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I pick their debut, "Suede", for its longevity and consistency. This was the first album I had bought of the band, and I bought it blind, having never heard them before. Or is the correct team deaf?

When the guitars on the opening track "So young" kicked in, I thought "this sounds nice". Five seconds later, I was in shock. The vocals started. You have to appreciate that I had never heard Brett Anderson sing before, and its quite a shock when you hear his unique voice for the first time. I'll admit his voice is a very acquired taste. To avoid an album review cliche, I won't say it's the kind of voice you either love of hate. Instead I'll say that it's the kind of voice that it's possibly to simultaneously love and hate. Like many great performers (including Bob Dylan and Morrissey), Brett Anderson doesn't have what you would call a conventially good singing voice. However, when you combine his singing voice with the music and unique lyrics, it sounds nothing less than brilliant. Nobody else could sing these bizarre lyrics with such emotion.

So why do I choose that album as my favourite? The most common fan favourite is "Dog Man Star", but I sometimes find this album too ambitious for its own good. Sure it contains some classics like "We are the pigs", "The wild ones", "The power" and "The asphalt world", but it also contains "Black or blue" arguably the worst Suede song ever released, and easily the most pretentious. "Coming up" sounds like a greatest hits compilation, but lacks the longevity. "Head music" sounds great, but it has a few duds.

"Suede" is a fantastic, consistent collection of songs. From the catchy campness of opener "So young", to the superb glam rock of "Animal nitrate" and "Metal Mickey", to the powerful epics "Pantomime horse" and "Breakdown" - this is a music with blood pumping through its veins. And who can forget "The drowners", the first Suede single, and an instant classic.

Not only do Suede rock musically, but Brett Anderson is one of the most unique lyricists to come out of the 90's. Obviously influenced a lot by Morrissey, his lyrics range from obscure sexual imagery ("...ever tried it that way, have you ever tried it that way?"), to more obvious sexual imagery ("does your love only come, does your love only come, does he only come in a Volvo?"), to utter disgust ("I know you've been inside but what were you in for? animal lover, animal, animal lover?").

Suede are one of the best bands of the 90's. Listen to this album to hear where it all began.


Love and Poison...   February 18, 2000
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Suede were a major band in the 90 (though you wouldn't know it from the lukewarm reception afforded to the mediocre Head Music). Their first album is a testament to the raw, disillusioned arrogance of a band that took the English music scene by storm back in 1993, and breathed some life (and some controversy) into a pretty stale period. Brett Anderson, with his cropped tops, floppy fringe and penchant for whipping his backside with the microphone when performing live, was every inch the glamorous, outrageously outspoken popstar that we had been waiting for, worshipped and reviled in equal measure. Bernard Butler was the guitar virtuoso with the talent and vision to back up Suede's grand statements of musical revolution. Though they wore their influences like badges of honour - Bowie, The Smiths, T-Rex are usually mentioned - they were no 70s throwbacks, with their distinctly 90s take on urban decay, disillusioned youth and drug-fuelled decadence, every day tragedies in the satellite towns of England.

So Young lights the blue touch paper in splendid fashion, the album's opening track ushering in a superb cocktail of frenzied Butler guitar playing and Brett's desperate falsetto in full flow. Animal Nitrate is another stomper, fulfilling Brett's ambition to see a song about dubious sexual practices reach the top ten. The real pearls on this album, though, are the slow ones: Sleeping Pills, Breakdown and She's Not Dead are gorgeously majestic tales of wasted youth and spiritual desolation.

While Dog Man Star can count some Suede classics among its number (The Wild Ones, The Asphalt World), it is the soundtrack of a band in crisis, and Bernard Butler departed before its release. Coming Up was a solid effort but not inspiring enough to really thrill. Head Music was disappointing, and could well mark the end of one of the great bands of the last decade. However, Suede, the debut album, is a powerful reminder of how great Suede the band once were and how great British music can still be.


Best album of the nineties   November 10, 1999
 7 out of 8 found this review helpful

The sheer brilliance of Bernard Butlers' guitar parts mixed with Brett Andersons' voice, from glass-breaking highs to ground rummbling lows, make 10 genius songs, and with "The Next Life" (the 11th song), a vocal and piano song, to bring you down at the end, it is safe to say that Suede by Suede is the best album of the 90s. The opening song (So Young) shows you both Butlers' talent on guitar, with the breakdown at the end, and his skill as a pianist. This song is followed by "Animal Nitrate", Suedes' best song to date. This is Bernard Butler at his best, never has a song made me feel so alive every time I listen to it. The album is a constant display of how good music can be. At no point will you find your self skipping over a track. At no point will you go on a long time without listening to it. If you only have Head Music you will be surprised at how good Suede used to be.


Keep away from the Gin and Tonic after this one...   January 4, 2001
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Suede's first album is a mix of hyperactivity and drug-fried melancholy. It flows along beautifully, in the same sort of spirit as Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and Radiohead's "OK Computer" although this time, you aren't quite sure if the ending is a happy one or a miserable one.

Suede have said in interviews that they love The Smiths and Bowie, but fortunately, they do not try to copy them. Rather, they have a more grounded, definable way to describe emotions than Bowie, and their angst is a lot calmer, and a LOT blacker than the work of Morrissey. Nonetheless, they showed an enormous amount of talent for a first album. Since that period, they've become a lot more love-focused and upbeat. Maybe I'm being harsh. This is an album that you'll hum along to when you're feeling on top of the world, but if you're feeling miserable, it certainly won't cheer you up.

Although all but a couple of the tracks (Moving, Animal Nitrate and Animal Lover) aren't radio-friendly, it's a beautiful composition to be appreciated. If you love it, you'll remember Brett Anderson's almost pained voice singing, "Let's chase the dragon... home..." for life, as you will with the haunting guitar riffs from Butler and Anderson crying, "Have you ever tried it that way...?" in "Pantomime Horse." Just some advice. Not calm-down listening after a break up, a breakdown, or anythingin between that requires a lot of Gin and Tonic...


Perfect album   February 24, 2005
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

One of the great, great albums. Anderson and Butler were untouchable.
Seeing them live when they were touring with this album was something you had to see to believe. They were jaw-dropping. I paid lots of money to have my guitar teacher help me learn how to play the songs on this album, and every penny was well spent. I will never tire of hearing this album. If you aren't knocked out by Bernard's hook on Animal Nitrate the very first time you hear it, well, I'm sorry for you.