just sayin'

Not to mention a video that's partially Tori Amos' 'Boys for Pele' cover shoot brought to life with a backing track that's essentially a souped-up version of Dragonette's "Gone Too Far", I ask:

When to we stop celebrating such mediocrity?

(Not to add more words to the pile that is the dead digital forest of Gaga clippings, but enough is seriously enough. And did we really need to hear it TWICE in a 90 minute span at the same bar the other night?)

all you need is night

According to the band themselves, today is Duran Duran Appreciation Day. I have no idea what that means but I do know that I will be spending a chunk of the day with the New Fab Five blasting from the speakers.

In honor of this momentous occasion - or something - they have made a proper Night Version of album track 'All You Need Is Now' album track "Other People's Lives" available for download from their website, free of charge. My first thought upon hearing the album back in December was: "Girl Panic!" needs a full-on Night Version; while this isn't exactly it, it's pretty damn close.

Even better, the mp3 comes tagged with "All You Need Is Now - Night Versions" in the album tag. More to come?

(You are almost forgiven for the insanity of the formatting of this album. Almost. "Girl Panic!" and/or "Runway Runaway" might do it.)

then and now

Then:



Now:





Bitches are dead to me.

cool as Kim Deal

We were talking.

Kim Deal is a musical National Treasure - notice the caps? - and deserves to be treated as such. I'm only going to see the Pixies 'Doolittle' show - a reunion which probably shouldn't have happened seven years ago and certainly shouldn't still be going - because She will be there. (Secretly hoping - completely in vain - for a break out Breeders set. The worst Breeders record is better than the best Pixies record - FACT. Not. Open. For. Debate.)

Had I to pick my favorite Breeders record, it probably wouldn't be 'Pod' - solely for the fact that it contains the one Breeders song I could do without, "Oh!". It's just...not great. But. But. BUT! It contains eleven other AMAZEBALLS tracks the richest band would KILL for. "Limehouse". "Hellbound". "Glorious". "Metal Man"! (They did it in 2009 - with Josephine! - and it was ridiculous. Like, you never walk into a show thinking: "gee, I hope I hear "Metal Man" tonight", but you're still beyond glad you got to experience it, because, really, it's "Metal Man".) Motherfucking "Doe". When these make up your "weakest" - and I use the term loosely, and only in the sense that SOMETHING has to be your weakest - album, you're doing pretty damn good.

The "Safari" EP is brilliant even though it includes a Who cover. Yes, it survives that.

Had I to pick my favorite Breeders record, it might be 'Last Splash'. Here's the thing. "Cannonball" is overexposed, overdone and THAT song that they have to play at every show. But - a-ha! - it's still fucking. brilliant. If you're pulse doesn't get racing, your heart doesn't get beating, you don't start sweating with anticipation the second you hear that opening "AWOOO!!", you're dead. I don't care. I have never been to a Breeders show and, when it starts, think: well, I'd rather hear something else. Because I wouldn't. It's. That. Good. Are there Breeders songs I like better? Absolutely. Is it their finest moment? No way. But it has survived 18 years of overexposure and remains one of the most oddball songs to "make it big", if you will, one of the most endearing and consistently AMAZING tracks of the 90's.

And that's one song out of fifteen - ok, fourteen. Every single track here is dripping with genius. Every single one, you get it? Yes, even - and, perhaps, especially - "Mad Lucas". Genius. It's a fact. Don't argue. Gen.ius. "I am the new year." "I don't like dirt." "He's the invisible man." "I just wanna get along." "I like sticky everywhere." Anyone who says it's unfinished/unfocused/too many wasted instrumentals/too many half-songs/whatever-else-they-say-about-it is missing the point. It is genius incarnate. It's possibly the best album ever. (It's not, but it makes a good argument for it.) I'm not usually like this, but if you don't like 'Last Splash' you don't enjoy life either, do you? You're no fun. If I ever get to experience "Roi" live and in the flesh, I might have lived out everything I ever needed to live out. Yes, it's that good, and if you don't think so you're probably wrong, so get over it.

The "Head To Toe" EP is also totally brilliant. The title track is, well, obviously amazeballs, and "Shocker In Gloomtown"! Christ. They did it as the second song on the first show of the 'Mountain Battles' tour and it KILLED. Seriously. Completely unexpected and totally floored the crowd. It's not their song but they made it their. song. "Freed Pig" is pretty good, too.

Had I to pick my favorite Breeders record, it might be 'Pacer'. "But!", you say, "It's not a Breeders record!" In name, perhaps, but in spirit it is totally the proper follow-up to 'Last Splash'. In fact, it's better than 'Last Splash'. (Yeah, I said it.) It's perfect in a way records aren't supposed to be perfect. Pop broken in half and stitched back together again. "Hoverin" makes its argument for the "Best Song In The World", exactly because it is clearly not the best song in the world. Every time I've seen the Breeders they've done at least two songs off this record and they are invariably the highlight of the evening. ("Hoverin" live in 2009 was quite possibly the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed. You probably weren't there so you don't know - if a concert you go to DOESN'T include Kim Deal doing "Hoverin", it's almost not worth going. Jesus. Christ.)

Had I to pick my favorite Breeders record, it probably would be 'Title TK'. Surprised after that crazed rant on 'Last Splash'? Don't be. Knowing full well this could put a price on my head, 'Title TK' is - without doubt - the finest record both Kim Deal AND Steve Albini have ever been involved in. Fact. Don't argue it because you'll lose. It. Is. It's life changing in a way records aren't supposed to be life changing. It's half-baked and the songs probably don't work in the way that Kim herself thinks they do, and that's why it works. Even moreso than 'Last Splash', it is genius incarnate. If this isn't your favorite record in the whole world you're doing it wrong. Listen to the way Kelley "ooohs" and "aahhhs" and basically grunts in the background of "Too Alive". Life. Changing. Genius. Don't argue, I'm right. This is the stuff dreams are made of. 'Title TK' is what we've been waiting for. It's the Rapture. Everything is downhill from here.

I'll repeat: 'Title TK' is the finest record either Kim Deal or Steve Albini have ever been involved in. Come and get me, motherfuckers.

Had I to pick my favorite Breeders record, it might be 'Mountain Battles'. After perfecting sound - which, let's be frank, 'Title TK' did - where do you go? You break it all over again. This bitch here makes 'Title TK' sound like the most-ready-for-Top-40-collection-of-pop-songs ever record. This is some seriously fucked up pop shit. Songs don't do what you think they should, "Bang On" is a TOTAL hot mess - and that's the second song! - there's a song in German and a song in Spanish - neither of which the girls know very well - etc., etc., etc. This is the true sound of pop revolution. There's more underground records - clearly, they have more major label backing - there's harder to wrap your head around records, there are obviously more immediately catchy records, there's records that are clearly better, but at the same time, almost nothing is better than this. It. Is. Sound. It's only fault - ONLY FAULT - is that it's not 'Title TK'.

"Fate To Fatal" - the song - is ridiculous. So good. 'Fate To Fatal' - the EP - is the only non-essential Breeders purchase. The other three tracks on the EP, quite frankly, just aren't that great. Also, I wasn't able to get a handscreened sleeve because Record Store Day is a crock of shit - and I literally got physically shoved out of the way of a rack of records (if it was even in there) so I'm a little bitter - but really, it's the weak link. It makes me a bit sad that it's the last Breeders release we have for now because it's not totally amazing.

Kim. Seriously. Fuck the Pixies. You don't need them. We need more Breeders material ASAP. (Judging from the track record we'll have to wait until 2015 for another LP, but I can be patient. I know it will be worth it.)

(I should write after margaritas more often, but I've been waiting YEARS to get that off my chest.)

a pleasant surprise: 'A New Morning', 9 years on

First of all, there's no saving that artwork, so sorry about that.

But let's get to the heart of the matter - 'A New Morning' isn't terrible. It's not great, don't get me wrong, and very good would even be stretching things a bit. The track selection is all sorts of wrong and sequencing it with the three worst songs they'd ever written kicking things of probably was not the best idea, but somewhere inside all of the mess is the core of what could be a completely solid "back-to-basics" - or, perhaps, attempt at the basics since they'd never really been there - no frills Suede album.

"Positivity" is complete garbage, "Obsessions" reeks of trying-too-hard and "Lonely Girls" is a weak "Young Men" re-hash - not exactly a song screaming out for a sequel to begin with. It's easy to see why, when faced with that opening trio, you might run screaming from the album. (And, truthfully, I did for years. I'm not entirely sure I'd ever given it a complete listen outside of the first time back in 2002.) I'm certainly not claiming that once you make it past those you've found some lost masterpiece. I wouldn't even say that there's any top-shelf material to be found anywhere in the sessions - at best, you get a solid effort or a somewhat lovely number every once in a while.

What I wanted was the last Suede album to not be a complete bust, and with lowered expectations and a little creative editing you can assemble a collection that's not a total embarrassment. Everyone is going to have a different opinion as to what that solution is - personally, I've found "Simon"/"One Love"/"Lost In TV"/"Untitled"/"...Morning"/"Streetlife"/"Astrogirl"/"Instant Sunshine"/"One Hit To The Body"/"Oceans" to be relatively effective.

Backhanded praise if ever there was, but 'A New Morning' doesn't totally suck. Whew.

Now, the real sob story - they got SO much better the following year. Whatever it was, when it came time to assemble some new songs for the 'Singles' collection, they really got their shit together and delivered a few 100% Suede classics. "Attitude" is an amazing single that can proudly sit with their best and the stomping "Love The Way You Love" is even better - it's a shame they had run out of steam by the time the collection had come out as it never got its chance to shine, I've always imagined it a great double a-side with "Music Like Sex". If you take the songs that started to appear at the end of the line, you'd have a really strong core for LP6.

But it was not to be. They had tested their fan base's patience a little too much and it was time to retreat into the shadows. I'm not entirely sure how The Tears and the solo albums got so effed up when the final Suede songs were so strong, but that's another discussion altogether.

I was totally on the fence about getting this collection, as I'm sure many are. Truthfully, the only reason I got it was for the "Golden Gun" and "Love The Way You Love" demos - well, that and the ever-present specter of "completion". In the end, it was probably the most eye-opening and worthwhile of the reissues for me as it totally changed my mind about the album. (Yes, I had revelations about the first two LPs as well but I always at least kind of liked them.) So well played, boys. Well played.

This was a blast. Who wants to go through their catalog next so we can do it all again. (Blur? Catherine Wheel? Please?)

I thought you stopped smoking crack, Brett

Surprise! The 'A New Morning'-era has a solid chunk of pretty decent material...it's just buried amongst a ton of garbage. This has been my favorite surprise of the Suede reissue campaign - I thought for sure I had been right all these years to completely dismiss it all as trash - not "Trash", of course - but it appears I was wrong.

It does, however, contain some truly "what the fuck?" lyrics. Take the opening two lines of "Cool Thing", for instance:

"You are the loaded gun sticking in your face
like a stupid child on her roller skates"

OK, sure.

I need some time to process this. I'll be back.

*swoon*

August 23 can't come fast enough.

(Kudos, by the way, for Adult Swim finally getting something right again.)

an unsolvable puzzle: 'Head Music'

Excerpts from an e-mail discussion about 'Head Music':

"I've given 'Head Music' two re-listens now ... with another pass at the b-sides for good measure. I'm still not entirely sure I get the disappointment - but, of course, I don't have the intense love to be massively let down either. There's plenty to pick on the album for - it's overlong, not sure what it wants to be, paced strangely, the peaks aren't as high and there aren't as many, etc. - but the constant bitching from people about how it's lazy - especially the lyrics - are just annoying. How are the lyrics to "Elephant Man" or the old standby dog to kick while they're down "Savoir Faire" any more banal than "Trash" or "Beautiful Ones", and no one picks on them ... people wanted them to fail so they did."

"The temptation to make it a better album through editing and sequencing - though I'm still convinced they got the first five tracks right if you're assembling a 10-track album out of the material - is still there, but after spending more time with it as a whole era, part of the point is that it is too long for its own good and kind of falls apart at the end. Dare I say it - I feel about it how I perceive others to feel about 'Dog Man Star'. There, I said it. I feel better. Love the flaws...although even I don't think I could bring myself to call it anything close to a "masterpiece" as fans claim about the sophomore album ... Even with re-sequencing and perhaps exchanging some album tracks for b-sides, I don't think they stuck to one style enough to make even a consistently amazing 10-track album that doesn't feel jumbled together. A riddle to be cracked, but like an inept mystery writer - or, perhaps, one too out of his mind on crack to know what's going on - we weren't given all the pieces."

"They got the singles right, I'll give them that. I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to pick a fifth single out of the remainders, though "Savoir Faire" would have been a ballsy - and hilarious - "fuck you", especially at the end of the campaign when everyone was seemingly sick of them ... Actually, I take that back - "Asbestos" would have sounded AMAZING on the radio in the middle of a hot summer as a bit of a counter to what everyone else (including the band at the time with "She's In Fashion") would be releasing at the time. Of course, it would have sunk the album even faster as a second single, but in an alternate universe where that doesn't matter it would have been incredible. "

"The whole era has a certain feel to it that I can't put my finger on, but there's something about each and every song that very clearly and immediately attaches it to the project. I have no idea what it is - or even if it's a good or bad thing - but the album puts me in a completely different head space while it's on ... I suppose it's good since I love it so much, but I have to admit it does make me a bit uncomfortable as well. A good discomfort?"

"I saw the connection between "She" and "Killer" (for the first time) last night. I'm not sure how I missed it, but it made me appreciate the band a bit more, that they had been able to sneak that one past me for so long."

""Crackhead", "Leaving" and "Let Go" are Brett's pick for best b-sides from the era, and "Dolly" and "Painted People" are apparently his examples to explain that the b-sides weren't always all amazing prior to formatting. Good man."

""Electricity" is still fucking. thrilling. and remains my favorite thing they ever did."

A write up as disjointed, confused and unsure of itself as the album itself. Perfect.

wallet full of holes

Somehow, there's a new Fountains of Wayne album on the way.

I must admit, after the embarrassment of 'Traffic and Weather' I was initially not terribly excited. However, they appear to have learned from their mistakes and the material that they're previewing the album with shows our power pop heroes back on track.

That's the fantastic album art over there, and you can pre-order the album direct from the label in the now standard myriad of value-added packages. (I went with the LP/poster/t-shirt bundle, of course. If I'm not mistaken, this makes only the second Fountains album available on vinyl.) All pre-orders come with two preview tracks - opener "The Summer Place" and current "single" "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart" - as well as a (for now) exclusive bonus track, a cover of The Moody Blues' "The Story In Your Eyes". Both of the album tracks are great - a callback to the more folky/laid-back moments from 'Utopia Parkway' or 'Welcome Interstate Managers'. Obviously a full-on return to the insanely hooky power pop of the debut would be preferred, but I'll take what I can get. (I must have known I'd stumble across this - I listened to the self-titled album today for the first time in years. It has aged very, very well.)

If you don't want a physical copy - you're apparently out there, even if I don't understand it - you can head over to iTunes for two "singles" - "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart" and "Richie and Ruben", the latter being the best of the bunch so far. Both comes with exclusive artwork if that's your thing - both of which would look excellent as 7" single sleeves, but I'm not holding my breath.

I am suddenly very excited for the back half of 2011.

[UPDATE: The official site states a 7" for "Richie And Ruben" backed with "The Story In Your Eyes" will be out on July 18th. That was unexpected.]

boys, you're spoiling us

Two Sound of Arrows singles in one year?

