Suede Album-by-Album Discussion Thread

Ah Dog Man Star (nice three word nod to Bowie I guess with Diamond Dogs, Man Who Sold The World and Ziggy Stardust?)!

It's a fantastic record and in my top 5 for Britpop albums. I was 16 when this came out so it was exactly the right time for me as I was really getting into music, aaah the mid 90s...great days. Songs like The Power, The Wild Ones, Black & Blue and Still Life are still brilliant, the album is quite unique I think, nothing quite like it from this era.

The only funny thing is every time I hear the second part of Still Life (just after the 3.30 min mark) I ALWAYS seem to think of Billy Crystal and Jack Palance from the film City Slickers. I have no idea why, that country-ish sound, I just picture them on horseback hearding cattle across the American wild west...I obviously need help.

 

Alright, moving on!

Suede - Coming Up



album released September 2, 1996

track listing:

Trash**
Filmstar**
Lazy*
By the Sea*
She**
Beautiful Ones**
Starcrazy***
Picnic By the Motorway**
The Chemistry Between Us***
Saturday Night**

personnel:

Brett Anderson - vocals
Richard Oakes - guitars
Mat Osman - bass guitar
Neil Codling - keyboards
Simon Gilbert - drums

all songs written by *Anderson, ** Anderson/Oakes, ***Anderson/Codling
produced by Ed Buller


Singles

Trash


released July 29, 1996

B-sides:
Europe is Our Playground (Anderson/Osman)
Every Monday Morning Comes (Anderson/Oakes)
Have You Ever Been This Low? (Anderson/Oakes)
Another No One (Anderson)

Beautiful Ones



released October 14, 1996

B-sides:
Young Men (Anderson/Oakes)
Sound of the Streets (Anderson)
Money (Anderson/Oakes)
Sam (Anderson)

Saturday Night



released January 13, 1997

B-sides:
W.S.D. (Anderson)
Jumble Sale Mums (Anderson/Oakes)
This Time (Anderson/Oakes)

Lazy



released April 7, 1997

B-sides:
These Are the Sad Songs (Anderson/Oakes)
Feel (Anderson/Codling/Gilbert/Oakes/Osman)
Sadie (Anderson/Oakes)
Digging a Hole (Codling)

 

Filmstar





released August 11, 1997

B-sides:
Graffiti Women (Anderson)
Duchess (Anderson/Codling)

Let's discuss!

 

Just a few things for now, before I commnet on the album: The b-sides to "Trash" are great. The chorus to "Every Monday Morning Comes" is just massive. I always thought it was have been a better single than "Trash". "Another No One" is a stunningly beautiful Anderson solo track.

I feel like starting with the "Beautiful Ones" singles, the quality of the band's b-sides started to decline. There are some standouts, but definitely some subpar material.

 

This album.....when I handed a vinyl copy to Brett after our 2010 interview, he looked at the front, turned it around (as if to study the tracklist) and said: "It's a good pop album. Maybe a bit cheap but really not bad!"

Back in 1996 it was not just a good pop album. Back in 1996 it looked and sounded perfect for a short while. In a way it's Britpop's very own "The Slider" (T.Rex), uplifting and anthemic but the cracks are beginning to show. In the songwriting armoury and the tortured psyche of their creators. Kick out all former complexities, simplify your music, streamline it. Spraypaint your vintage car and go full throttle into the next dead-end street. Turn yourself into a product. Compete. And - like "The Slider" - end up with something that is rather a sound, a giant noise than a song.

It's understood that Brett and Suede DID have stuff to prove, written off by the press, overlooked by the public and since 1996 was a year with no fresh Blur, Oasis or Pulp product, the boys delivered. And who can blame them?

Back in 1996 I loved "Coming Up", it sounded so contemporary and NOW, it was almost obscene. And I was young and easily led

Now I'm not so sure. I don't enjoy it as much as "Suede", "Dog Man Star", "Bloodsports" (!) or "Night Thoughts" (!!). And I need to revisit "Head Music". Some songs are still great: "Trash", "Lazy", "Beautiful Ones" or "Saturday Night". Others start to sound increasingly hollow: "She" or "Starcrazy". What was witty and heartfelt before starts to sound increasingly cynical and generic. Still there are great couplets: "From the flats and the maisonettes", love the way Brett sings that.

The fascinating thing is that most of the many b-sides suggest that "Coming Up" could have been a "better", deeper album. It's not that Suede didn't have the songs. They WANTED "Coming Up" to sound like that...

Ups.....


But as I said: They HAD stuff to prove. And you know what they say about love and war.

