REVIEW: London Suede, Sci-Fi Lullabies (Columbia)
- Robin Lapid
London Suede's last fanclub gig in London, a now-legendary event, was an enthusiastically-received "all b-sides" affair. The show proved portentous, since the band have now released Sci-Fi Lullabies , a compilation of b-sides spanning their three-album career. Anyone wondering why a band that has only put out three albums would now release a b-sides compilation should just ask Morrissey, who has been known to cover "My Insatiable One" in concert, or the loyal legions that still yell for songs like "Killing of a Flashboy" and "My Dark Star" at the London Suede's live shows. For these kids, at least, Sci-Fi Lullabies *had* to be made.
The two-disc compilation includes 28 tracks, a 32-page booklet, and a fitting chronicle of London Suede's (known simply as Suede elsewhere around the world) career, from its glam-rock Bowie-esque highs to its more sugary pop plateaus. These songs help illustrate why the compilation was created - there exists an in-between spirit of London Suede that doesn't quite cater to the three-minute pop song rule - listen to the extended guitar solos on songs like "He's Dead" for proof. Instead, they throw together mixes of guitar and voice that simultaneously attract and repel each other and come out sounding better than a "b-side" should. Even more precious are songs like the seminal favorite "My Dark Star" and the acoustic "The Living Dead," where you can strip away the preening guitar licks and the dramatic falsetto voice and hear Suede in silence and solemnity.
The spirit of Bernard Butler, the genius guitarist who left in a controversial huff, rises again on the first half of the compilation. These older b-sides are a bit more raw than the album tracks, and come off sounding like distorted mirror images of the a-sides. Singer Brett Anderson sounds more self-assured and introspective, and Butler is able to get away with more guitar strutting, which of course he does to the hilt. The same wallowing guitar revelry is in the heady strings of "Where the Pigs Don't Fly" like it is in Suede 's "Sleeping Pills," but the b-sides have a more free-for-all feel that may have restrained them on the album tracks. London Suede are different but still good with new guitarist Richard Oakes. However, it is the Butler-era songs which evince the tortured heart and soul that defined London Suede in the first place, and the b-sides prove it.
What are London Suede now? Listen to Oakes' first collaboration, "Together," and you'll get a good idea. They still revel in their popstar life, and the music reflects that. The guitar no longer angles for center stage - it now serves to prop up Anderson's pop ethos. But the pop hooks still take root in your head. Anderson remains the Pavlovian dog salivating at all the popstar cliches - sex, drugs, "the love and poison of London" - and somehow gives it the proper perspective. Anderson and the band (including newer member Neil Codling on keyboards) tackle lyrical themes chronicling a London that still rises and falls by the sun, of sad Saturday nights that continue to embrace the decadence but are still trying to flush out the emptiness in the heart.
The newer b-sides reveal the band experimenting with more diverse soundscapes, taking their trademark glam sound and adding some haunting keyboards (as in "Europe Is Our Playground") and more airy pop ballads ("Another No-One," "This Time"). The tracks are more straightforward and fun pop-wise, but the sound is not as dynamic or intense. Without the heavy guitar personality in the later songs, Anderson relies more on his emoting prowess and some melodramatic pop melodies. His voice sounds fuller and more mature, which partially makes up for flatter, less dynamic guitar. The b-sides circa Coming Up are more for show, and sees the band becoming pop extroverts rather than moody introverts.
You can hear something subtly diminishing through the progression of b-sides. There was a vocal longing that seems now to have achieved its goal, and no longer sounds so naive or desperate - more self-assured, yet less complex sonically or emotionally. Desperation has given way to reveling and a glossy happiness, but the troubled heart is always more eloquent than the happy one. For better and worse, London Suede have evolved.
Sci-Fi Lullabies will inevitably stir up the same old debates, but you'll always reach the same conclusion. The older b-sides are better than the newer ones. Butler was a more visionary guitarist than Oakes. London Suede are still better than most bands, b-sides or not.