Relax! To compromise for this wealth of material released within a 12-month period, they've decided to re-release pre-Geffen single "M.A.G.I.C." - now just called "Magic" - on August 1st or August 14th, depending on where you look. It'll be a 12"-only deal again and come backed with a now-standard pair of remixes; this time from Tom Staar and Chad Valley, whoever they are. (It's gotta be better than fucking Tiësto, right? Right.)

I will admit I was too afraid to listen to the original "M.A.G.I.C." in the post-"Into The Clouds" excitement, being scared off by the too-twee-for-its-own-good "Danger!". So I can't say how it sounds in its (presumably) new version, but the video looks something like this:



Sadly, it doesn't continue the 'Never Ending Story 2011' theme that "Into The Clouds" and "Nova" had - unless you look at this as the non-book part of said Story, but even that is a bit of a stretch - and the song itself is a bit precious with its children's chorus, but I also wasn't sold on "Into The Clouds" initially. I'm still optimistic for the album.

bears hugs are my radar

This:



is essentially this:



That's OK, though, because it's still pretty fantastic and a good time. I'm curious to hear more.

pop perfection: 'Coming Up'

'Coming Up' is perfect. It's where Brett realizes that, at heart, Suede are really just a big dumb pop band and sets out to make their big dumb pop album. It's ten tracks long, which is the perfect length for a pop album, fact. As Mat Osman is quoted as saying in the new liner notes, it is their "album to do your hair to", and that's really about as high a compliment I can think for it.

The album has a certain sound to it, which I will admit took me a bit to come around to. It's produced within an inch of it's life - a bit treble-y, perhaps - and Brett's vocals in particular have so many effects on them that it hardly sounds like him at all. In the grand scheme of things, though, it all works - if you're going for pop perfection, all the flaws have to go. It's a bit like the porn star image version of Suede, if you will, all tarted up and ready to go.

Song-wise, this is the only time that they got the track list exactly right; every song is where it needs to be for maximum impact. There are some amazing songs hidden away on the b-sides, to be sure, but none of them would add to the overall effectiveness of the album if included. Lyrically things get a bit - ahem - lazy, but that also avoids the over-reach that marred the first two albums. This is POP people, we want to hear about filmstars propping up the bar and being the litter on the breeze and shaking our meat to the beat and all that. At the risk of repeating myself - too late - BIG and DUMB and POP are the words of the day and 'Coming Up' delivers in spades...even the "heartfelt" moments compare true love to drug classes and watching car crashes while eating sandwiches.

This is, ultimately, the essence of Suede in 10 easy to digest song-lets. Brett states in the 'Dog Man Star' booklet that if he could only be remembered for one musical document it would be that, but he's a fool - 'Coming Up' is surely the one to be proudest of.

Bonus material time! Seven demos follow the album, and as far as demos go they're an interesting listen. The "Saturday Night" demo is the same as on the original single and I'm fairly certain the "Filmstar" demo is the one from the 7" but I'd have to dig that out to double check, but the others are getting their first release here as far as I can tell. (Actually, "Lazy" and/or "She" may have been released on the flips of some of the cassette singles of the era, but not having them I can't compare. Anyone? Also: CASSETTE singles. Big. dumb. pop.)

Following them are the three left-over b-sides from the 'Dog Man Star' campaign. They're all fantastic - "Asda Town" is a hidden gem as it was left off of 'Sci-Fi Lullabies' and was impossible to track down for a very long time - but they don't belong here. We've gone over that, though... (Side note: "Asda Town" is one of the tracks that was edited down for space constraints and features a very early fade out compared to the original.)

Disc two collects sixteen of the seventeen(!) new studio tracks that were released on the CDs for the five singles from the album - Neil's solo track "Digging A Hole" is missing, but you're not really missing much there. Most of these you probably already have on 'Sci-Fi Lullabies' so you know that many of them are as good as what made the album. (They just don't fit on the album, right? Right.) "Europe Is Our Playground" is the original b-side version not the re-recording from the compilation - I've never really been able to tell the difference but I've also never compared them side by side - and both "W.S.D." and "Feel" get edits for space. "W.S.D." is a real shame as it's a decidedly non-Suede song, a really great groove-based track - that gets a bit lost with the last two minutes of instrumental freak-out getting chopped off, not to mention you miss out on Brett literally going barking mad - while "Feel" is still too long at almost half of its original length.

My vote for best b-side - and, possibly, best overall track - of the era? "Money", no question. Yesterday I commented to a friend how it sounds like 'Too Fast For Love' if the Sunset Strip was located in London, and even though I'm not entirely sure I can tell you what I mean by that, it's meant as a compliment. (UK hair metal maybe? I don't know.) Anyways, that it wasn't chosen as one of the encore b-sides on the recent album gigs is a crime as it would go down a total storm live. (Have they ever done it?)

We only get one extra track this time, a rehearsal room recording of an unreleased song called "Motown". It's a total racket and not much of a song - not that that really stopped them at this point, "Young Men" or "These Are The Sad Songs" anyone? - but it's refreshing to listen to as an un-produced demo after the complete overproduction of the album and b-sides, and it's a nice reminder that this was a band that was re-discovering the joy of playing together again. Like the disc one demos, probably not something you'll listen to repeatedly but it's nice to have.

