Suede - Disc of the day

Suede
Dog Man Star

(Nude, 1994)

Under a shroud of darkness, Anderson and Butler produce their best work…

As the new Brett Anderson album recently hoved into view, conversation in the office turned to the fey former Suede man’s early endeavours. “Suede just aren’t a band whose records you dig out and play,” our Consultant Ed rashly declared, laying down a gauntlet that just begged to be picked up. One restorative listen to Suede’s second album and we had to agree that the forgotten player in Britpop’s annus mirabilis has aged remarkably well. In fact, at a suitably loud volume, it bristles with energy and class. Guitarist Bernard Butler turns potentially flat arpeggios into grand, circling centrepieces and straight solos into unhinged mini-dramas (see The Asphalt World), drawing on a potent brew of menace and melody that runs riot through this strange masked ball of sepia-toned pop. The huge, melancholic anthems – We Are The Pigs, Heroine and The Power – still sound beautifully bleak, with Anderson’s aching, thoroughly British holler giving all those apocalyptic lyrics a tarty, playful edge. For this writer, The Wild Ones remains Suede’s finest moment on record. Curiously, it’s not a song packed with Butler’s meanest thrashes or Anderson’s most soaring vocals, yet, with their partnership close to ruin, both still manage to take the song to a celestial peak neither has managed to reach since. Dig out and play with pride.

Ross Bennett

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 16/07/2008