Release date: Mar. 29, 1993
format: cd (2011 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: Ed Buller
label: Edsel Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "So Young" - 2. "Animal Nitrate" (4 / 5) - 3. "She's Not Dead" (4 / 5) - 5. "Pantomime Horse" - 6. "The Drowners" - 7. "Sleeping Pills" - 9. "Metal Mickey" - 11. "The Next Life" (4 / 5)
Studio album debut by Suede originally released on Nude Records is a glam rock and britpop release. The album is produced by Ed Buller, who would go on to produce all their first three albums and the 2013 comeback album, Bloodsport. The sound of the band is slightly different here compared to their successive albums as guitars and Brett's voice are more distorted - especially on their single hit tracks ("So Young", "Animal Nitrate"), which is a kind of a shame, I think. Beside that, I think it's quite a strong release with really fine songs. Suede is known as a britpop band alongside Blur, Pulp, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, The Verve, and several other artists of the '90s but Suede has a distinct glam rock style that distinguishes it from the others.
Suede was rather well-received by the British music press, as it was nominated to a lot of prizes, and also won the Mercury Music Prize in '93 ahead of Sting, PJ Harvey, and New Order, among others.
I purchased the album shortly after the release but had a difficult time getting accustomed to the British glam rock revival and actually resold it a year or two later in a stack with other cds in order to finance new albums. In the mid-90s I simply found it too extravagant; however, I got hold of the album again at some point in the late 90s, and when the remastered 2-disc Deluxe Edition was released in 2011, I simply purchased the album to see if the process of the remastering would improve the sound. The release contain an additional 7 bonus tracks (demos) and a disc consisting of B-sides (and 'Extras') with two single releases from the album, which makes it a fine bargain. However, I'm not fully convinced that the remaster makes that big difference. Edsel has made it a bit of their 'virtue' to harvest the market - and especially the independent music industry - for small record labels that have ceased to exist. Edsel then buy a specific record label's back catalogue with all master recordings, and then engage an engineer to 'remaster' the original releases, add (unedited) bonus material and resell the whole lot as 'Remastered Deluxe Edition'. Now who's to blame? Fact is, they make big profit from it, and we all help Edsel to exist. Naturally, a remastered edition with (the right) people involved in the original recording, mixing or mastering process, as well as say: central band members, would serve as a more adequate setup, which is not the case here. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]