The DVD gives us the five promo videos and they're all perfect for the album if a bit boring to actually sit down and watch. The best bit is watching Neil in the "Beautiful Ones" video stare at the camera with an "I don't give a fuck" look while holding down one key for an extended period of time. Perfection. There are also extra videos for "Europe Is Our Playground" and "Shipbuilding" - neither are terribly exciting - plus the now standard bonus concerts: the professionally shot gig that the live tracks from the "Filmstar" single came from featuring Neil Tennant, and yet another bootleg quality show, this time from the 'Dog Man Star' tour featuring the live debut of Richard Oakes. Again, it doesn't belong here and the quality on this one is the worst of the shows so far, so that's a bit of a miss even if it does have historical significance.

'Coming Up' is the only perfect Suede album and even though much of the material on this set was already available, this has been my favorite of the remasters so far.

wired for light

The Whip have finally come forward with information on their long-in-the-works second LP - which, if you were keeping track, we should have already. Anyways, 'Wired Together' - fantastic name - will be with us on September 19th. Over there, you can see the fabulous artwork - part peacock, part tribal mask, part wave form, right?

As part of the deal, you can pre-order the album on CD or digital from the band and get immediate access to five tracks, which are also available for streaming from Southern Fried's Soundcloud. If we've learned anything over the years, it's a bit dangerous to commit to a format before you know all your available options and there is plenty of time between now and September 19th for all kinds of crazy special editions to be announced. While I certainly want to support the band, I refuse to buy this album a million times like I did the first - and, more recently, the Mirrors album - so we're going to hold off on that pre-order option until we have more information.

Have a listen, will you?

The Whip: Wired Together (Sampler) by Southern Fried Records

Hm. First, it's kind of weird that rumored first single "Keep Or Delete" isn't included, but whatever. Also, I'm a bit disappointed that I don't love it more. Granted, my expectations are a bit impossibly high - and the delay hasn't really helped things any - but I did expect a bit of love-at-first-listen rather than the cautiously-optimistic-like that I'm feeling. As Joe puts it: "They feel so polished.", and I couldn't agree more. Especially considering the Jagz Kooner production and the gritty-as-hell demo version of "Secret Weapon" we got last Fall, everything sounds a bit slick. However, there's plenty to enjoy and we shall wait to reserve judgment until we have more time with it...and the rest of the album, obviously.

Happy Monday.

oveerreach: 'Dog Man Star'

After years of not being able to articulate what exactly it is that bothers me about 'Dog Man Star', it hit me this morning: it takes too long to say what it has to say and, in the process, dilutes its effectiveness.

"But that's the point!", you cry. "It's not the relatively simple pop album the debut was, it's supposed to be big and epic and long and full and all those generally-accepted signs of a 'masterpiece'." Fair enough - but the band, while very talented and full of potentially good ideas, aren't able to pull it off.

The problems start right at the beginning. At its core, "Introducing The Band" is a complete non-song, and dressing it up as a Middle Eastern-inspired tone poem does it no favors, especially since the band clearly as little-to-no experience with or adeptness at said style. Instead of making the listener perk up from the get-go and say: "here is the start of something different and great", it causes me to perk up and say: "good lord, this is ridiculous in all the wrong ways." Remember, Suede are at their best when they're ridiculous - it's what makes their best songs so great, right? - but there's a good and a bad ridiculous and this nonsense is firmly in the bad camp.

It starts the proceedings off on the totally wrong foot and it takes the album a bit to recover. I used to think I did not like "We Are The Pigs" - empty chest-puffing and fake hardness! - but it's actually that I don't like "We Are The Pigs" in context. It's like a sponge, I guess, absorbing everything around it. On it's own, it's actually a pretty snappy little single - a bit of a rougher "So Young", if you will. So, score one for the re-examination.

Finally, things get truly started with the one/two/three punch of "Heroine", "The Wild Ones and "Daddy's Speeding". The latter is the only moment on the entire album where I feel the band steps outside of their comfort zone and is able to pull it off. It sounds like the aftermath of a car crash, daring you to keep listening even though you know something awful has happened. I have no idea how they pulled it off when they screwed everything else up so badly, but well played.

"The Power" is a nice palette-cleanser but is a bit fluffy and very out of place on the album. Seeing that it's the only one that wasn't totally completed with Bernard, I have no problem nixing it. It would have made a lovely non-album single, bridging the gap a bit between Suedes MK1 and MK2, but it wasn't to be.

"New Generation" and "This Hollywood Life" are fantastic stormers that I've always liked, so yay. Then they fuck it all up again with the brick wall of the album, the point I was almost never able to make it past before. First you've got "The 2 Of Us", which could be beautiful except it goes on for way. too. long. Bernard may be a whiz with the guitar but he's - at best - a passable keyboardist so we don't need him banging out basic chords while Brett repeats the same three lines over and over for five minutes. There's a nice break in the song about 2/3 of the way through that would have made a fine stopping point, but again they pushed it too far and ruined it. Way to go. If you can make it through that, you've got "Black Or Blue" to contend with, which is just awful. Again, Brett is a fine vocalist but it's not like he has the greatest voice in the world, so we don't need him pretending he's auditioning for the lead it some opera, singing in a clearly uncomfortable falsetto and trying to hit every note ever discovered all at once. Ugh.

Finally, you're rewarded with something listenable. "The Asphalt World" was hidden from me for years because I could never make it to it. My listening method with these reissues so far has been to tackle the bonus disc first, to give me a little insight behind the albums before I approach them again, and this one on its own was a revelation. While I think "The Wild Ones" is my favorite on the album, I can actually agree with people for once and say that this is the cornerstone.

Of course, they then botch the ending with "Still Life", itself a fantastic song once you strip away the zillion piece orchestra auditioning to score the next blockbuster. On the bonus disc there's an instrumental/orchestral version that works fine as a piece of incidental music - or, perhaps, soundtracking man's exploration into space or something - but as the overblown finale at a patchy attempt at greatness it's just another miss.

Clearly I still don't find this album to be the masterpiece everyone says it is. I don't understand how you can look past all of its glaring faults and find greatness. The band had it in them - there are flashes here just as there were flashes in the first album material - but their reach far exceeds their grasp and they fall flat on their face just as much as they succeed, if not more often.

As far as bonus material, the set delivers a lot but not nearly as much of interest as the first set. (I imagine my view of the album clouds my judgment on that, but there you have it.) There are 5 demos on the main disc, all of which are worth a listen but I doubt you'll find yourself returning to. (Fun fact: some of the original lyrics to "Introducing The Band" were recycled for "WSD".) Disc two - which is actually full this time, so that's nice - collects "Stay Together" and its b-sides as well as five additional b-sides from the album's singles. A few gripes - "Stay Together" is advertised as being the "long version" but is inexplicably has the last minute totally chopped off. (The true full length version would have fit.) Also, did "Eno's Introducing The Band" really need to be included? Yes, it's part of the story and a track that was released, but surely it falls under the "not a full band recording" line that was used to explain the omissions of "Digging A Hole" and "Weight Of The World" on the 'Coming Up' and 'Head Music' sets. That's 16 minutes of bonus disc that could have been put to better use. Finally, the moving of "Asda Town" and the two "New Generation" b-sides to the 'Coming Up' disc to preserve the original band line-up on the set is just nonsense - it's totally rewriting history and does not give the full overview of the album these sets are attempting to give. It was explained as an imperfect solution but that's a total cop-out - they belong here, not with 'Coming Up'.

Following those we've got six additional bonus tracks, ranging from slight - the barely one-minute long French version of "The Power" and the aforementioned orchestral version of "Still Life" - to genuinely interesting - a true outtake in "We Believe In Showbiz" - to the two pieces that have hardcores salivating: original unedited versions of "The Wild Ones" and "The Asphalt World". (Except Brett has said that "The Asphalt World" was edited down from 18 minutes of rehearsal tapes, so the naming is a bit deceptive.)

On the DVD, we've got the much maligned "Stay Together" video (I don't get the big deal, it's clearly better than some of the first album videos), the 'Dog Man Star' tour films (they claimed they were previously unreleased on DVD but weren't they an extra on the 'Introducing The Band' DVD?), plus a pair of fan-shot bootleg videos. The first comes from a show at the end of the first-album tour and features early versions of "This Hollywood Life", "We Are The Pigs", "New Generation" and set-closer "Stay Together". Like the video on the first set, there are cuts between songs and the audio is not great, and in this one you can tell that songs are clearly cut as you get the last 10 seconds or so of "She's Not Dead" before they begin "So Young". Perhaps the footage was unusable? A little clarification would have been nice. The other set is a four-song acoustic in store from earlier the same day - the highlight of which is Brett getting visibly pissed off and screaming at the crowd to "FUCK OFF!" to constant requests for "I Want Your Sex". Fantastic.

It's often wondered what could have been if the band had been able to hold it together and the Anderson/Butler partnership had expanded past these two albums, but I've never once cared: if they had, it's very doubtful we would have ever gotten their true masterpiece, which is coming up next. (HA!)

better late than never, I suppose

If 'Coming Up' was available right now, I have a gift card that would have its name on it to get me through the wait.

Also, weak not giving us the bonus demo of "New Generation" that UK iTunes got, but what else is new with the US getting digitally screwed?

Where are 'Head Music' and 'A New Morning'?

I think I get it: 'Suede'

One of the features on the DVD portion of the 'Suede' Deluxe Edition is a live performance from the week after "Animal Nitrate" was released as a single and, therefore, about a month before the album itself was unveiled. The recording itself is a bit of a disaster - captured from presumably the back of the club by a hand-held video camera, it continually zooms in and out on the stage. Sometimes it focuses in on one individual band member - usually Brett, prancing around the stage initially in a lacy white woman's blouse until the audience rips all but a sleeve off, which he finally removes himself and throws to the screaming throng, itself unintentionally hilarious and worth the price of admission alone - and sometimes capturing the heads of the crowd frantically bobbing up and down excitedly to the band giving it their all. Despite not being what you'd expect from a professionally produced product - the audio is quite muffled and clearly not even remotely touched up in the studio, there are sharp cuts between songs presumably to save battery and/or tape space, the video itself ends halfway through "To The Birds" leaving the band in a permanently unfinished performance - for me it is the best part of the package. Watching the video, the excitement of the band at the time finally sunk it, I finally understood why they mattered. Even watching on a television screen while sitting on a couch 18 years after the fact, the energy of the band was captivating and I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Even more important than that, the promise of the band was there - they had, at the time, released three incredible singles backed with six impossibly strong b-sides, and almost all of the "new" material played during the set suggested they were going to carry it through to the full length.

