Head Music

Coming Up was every bit the triumphant comeback Brett Anderson and company were expecting and it was a terrific little record, but it did suggest that Suede had begun to reach the limits of Ed Bullers production ideas, while also feeling a little superficial. The very fact that its sequel was produced by Steve Osborne, the man behind classics LPs from New Order and Happy Mondays, suggested they were returning to the dark undercurrents of their first two records, yet Head Music is Coming Up, Pt. 2. Working with Osborne has added some vague elements of electronic and dance music to Suedes signature sound, but these primarily manifest themselves in the form of gurgling analog synths and canned, old-school drum machines. Essentially, theyre just window dressing, since the songs themselves are extensions of the glam flash of Coming Up. While that hardly qualifies as an artistic progression, it hardly qualifies as a bad album either, and theyve never sounded quite as unselfconscious as they do here. Suede even get downright silly at times, whether its the goofy puns of the title track or the ridiculously intoxicating stomp Elephant Man. Its hard not to miss early Suede -- the psychedelic Indian Springs comes close to capturing the feel, but its bright, not menacing, and the ballads are pretty, not majestic -- but even in this streamlined incarnation, nobody does this kind of trash pop as alluringly as Suede. Nobody can turn out a single as thrilling as Electricity, nobody can grind out sexndrugs anthems as electrifying as Cant Get Enough, or swoon as fetchingly as Shes in Fashion. When it comes down to it, nobody makes cheap sleaze sound so alluring. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine