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issue 1 june 2004 |
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| this article |
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| page 2 |
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| page 4 |
| print version |
| head mutterings 1 |
| by sirje niitepõld |
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| when the matter of “the worst suede
album” (or whatever grim way you want to put it) is discussed, the
votes seem to be rather evenly split between head music and a
new morning. there are those who think head music was
fascinating and experimental in its coldness but a new morning
was bland. then there are those who think head music was
mindless and soulless (and pick “elephant man” and “she live
in a house” as obvious proof) whereas a new morning saw
suede coming back to their roots and doing an album of songs with
the songs as the main point again. (we, who take the risk of
sounding like blind fanatics and say we actually are fond of both
albums, as well as those who say suede haven’t done anything half
decent after bernard, haven’t got much to say in this discussion).
the press, however, seem to me to have been unanimous since around
the time a new morning came out. their consensus of opinion
goes something like this: a new morning may be a bit better
or a bit worse, but head music, now that was the worst album
ever made, not only by suede but by pretty much anyone in pop.
the funny thing about that opinion is that everybody seems to have forgotten that when head music came out, it was actually widely praised as a masterpiece. steve sutherland, famous for thinking suede were the “best new band in britain” in 1992, decided in his melody maker review in may 1999 that suede then were the – ratata – “best band in britain”. head music, he thought, was “absoruddylutely marvelous”, the “quite probably best ‘proper’ album” by them and worth four and a half stars (same as dog man star, half a star more than coming up). melody maker later declared head music their album of the year. gig reviews were heartening, like one by robin bresnark (who later slagged a new morning off pretty much as badly as you can slag an album off) in november 1999, where he complains about a lack of chemistry, yet praises old and news songs alike, and gives the show a whole five stars. |
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2004 suede fanzine.
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