Except, of course, they didn't. Another feature on the DVD is a modern interview with Brett and Bernard about the album and its creation, and one thing they mention is the important of the singles and particularly b-sides at the time and how that tied their hands a bit when it came to assembling the album. While it certainly wouldn't have been unheard of to re-use one or two of the b-sides from the first two singles on the album, they wanted the singles to stand on their own and were now faced with writing songs as good as "My Insatiable One", "To The Birds" (both called out as songs Brett wishes he could have put on the album) and "He's Dead". Everyone involved seems to think they were able to, but the continual mention of "I wish such-and-such had been put on in place of this or that instead of relegated to b-side status" suggests that they weren't quite as successful as they'd like to think.

Here's the thing, though: I now also understand that the imperfection of the album is part of what people love about it. You're not supposed to get everything right the first time out - even a band wish the promise, talent and vision they clearly had at the time are bound to fuck something up.

This package gives you the whole picture. The admission that they had painted themselves into a corner and this was how they chose to get out opened my eyes a bit to the album, and I can see it how they and others have seen it for years. It's a bit like Smashing Pumpkins' 'Gish' in a way - far from perfect with obviously lower quality material being put on in place of stronger, previously released material, but an incredibly honest picture of a young and talented band. It's never going to be my favorite Suede album and I still don't understand the strong emotional connection people seem to have with it - it's a series of over-the-top glammed-up pop songs about sex and drugs when you boil it down - but I can appreciate it in a whole new way after spending more time with the era.

Bring on 'Dog Man Star'.

dance to the beat of my drum

Girl pop and I have been on the outs for a few years - after the not-so-good last (final?) Girls Aloud record, the embarrassment of the Sugababes' 'Sweet 7' and the Saturdays not being able to follow up fab debut 'Chasing Lights' with anything resembling even the lows of that record, I checked out.

Well, check back in because we have a winner. Nicola of Girls Aloud has finally premiered her debut solo single, the Diplo-produced "Beat Of My Drum". I never thought much of her in the group - though, truthfully, I also never got involved enough to be able to tell them apart - but the pre-release buzz on this has been perfect. Here we go:



If I'm going to be honest, when people go on about "M.I.A. is SO this" or "Robyn is SO that", this is what I expected to hear each and every time but never did. It's also where I had hoped Girls Aloud would have gone after 'Sound of the Underground' instead of the cartoonish-mega-pop they eventually became the masters of. (Not that this isn't cartoonish in its own way, I suppose.) Visually, the clip has the one thing that every "good" Girls Aloud video has - terrible choreography awkwardly danced by girls who look like they are using their brand new legs for the first time - so two thumbs up for that. All around, a fantastic first time out for Ms. Roberts.

Beyond this, there's a Dragonette co-write on the album which we're obviously all about, so yay.

(Of course, the new Saturdays single sounds like a Fergie outtake, so girl pop isn't entirely in the clear.)

and just like that, there's a new Kaiser Chiefs album

The other day, seemingly out of nowhere - though apparently they had been talking about it for weeks and I just wasn't paying attention - a new Kaiser Chiefs single was out there. Entitled "Little Shocks", it is the perfect single to come back with after a few years rest - it sounds exactly like the Kaiser Chiefs while still bringing something new to the table, in this case a throbbing atonal keyboard-led beat. (No, really, it works.) The video, as music friend Dean pointed out, is Suede's "Electricity" part 2, which is certainly not a bad thing. So, all around, a win.

This morning, also out of nowhere, there's a new Kaiser Chiefs album. Entitled "The Future Is Medieval", it's not just any album. Instead of the "name your own price" model others have tried in the past few years, this is "name your own album": you can preview the twenty songs the boys have put together for the project, pick your ten favorite and plug them into the album in any order you want - literally plug them in, the Flash animation is quite cute - design the album cover from a given palette, pay £7.50 through a Paypal account and bam, there's your version of the fourth Kaiser Chiefs album. Not only that, but if someone doesn't want to go through all that hassle and chooses to simply purchase the edition of the album you put together - also for £7.50 - you get £1 of that deposited into your Paypal account.

My initial reaction is: "neat!", and also: "what if you suffer from complete-ism and need all 20 tracks? That's at best 2 copies of the album you have to put together and there goes £15." I do think it's a neat concept and the band says on the FAQ that they were interested in seeing what the fans did with the material, strongly suggesting that there will be a "proper" version of the album forthcoming.

I'm curious to see how this develops. I wish I didn't have to work all day so I could play Kaiser Chiefs album creator.

love the way you love

A question has been on my mind lately: why am I so excited for these Suede reissues? Since we don't have any of them to listen to yet, shall we examine this?

I have a complicated history with Suede. Initially I was not a fan. At all. Somewhere around 1993/1994, I was casually introduced to them by hearing "Animal Nitrate" and "The Wild Ones" on the radio - obviously the latter in 1994 as it hadn't been released in 1993, but I imagine I must have heard "Animal Nitrate" before then when I moved and was introduced to the wonderful world of alternative radio - and I was not impressed. I totally get it - they were all high drama and sweeping epics and theatrics and I, in my American guitar band interests, wanted none of it.

