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On the Shelf 208: Suede
Dec. 13th, 2018 07:40 amSuede is one of my favorite all-time bands. They have a good five or six albums worth of material that is unbeatable.
In 2011, they started in earnest on doing new material, and this year finds them three albums in. I feel a certain preference to the earlier incarnation, but the reunion is admirable and has produced some worthwhile material, particularly 2016's Bloodsports.
My problem with the first two reunion discs is that they played it fairly safe, sticking to a pretty basic formula. It has worked though as many critics have gave plaudits. The new album The Blue Hour received a cooler reception.
It's a tough call, but there's a lot to like about The Blue Hour. It feels ambitious to an extent the previous records never did. It certainly has a 'kitchen sink' feel that puts it in a category of the band;s greatest works like Dog Man Star.
There are the big choruses and big ballads, and at other times, Richard Oakes is throwin in some Buick McKane fire on songs like "Beyond the Outskirts" and "Cold Hands".
It's hard to review, since I think the critics are essentially right. Bloodsports is a better record. Though, it's somewhat hard to pin down particulars. The most obvious would be that it is three albums in five years, and any band would struggle with that.
It is a different band. Anderson has reached a middle aged contentment, so songs like "Life is Golden" and "Flytipping" would have been great angst-wrenched masterpieces when Anderson was in his late 20s, instead are life-affirming uplifts.
People change and grow, and there's no doubt that these songs will surely sit comfortably with classics on their setlist.
So, I am a bit unclear on how Bloodsports was better. Blue Hour is only slightly longer at a running time of 51 minutes and 2 more songs than the predecessor. Still, with so much drama, perhaps we need a bit of break from time to time. Dog Man Star is even longer yet, but it stretched some songs before going to the next.
The good news is that the ambition here is promising. I wasn't particularly keen on the band from Bloodsports/Night Thoughts endlessly churning out carbon copies of the same type of songs. I am interested in what the Blue Hour band does next. I would recommend a bit of a break (maybe three to four years) and then come back with a latter-day classic.
In 2011, they started in earnest on doing new material, and this year finds them three albums in. I feel a certain preference to the earlier incarnation, but the reunion is admirable and has produced some worthwhile material, particularly 2016's Bloodsports.
My problem with the first two reunion discs is that they played it fairly safe, sticking to a pretty basic formula. It has worked though as many critics have gave plaudits. The new album The Blue Hour received a cooler reception.
It's a tough call, but there's a lot to like about The Blue Hour. It feels ambitious to an extent the previous records never did. It certainly has a 'kitchen sink' feel that puts it in a category of the band;s greatest works like Dog Man Star.
There are the big choruses and big ballads, and at other times, Richard Oakes is throwin in some Buick McKane fire on songs like "Beyond the Outskirts" and "Cold Hands".
It's hard to review, since I think the critics are essentially right. Bloodsports is a better record. Though, it's somewhat hard to pin down particulars. The most obvious would be that it is three albums in five years, and any band would struggle with that.
It is a different band. Anderson has reached a middle aged contentment, so songs like "Life is Golden" and "Flytipping" would have been great angst-wrenched masterpieces when Anderson was in his late 20s, instead are life-affirming uplifts.
People change and grow, and there's no doubt that these songs will surely sit comfortably with classics on their setlist.
So, I am a bit unclear on how Bloodsports was better. Blue Hour is only slightly longer at a running time of 51 minutes and 2 more songs than the predecessor. Still, with so much drama, perhaps we need a bit of break from time to time. Dog Man Star is even longer yet, but it stretched some songs before going to the next.
The good news is that the ambition here is promising. I wasn't particularly keen on the band from Bloodsports/Night Thoughts endlessly churning out carbon copies of the same type of songs. I am interested in what the Blue Hour band does next. I would recommend a bit of a break (maybe three to four years) and then come back with a latter-day classic.
