“The album is charged with a naivety but it manages to have a feel which I still love; it rages and it screams, it yelps and it whispers and captures some truth of who we were at that moment in our lives: youthful, impertinent, ambitious and flawed” - Brett Anderson
Suede are delighted to announce the release of the ‘Suede 25th Anniversary Silver Edition’ bookset. Released on Edsel records on the 30th March, the deluxe, 4 CD and DVD set features the band’s original, iconic debut album, B sides, demos and monitor mixes, several of which are unreleased, as well as Suede’s first BBC radio session and a live gig at The Leadmill in Sheffield from February 1993.
Widely heralded as one of the best debuts of all time, Suede’s self-titled album came to define a generation, winning the 1993 Mercury Music Prize in the process and ushering in the Britpop era.
Dubbed ‘The Best New Band in Britain’ by Melody Maker in 1992, Suede’s arrival on the British music scene came at the perfect time. Driven by a primitive, sexual energy and a brazen confidence, the band swept up droves of young, passionate fans, turned off by the diluted grunge music they had become accustomed to. British music had an identity again and Suede were very much at the vanguard of it.
Many still believe Suede’s debut was their album with the most cultural resonance and the one that left the biggest legacy. Talking about the recording of the album, Brett Anderson explains:
“I only have sunny memories of those days. It was a wonderful time for us when we were all still young men; wild – eyed and passionate and heedless, when we were still united and mutually purposeful and when it felt like the world could be ours”.
The bookset’s DVD features six contemporary TV performances (including Suede’s first ever TV appearance), and an hour-long film of Brett and Bernard Butler discussing the writing and recording of the album, all issued for the first time. Also included is a new note by Brett about his memories of the recording of the album, along with the lyrics, hand-written lyric drafts, tape boxes, and photos from the band’s collections.
At the time of its initial release in March 1993 Suede’s chart topping, ‘Suede’ was the fastest selling debut album in British history. Featuring four incredible singles ‘The Drowners’, ‘Metal Mickey’, ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘So Young’, the record received rave reviews across the British music press and is still regarded as a hugely influential album twenty-five years later.
In addition to the ‘Suede’ 25-year anniversary set, March also sees the release of Brett Anderson’s first book. ‘Coal Black Mornings’ is published on 1st March by Little, Brown.
CD 1:
SUEDE
1. So Young
2. Animal Nitrate
3. She’s Not Dead
4. Moving
5. Pantomime Horse
6. The Drowners
7. Sleeping Pills
8. Breakdown
9. Metal Mickey
10. Animal Lover
11. The Next Life
CD 2:
THE B-SIDES
1. My Insatiable One
2. To The Birds
3. He’s Dead
4. Where The Pigs Don’t Fly
5. Painted People
6. The Big Time
7. High Rising
8. Dolly
9. My Insatiable One [piano version]
10. Brass In Pocket
CD 3:
DEMOS, MONITOR MIXES, BBC RADIO 1 SESSION
ROCKING HORSE DEMOS, October 1991
1. The Drowners
2. He's Dead
3. Moving
4. To The Birds
ISLAND DEMOS, January 1992
5. Metal Mickey
6. Pantomime Horse
7. High Wire (My Insatiable One)
8. The Drowners
9. To The Birds
EAST WEST DEMO, March 1992
10. Sleeping Pills
SINGLE MONITOR MIXES, March 1992
11. The Drowners
12. To The Birds
13. My Insatiable One
BBC RADIO 1, MARK GOODIER SHOW, April 1992
14. Metal Mickey
15. The Drowners
16. Sleeping Pills
17. Moving
BONUS TRACKS
18. Diesel [instrumental] [studio outtake]
19. Stars On 45 [rehearsal room recording]
20. Sleeping Pills [strings]
CD 4:
LIVE AT THE LEADMILL, February 1993 first time on CD
1. Metal Mickey
2. Moving
3. My Insatiable One
4. Animal Nitrate
5. Pantomime Horse
6. The Drowners
7. Painted People
8. So Young
9. Animal Lover
10. Sleeping Pills
11. To The Birds
DVD:
BBC TV APPEARANCES
THE LATE SHOW [7.5.92]
1. The Drowners
TOP OF THE POPS [24.9.92 & 27.5.93]
2. Metal Mickey
3. So Young
LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND [4.6.93]
4. So Young
5. The Next Life / Brett in conversation with Jools
6. My Insatiable One
BONUS DVD FEATURE
Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler discuss “Suede”, track-by-track, with Pete Paphides
*Bold denotes previously unreleased material