(Side note: you'd never know it now, but I was not a fan of the whole British guitar band/BritPop scene until long after the ship has sailed. Through friends and a better-than-average local radio station I was aware of it, but most of it passed by my radar with little interest. Those that I did latch on to - Radiohead with "Creep" and Catherine Wheel with "Crank" and, later, "Waydown" come to mind - were basically trying to be American bands anyways, so there you have it. It wasn't until the late 90's when everything had collapsed in on itself and bands were doing all they could to NOT sound like their previous selves that I went backwards into their discographies after becoming a fan of the album that lost them all their fans. Or something like that. Anyways, I didn't want some tart prancing around wailing about gay sex on poppers or whatever in 1993.)

Anyways.

I don't think I ever heard a note of 'Coming Up' while it was current. Probably for the best at the time, for what it's worth.

Then, somehow, I heard "Electricity" and, for whatever reason, it clicked. Hard. To this day, I still get a thrill when the song starts - on a recent trip to a Long Beach, California lesbian bar (I suppose the trip wasn't specifically to go to this bar but in our travels we ended up there), I got more excited than probably necessary when I was able to put $1 in the jukebox and blast "Electricity" louder than I had ever heard it before. It was a-mazing.

Again, sidetracked. I guess I heard it because I had recently become reacquainted with a primary school friend who had grown into a massive Suede fan and she made me listen to it. Anyways, the - ahem - power of the song overtook me and I fell in love with it. 'Head Music' followed and while it was - and is still - a bit of a mess, I liked it well enough and it was time to investigate the back catalog.

(Another side note: I first started talking to my friend Jason in Toronto on a mailing list as we discussed the merits - or lack thereof - of 'Head Music'. I was invited to his wedding last year. So say what you will about the album, it brings people together in its own way.)

Right, so the back catalog. As I went through it - the albums and plethora of singles, of course, if you're going to do it do it right - I was quickly able to see why I wouldn't have been into it the first time around and also how it would appeal to me then. However, I was still missing something - it didn't feel important enough, I suppose. All these people were telling me how 'Suede' changed their lives or how 'Dog Man Star' was the most amazing epic piece of music evar, but I just didn't get it. Sure, there were some brilliant songs scattered throughout the three previous albums and its singles, but I didn't feel the love. I chalked it up to "not being there at the time", but that doesn't sit well with me today - you can still find stories of a teenager today hearing 'Dog Man Star' for the first time plenty of years after its initial release and being blown away. I put it on and hear, mostly, a band trying too hard, but we'll get to that.

Anyways, so why are we here? This is why, I think: when Suede are at their best, they are pretty much the best. For me, their best is when they embrace what they truly are - a big, dumb pop band writing songs about gay sex on poppers (yes, I know) and rhyming "car" with "star" and "house" with "mouse" and "leotard" with "retard" (my personal favorite) and wanting to be lazy and all that. When they try to be more - THE. MOST. IMPORTANT. BAND. EVER! or, later, the most boring band ever - it sounds so forced to me and I can't take it seriously. I have good friends who can go on for hours about the majesty of the final four-song sequence of 'Dog Man Star' - oh, and we have, possibly with a little help from our friend vodka - but when it's on I can't help but hear how ridiculous and pompously overblown the whole thing is and I can't even deal.

So, here's the summary: as far as I'm concerned, Suede made one perfect album, a solid-if-too-long-for-its-own-good attempt at a rebirth album, a decent album that could have been a killer album with a different sequencing, an overblown mess that I have little to no time for (though it still has a few stunning moments), and one of the most boring albums ever. Perhaps, as has been shown can happen, the reevaluation these reissues will bring will further develop my opinion - I'm really curious if there's anything in 'A New Morning' to save it and will approach with as open a mind I can.

I will say that I have gained a new respect for Brett Anderson through all of this - he has emerged as Suede's biggest fan and, more importantly, is not looking at everything through rose-colored glasses. There was the risk of getting to the messier end of the discography and being force-fed the "well, this is what we were trying to do and obviously people just didn't get it" crap, but instead we got "we probably shouldn't have made this record but I can see why we did at the time". Well played, sir. The business end of things is forcing you to cater to overwhelming fan want at times - dedicating concerts to only the first three albums, for example - and compromise had to be struck to get the 'Dog Man Star' set together - "Asda Town" and the two "New Generation" b-sides being relegated to the 'Coming Up' set where they do. not. belong. at. all. I. don't. care. what. you. say. - but, as a whole, this reissue series and Suede rebirth has been pretty respectful.

For, you know, a band that I kind of don't care about. That's the power of Suede, I suppose - you love them even when you hate them.

and we're off!

Dear Customer,

Greetings from Amazon.co.uk,

We are writing to let you know that the following item has been sent to:

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1 Suede: +DVD £8.28 1 £8.28

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First of all, that works out to about $18.75 a set - they could have easily charged double that and we still would have lined up.

Second of all, I'm already watching the mailbox.

Third of all, I realize the font in the logo isn't the proper Suede font for the first four albums but I couldn't find it. So I cheated and went with the "Attitude" and 'Singles' font - which, in a way, conceptually brings together Suede old and new. Or something like that.