Head Music
(Sony)
By Redmund Law
There are two sides to Suede -- the smooth side and the rougher one."Head Music"sits somewhere in between. It's not as immediate as their"Coming Up"album nor as epic as"Dog Man Star."And don't raise your hope for another single in the same fashion as"Trash"or"Beautiful Ones."If you've heard the self-titled first album,"Head Music"shares a similar mood to it -- definitely nastier and darker than the Day-Glo colors of"Coming Up."A prime example would be"Can't Get Enough,"which sounds like it's 1992 all over again. There are harder glam-rock (as opposed to glam-pop) tracks like"Hi-fi"and the stomping"Elephant Man."In fact, the moment the album opens with the lead single"Electricity,"you get an idea this is not going to be a clone of their last album"Sci-fi Lullabies."The new songwriting triumvirate of Brett Anderson, Richard Oakes, and Neil Codling has brought the band nearer to the '70s Bowie sound (Codling's synths are unintrusive but extremely effective in creating a deliberately colder atmosphere). All the songs on the album are idiosyncratically Suede, while at the same time, hint at something edgier.This should not deter you from buying this album, unless all you ever liked about Suede was the hit single"Beautiful Ones."There are fine moments of pop wonder here, as shown in"Everything Will Flow,"an infectious pop song that deserves to be a radio hit. Other potential hits include the sashaying"She's in Fashion,"as well as the haunting"He's Dead."Even the bizarre tabla-backed, string-laden"Indian Strings"draws you in steadily. Suede balances the rest of the album well against the more angular tracks mentioned earlier, proving to critics that the band is far from being yesterday's cowhide. In my opinion, this is a better album than Blur's"13."
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