 

I think people these days tend to write off this album as bubblegum pop by conveniently forgetting all of the deeper, more emotive tracks: By the Sea, Picnic By the Motorway, The Chemistry Between Us and Saturday Night are all anything but throwaway pop, in my opinion. There is more depth to the album than it gets credit for.

 

I read that too (I think it was in a magazine around Bloodsports)

Not sure Jarvis would like that. He'd probably prefer if you found one of his albums or songs "the best thing he ever did".

 

I still have a 90s hangover for this album....I know it's partly really good, but I can live without ever hearing "Beautiful Ones" again.

 

Well, I was 19 when this album was released. Sweet times, indeed
I bought Trash the day it came out, I can't say I fell in love with it. Obviously, the Oakes-penned b-sides were paving the way to that kind of sound, but I remember it sounding a bit too thin and Brett's voice a bit too girly at that point.

They obviously wanted to fit in the britpop climate of the era, when maybe I hoped for a muscular version of Dog Man Star, or whatever I may have thought at that point.

Doubts aside, once I got the album I quickly fell in love with it, it's a guilty pleasure maybe, but in the noblest way.

 

Oh, and another thing (or two). Suede are among the best b-sides bands ever, really, and the output they released from 1992 to 1994 is unbeatable. But, am I the only one to think there is a very strong alternative album among Coming Up's b-sides?

They could have easily saved them and in a couple of years release a much stronger outing than Head Music.

Plus, Coming Up is where the cracks in Brett's lyrics start to show a little bit, foraying into slight parody on some occasions...

 

Errrr..... "The best thing ANY Britpopsinger EVER did....on a stage" The best thing Jarvis ever did artistically....oooooh...."His N Hers"? "Different Class"? The fin de siecle atmosphere of "This Is Hardcore"? Hard

 

I have heard a version of Trash without the varispeed vocals, where is that from?

 

High on diesel and gasoline
Psycho for drum machine
Shaking their bits to the hits....

 

My "luck" is that I'm not mother tongue, so I lose a lot of words especially at first listens.
But this is Shakespeare compared to what will come after (Positivity )...

 

The Singles album from 2003 has a re-recorded vocal from Brett in his New Morning-era voice. I can't say I like it better, but it's ok.

I like Coming Up, although it is a bit dated-sounding. Brett said before they made the album (immediately after the DMS tour, IIRC), that the next album would be a short pop album where every song is a single. Well, they nearly succeeded! (5 of the 10 tracks were released as singles!). It's got some great writing and lyrics, overall, but in retrospect it's the beginning of the lyrical and vocal dead-end Brett got into on Head Music. The varispeeded vocals, the recycling of lyrical themes, the glammy/trashy sound...it was pretty fresh (for Suede) in '96 but it was SUCH a left turn for them that they almost HAD to go off the rails with the electronic bleeps and bloops of Head Music, because they couldn't have continued down the Coming Up path any further without really becoming a joke.

There are some great B-sides from this era..."Young Men," "Sadie," "Every Monday Morning Comes," "These Are the Sad Songs," "W.S.D.," "Europe is Our Playground"...great tunes. But still overall weaker than the first two albums' B-sides.

When I first heard Coming Up, it was SO different from DMS that I almost didn't believe it was the same band...even their image, in matching black Doc Martens, jeans, leather jackets, dyed black hair...it seemed so un-Suede. They almost HAD to go in that direction to stay relevant, yet they still remained that band that was just outside the mainstream from everyone else. "Trash" I've always thought was a bit overrated as a song although I can see its appeal and it's catchy enough. I used to love "Starcrazy" and "Filmstar" but now I just think they're ok. For me, the two ballads and the "epic," "Saturday Night" and "By the Sea," and "The Chemistry Between Us," respectively, are now favorites. And I can't not love "Beautiful Ones," even now after all these years. Great video, too. "She" veers awfully close to the self-parody that torpedoed Head Music, and "Lazy" is damn good but does sound a bit like Scooby Doo, as Brett said in the official bio.

 

Together was a great b side.

 

I was lucky enough to be there. Amazing evening.

I didn't like the initial Suede stuff, I only heard the debut in retrospect.

However I bought 'Dog Man Star' on release after hearing 'Daddy's Speeding' on a 'Q' magazine freebie.

A stunning album, probably my favourite record of the 1990's.

Of course it came out in the era when you'd buy a new release on CD and then tape it for the car. In order to get it on one side of a C90 I did ditch 'This Hollywood Life' and 'New Generation' and I don't regret it. They are the only weak tracks.

Memories of being in my late twenties and living in a rented flat with my girlfriend and young child and listening to this record late at night. Really epic.

