If my username is not enough of a clue, I’m a fan of Suede. Always my favourite of the Br*tp*p posse, I maintain that “Dog Man Star” is the high watermark for anything flying under that much-abused banner, but the pure pop of “Coming Up” is a close second… and their comeback has been one of the most dignified and satisfying I can remember, with two truly excellent albums (“Night Thoughts” and “The Blue Hour”) and a never-ending tour of the world’s festivals paying testament to their status as a great live band, plus Brett’s excellent memoirs of course…
Anyway, I just thought I’d point out that one of the band’s apparent lockdown projects has been to regularly post whole remastered concerts on their YouTube page. There’s about half a dozen on there as I type, drawn from all points in their career, as early as 1993, and as recent as last year, with new ones appearing every few weeks (Phoenix 1995 is due any day now.) If you’re only going to try one, it should be the one I’ve linked to here, their first reunion show at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010 (I was at the 100 Club warm-up). It’s a storming gig, intended as a one-off for the Teenage Cancer Trust, but as the gig progresses, you can almost *see* Brett deciding that this can’t just end here… enjoy!
I remember their tape of The Drowners winning Gary Crowley’s “demo challenge” every Sunday afternoon for what seemed like months. I couldn’t get down the record shop fast enough when it finally came out, but was slightly underwhelmed by the production (ditto the debut LP).
Dog Man Star was magnificent, though. I recently bought it on that vinly.
There was a free tape from Melody Maker in the weeks before the first album came out with a session version of “Moving” on it, which I thought was fabulous. When the album came out I thought its shrill, tinny production was dreadful and put me right off them, which is a real shame, and clearly my loss as there are some great songs on all their albums, certainly the first three at least. Are the remastered albums any better?
The first five albums were remastered & expanded in 2011. I only bought the first two, which were both 2CD+DVD jobbies. I think my recent LP purchases use the same mastering.
I have a live Radio 1 off-air tape from (I think) Newcastle Riverside which is much better than the first LP.
Interesting. To use Pete Waterman’s memorable terminology, I clearly don’t “have ears”, because – much as I love Suedeband – their debut is the only one that sounds right to me and I’ve always found it remarkable that the same producer recorded the much shriller, tinnier subsequent (well, particular third and fourth) albums which seemed to pile all the sound together, smothering the individual bass and guitar lines.
I assumed this was the “Oasis effect”, where this band’s sales made the tinnitus-inducing racket of high pitched overlayered instruments briefly fashionable – see also Sice switching to raspy screaming on the post 95 Boo Radleys albums.
It’s among the joys of Suede’s live sets, how much better many of their songs sound out of the studio.
(*Mind, I’ve never heard the demo/ pre-album stuff of which you speak..)
And thanks for the tip, Metal Mickey..
I think the “Oasis effect” is a side-effect of cocaine.
Did The Suede take recreational drugs, do we know? Yes, we do know.
The Phoenix 1995 is an epic. The culmination of their “fuck you, we’re not dead” tour of 1994-5 with Oakesy, at the end of which a lot of folk were going “Bernard who?”
I saw the Oxford Apollo gig – the first of that tour on the UK mainland, following 3 warm-up gigs in Ireland, with much the same reaction.
I wanted to keep my OP relatively short, so didn’t mention it, but I also have nothing but admiration for the band for keeping going after BB’s departure – it would have been the end for 99% of bands, but somehow they stuck it out and came up smiling… I could also have mentioned their fantastic Glastonbury 2015 set which might just have nudged them into “national treasure” status…
I was never a huge fan at the time, never bought any of the records etc, but somehow managed to end up seeing them twice in 1994, including Richard Oakes’s live debut at the YMCA, and they were glorious live, loads better than pretty much all the bands whose records I actually was buying.
I am probably more positively disposed to all things Britpop than most on here, but agree that Dog Man Star was a high watermark for the era. Brilliant album.
Their revival has been pretty good too, especially given how bad the last album was before the split. Brett’s memoirs are a joy and they remain fantastic live. It’s still a regret of mine that I never got to see the Bernard incarnation though – he’s as charismatic as any guitarist I can think of.
For years the only Suede song I was really familiar with was Beautiful Ones (it was one of the songs on Now 35, which I had a copy of). For unknown reasons they went under my radar – even though I loved the song – and it wasn’t until I took advantage of my staff discount to get their best of, and subsequently the deluxe editions of their first three albums that I realised what I’d missed.
I’ve always understood the ‘tinny’ production of the first as a deliberate stylistic choice, just as much a part of its meaning as the songs themselves. I think it’s sounds sinewy and debauched and wastrelly. I also loved what Neil Tennant said about Coming Up’s Trash: “A great ice-rink record”. The overall sonic qualities are very much part of their aesthetic for my money.
(And as a fan of Tin Machine’s first, I have no fear in proclaiming my love for the seemingly forgotten and unloved Anderson/Butler reunion Here Come the Tears. Great record.)
For the record, I don’t have a problem with the production of those albums either, and yes, that Tears album has some great tracks on it, but as you’ve mentioned Neil Tennant, here he is performing with Suede at the Roundhouse in 1996…
I assume that’s Rent. It ended up on one of Suede’s CD singles.
I played the first album last night. There are moments of clarity, which would suggest it was recorded properly and then deliberately mangled.
Rather than the recorded with a sock-over-the-mic-which-is-down-a-well, of some accidentally bad recordings.
Also, compare with the 1993 Glastonbury live recording. I was there and it was great.
I found my tape and spent half an hour this afternoon recording it to my laptop. If anyone needs, erm, ‘help’ reminding themselves how good they were at Newcastle Riverside on 28th May 1992, PM me.
The RAH gig was on Sky Arts on Friday after the Coming Up doc. I watched it again, even though I have the DVD. What a gig!