and was reminded of what a formidable songwriting team Anderson/Butler made. Such a pity that they couldn't keep it together.

The rhythm section might not have been anything to write home about but it was well up what was asked of it.

One of the very few post-1980 acts I like.

 

The debut and "Dog Man Star" are bona fide masterpieces (although it took me years to get into "Dog Man Star"). I can't comment on the rest because in all honesty, despite owning them, I never really explored them for long enough. For me Bernard Butler was much needed foil to Brett Anderson and when he left I for some reason became disinterested, although I'm probably missing out on some good tracks.

They were also one of the utmost best bands for stellar b-sides. "My Insatiable One" is probably one of my favourite Suede tracks of all time...

 

Bernard Butler made the same mistake as his Idol, Johnny Marr. They both probably left their bands too early. Both were great guitarist (still 2 of my favs) but they needed to be working with great singers & lyricists in order to be at they're best.

 

I think Suede, Inspiral Carpets and the Charlatans are all crazy underrated - as far as actual successful bands are concerned.

 

Agreed that Butler left too early but the atmosphere in the band was not really great. At the time I don't think there would have been a way to continue. Marr on the other hand... I think a proper conversation could have fixed a lot of things...