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 11 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.


Remarkable beginning, forgettable finish   October 6, 2006
Gary
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

By the time you hit song five "Pantomime Horse" you will be starting to wonder how this band did not go on to be a major international act. With the impossible styling of the lead singer and the wailing lead breaks of the guitar broken by sudden fragile piano runs it is not possible to listen unemotionally to this album.

That is until song six. Just as you are settling down for a good listen - no, a great listen - the band ease off the unpredictable breaks and you get a murky, sodden wall of noise with few highlights.

Buy it for the opening set of five. They've got more punch than most albums collectively. But forget the rest.


Best album of the nineties   November 9, 1999
7 out of 9 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.


Spectacular   March 29, 2001
Gustav Kaellstrand (Stockholm, Sweden)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is undoubtedly one of the greatest debut albums of the 90's. It came with the beginning of the brit-pop wave, together with such acts as Pulp, Blur, Saint Etienne and of course, Oasis. But Suede had something none of the other bands had. They had soul. The same kind of white soul that David Bowie had as the Thin White Duke. And they combined their soul with elegance, decadence and a great portion of plain ol' rock 'n' roll. The result is a grand album. Bernard Butler's guitars combined with Brett Anderson's haunting voice is all you need to express the kind of urban decay that young people always will feel eventually. At least those who posses feelings.