| As this greatest hits-style collection--unglamourously entitled Singles--serves to prove, Suede were fashionably wasted and seedily sexy wretches years before catwalk pundits had even coined the phrase "heroin chic". Irrefutably the first great British band of the 1990s (they were, somewhat unwisely, dubbed "the new Smiths"), Suede stepped out from the despondent, suffocating shadow of moping American grunge with a head full of Ziggy Stardust and a hedonistic agenda of urban escapism, casual intercourse, recreational chemistry thrills and the sort of shoestring decadence that still makes the likes of "So Young" ("Let's chase the dragon" shrieked Brett Anderson) and "Animal Nitrate" the musical equivalent of promenading in a fur coat purchased from a charity shop. It was almost too good to last. The ironically titled "Stay Together" (why not the full eight minute version?) was more grandiose in design but the mysterious union between Brett Anderson and furry-toned guitar maestro Bernard Butler was on the rocks and their marriage dissolved over the choice of mixer for the classic Dog Man Star, herein represented by the anthemic "We Are the Pigs", "New Generation" and "The Wild Ones". Guitar-slinging Poole Grammar school pupil Richard Oakes stepped into the breach and Suede became even more complicit with the charts via such brazen glam-pop stompers as "Trash" and "Electricity". Lately, though, Brett Anderson sounds more like an observer of rather than a participant in the pharmaceutically-addled underbelly of back-street British suburbia. The two exclusive new songs are slightly underwhelming ("Love the Way You Love" sounds like a Phil Oakey comeback) but every dog has its day and Suede have, with every justification, already earned their place in history. --Kevin Maidment |
