Suede are unlike the Britpop bands of the 90's, Sure, Oasis had some hits and attempted a Rock and Roll rejuvenation project.. (Ending when The Spice Girls filled the gap).. But, Suede have a distinct formality about them, from the strings, to the electronic drums, Suede manage to break new grounds in Britpop, creating a small Glam Rock revival.
This album is often looked over, it's the third Suede album, it's also the most single based album, with 3 to 4 very strong commercially successful singles. The tracks follow a similar pattern, the typical Britpop sound shimmers throughout the album, with a delicate look upon the song writing. Much better vocal work here, distinct vocals, better than say.. Damon Albarn's efforts on the first few Blur records.
The unique vocals, are what make Suede stand out. The guitar and drum work are fine, exciting in some places, but mainly bland during a huge part of the album, that's a big negative here, the lack of rhythmic changes and progressions just show the lack of preparation and skill.
Tracks like By The Sea don't come round often, this is a piano based, reverbed track. Beautiful, with the piano ad bass being placed in the background far behind Brett Anderson's vocals, the song gets better as it turns into an 80's style ballad.
Beautiful Ones, being one of the stand outs, using a great distorted guitar riff, with absolutely amazing vocals. This song is by far one of the best from the Britpop era. The album has it's strong points.. The singles being memorable, but the straight up bland guitar work and lack of rhythm just mark this as a slightly better than average album.. that being the case, i enjoy Suede.
~Eddie
7.0
