Suede (album)
Suede is the debut album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in March 1993 on Nude Records. It was recorded in London at Master Rock studios late 1992 and early 1993 and was produced by Ed Buller. At the time the fastest-selling debut album in British history in almost a decade, Suede debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart, won the 1993 Mercury Music Prize,[1] and is often cited as one of the first Britpop records. Displaying a sound of Britishness and glam rock, its music and lyrical content has been compared to The Smiths and early David Bowie.[2]
The album was preceded by what Rolling Stone called "its triptych of instantly classic singles."[3] The three singles, "The Drowners", "Metal Mickey" and "Animal Nitrate" helped to create a media buzz leading to significant hype for a year leading up to the album's release. It was met with generally favourable reviews both in the UK and in the US. Although it remains the group's biggest-selling album in the US,[4] it struggled to make headway commercially compared to the success in the UK.[5] In 2013, NME placed the album at number 78 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[6]
Background and recording[edit]
Suede quickly attracted the attention of the British music press; in 1992 before they had even released their debut single, Melody Maker featured the band on its cover, dubbing them "The Best New Band in Britain."[7] The year leading up to the release of Suede saw the group dominate the music press, appearing on 19 magazine covers;[8] and unprecedented for a band who had yet to release an album, an appearance on the cover of Q magazine in February 1993, declaring them "The Band of 1993".[9] According to a March 1993 article in The Independent, at the time Suede "had more hype than anybody since the Smiths, or possibly even the Sex Pistols."[8]
The record was produced by Ed Buller who the band had met through Nude Records' owner Saul Galpern. Both had worked together at Island Records. The band chose to work with Buller not based on his CV but more on a collective liking of him based on a shared interest of music they liked growing up. The band felt that this mutual interest would help shape their musical direction. Lead singer Brett Anderson said: "It wasn't so much us attaching ourselves to his CV, it was more kind of like where we were going to go with [the band]."[10] In terms of writing for the album, Anderson said they had a structural way of doing it. Guitarist Bernard Butler would write guitar parts and melodies mostly on his own. He would then play these in the rehearsal room with bassist Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert playing along. Anderson would then create vocal lines, which he would work on at home changing them to lyrics. These early recordings were done on a cassette recorder rather than a 4-track recorder. 4-track recorders would later be used during recording sessions for the album. During the early recordings, Butler said he was never fully aware of what lyrics Anderson was actually singing in rehearsals or at gigs until much later on. He was more focused on the melodies he was writing himself, saying: "I just always had the feeling that, if he's happy, I'm happy... if it's working, it's working and just go with it."[10]
Once the band had signed long-term to Nude/Sony in November 1992, the band began official recording of the album. The album was recorded late 1992 and early 1993 and cost £105,000 to make.[11] Some tracks were recorded at Protocol and Angel Recording Studios, though the bulk of the album was recorded and mixed at Master Rock Studios as Buller got on well with the house engineer Gary Stout.[12] In the studio, Buller's method of working was that he would form a close relationship with the band member whom he thought to be most important for the sound and creative input. In Suede's case it was guitarist Butler, which did not go down well with Anderson.[13] Buller would be the band's closest musical collaborator for the years ahead. Anderson liked Buller as a person and for his enthusiasm for Suede. He endorsed his production on the first single "The Drowners"; however, he had different views on "Metal Mickey", feeling that Buller took the "metal brutality" out of the song. Instead of the song ending abruptly after the chorus, which the band demonstrated when performing live, Buller suggested an extended fade-out, which incorporated a key change.[14]
Anderson also had an issue with the song "Moving", saying "It never sounds as good on that album as it did live. There's hardly anything of the energy, it's over-produced, it's all a bit FX, it's a bit grim."[15] Butler would eventually clash with Buller for similar reasons during the recording of the next album,[16] which was an event Anderson could perceive early on. "I think as Bernard got more technically aware, because he always had a fine ear, he very soon saw flaws in what Ed was doing.[14]
Inspired by The Smiths, Suede wanted to ensure the b-sides were of a high standard. Anderson later expressed regret for relegating several tracks recorded in sessions for the singles and album to B-sides.[10] The later album recordings included "She's Not Dead", "The Next Life", "So Young" and "Breakdown"; the latter track being the last to be written.[17]
Title and artwork[edit]
Before the album was released, the band half seriously considered titles of Half Dog, Animal Lover, and I Think You Stink, all were rejected in favour of Suede.[15] The gender-ambiguous cover art provoked some controversy in the press, prompting Anderson to comment: "I chose it because of the ambiguity of it, but mostly because of the beauty of it."[8] The cover image of the androgynous kissing couple was taken from the 1991 book Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs edited by Tessa Boffin and Jean Fraser. The photograph was taken by Tee Corinne and in its entirety shows a woman kissing an acquaintance in a wheelchair.[15] Corinne had in fact turned down the band's request to use the full shot of the two naked women and insisted they could only use a head and shoulders close-up of the women to protect their identity.[27]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album charted at no. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, selling more than 100,000 copies in the first week.[55] It spent 11 weeks in the top 40.[37] In March 1993 the British Phonographic Industry has certified the album as gold.[56] By September 1994, UK sales were 220,000 and sales outside the UK were around 400,000, with the largest markets being Japan (69,000), Germany (42,000), Sweden (39,000) and France (37,000).[57] Three weeks after entering the chart, it peaked at no. 14 on the US Heatseekers Albums Chart on 26 June 1993.[58] It also charted at no. 8 on the European Top 100 Albums chart, staying there for 16 weeks.[59] As of September 2020, the album has sold 301,000 copies in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company.[1] Suede is the group's best-selling album in the United States, having sold about 105,000 copies as of September 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[4] Much of the total album sales in the UK consisted of the initial rush during the first few weeks. As of September 2019, of all the Mercury Prize winning albums, Suede is the 16th best-selling out of 27; despite being one of only three chart-topping albums on the list. The other two number ones, Arctic Monkeys' debut and Pulp's Different Class are the top-two best-selling Mercury Prize winners.[1]
Suede
Additional musicians
Technical
Design