Freaking 'The 2 Of Us' should be preposterous - a five minute skeletal ballad - it's stunning.

 

What I love about "CU" is that Suede didn't succumb to the long album syndrome. At....what....42 minutes it has the perfect length. With their almost 60 minutes the next two records would be much too generous "Elephant Man" anyone? We'll get to that

 

I do not remember exactly when, but before there was a title (and possibly Neil Codling hadn't joined yet) there was a rumour, possibly initiated by Brett, that Coming Up would be an experimental double album. At some point I learned about song titles "Young Men" and "Saturday Night". My imagination ran wild... wow, experimental compared to what? What Suede had done previously? It's going to be off the charts! At this moment the most recent new Suede song was "Shipbuilding", and I could imagine a Space Jazz Glam odyssey.

Coming Up turned out to be a lot, but experimental double it's not.

It was on my first visit to London that I heard the first fruits of this record, "Trash". It sounded so weird, and what was up with Brett's vocal? But damnit if it's not a catchy song, and before the second chorus was over I was sold on the idea of Brett the "Material Girl". I think it's a fantastic song. I'm 17 or 18 when I hear it. The whole single (in Holland they took the U.K. CD1 and added "Another No One") was a joy, in fact. At that time the Space Jazz Glam odyssey was even still a possibility. There was something weird about "Every Monday Morning Comes", and "Europe Is Our Playground" sounded like nothing Suede had done before. "Another No One" could nearly compete with the best Suede ballads.

I placed a pre-order at my local record store, expecting to be able to pick it up on the day after the release on Monday 02/09 (shop was closed on Mondays). However, when I dropped by on the Friday before the owner of the shop told me, "I bet your here for your Suede CD". What a great surprise! And it's so bright!

By song 3, "Lazy", I had given up on the Space Jazz Glam odyssey, and before I was halfway through the record I realized this was not going to be as good as the first two albums. But also it didn't take too many plays to realize it was full with fabulous pop songs. "Beautiful Ones" was an instant favourite. "By The Sea" and "Picnic By The Motorway" (what an amazing image!) gorgeous. "Lazy" such fun! Yep, definitely still my favourite band.

I dyed my hair black, had the DM's. Got the singles (loved "Young Men", "Sound Of The Streets", "W.S.D", "Jumble Sale Moms".... overlooked the, ahem, less-than-perfect "Feel" and "These Are The Sad Songs"). Met my first real-life fellow Suede fan after going to university. Being a Suede fan would go from something to do in private, a solitary thing, to something like being part of an army over the next few years, and it started with Coming Up.

As I mentioned previously when I posted about the debut, Suede would become the most important band of my life. My trajectory started with "Animal Nitrate". My wife became a fan with "Beautiful Ones". Our paths hadn't crossed yet, and wouldn't for another three years, but by 1997 we were on roads that lead to us meeting.

 

for me this album has a few terrific songs and a few duds and little in between. I really disliked "Starcrazy" and "Filmstar" at the time. Now I still don't like "Starcrazy", but I've grown to like "Filmstar". But "She" doesn't have much appeal for me anymore. For the rest it's perfect pop.

B-sides: I love almost all of them. The only ones I don't like that much are "Money" (not bad, not great) and "Feel" (unless I'm in the mood for it, which is not often). As a matter of fact, I play disc 2 from the deluxe edition more often than disc 1. I know most dislike "Sam" but I have no idea why: I have a soft spot for acoustic Suede and I adore the melody, the bassline and the piano & lalala. I also love "Simon" (he even gets mentioned in Sam) and I tend to think of them as twin songs.

 

There was a trend back then of putting LA LA LA parts into songs. It was quiet annoying.
See the awful LA LA solo in oasis - all round the world.

 

Great album though I hardly remember it. I had reached drinking age and lived in the clubs, think I was drunk for about 2 years. Great times.

The Chemistry Between Us is my favourite track.

 

Some of Suede's "Coming Up" era "lalalas" amazingly sound like the ones in Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" from 1973.

 

I like the b-sides too. It's amazing how many new songs the Oakes/ Codling line-up suddenly had, especially when you consider that Bernard complained how "foking slow" Brett was only two years earlier.

True, not each and every track would be as good or essential as the earlier b-sides but there are a lot of great tunes. Which makes "Coming Up" a bit frustrating to be honest because it COULD have been a different album with "Europe", "Sad Songs" or "W.S.D." in place of "She", "Starcrazy" or "Filmstar".

 

The 1999 MOJO review for "Head Music" ("What a much-improved band they have become") mentions Brian Eno should originally have produced "Coming Up"? Is that true?