SUEDE - Sci-Fi Lullabies (Nude 9CD)
A compilation of B-sides is not usually the sort of album to set the pulses racing and when it's stretched over 2 CD's, well the chances of it being any good are pretty slim. One of the main problems with these types of albums is that all the best fast songs are on the A-sides of singles and all the best slow songs are on the albums, leaving only the mid-pace plodders for the B-sides. A sweeping generalisation perhaps, but one that captures the pace of the album if not the quality.
Any album which starts with "My Insatiable One" and "To The Birds" has to have something going for it and a compilation of the best moments from this double set would be the equal of any Suede album to date (with the possible exception of "Dog Man Star".) So there's a bit of padding here, but many essential moments assuming, like me, that you don't already own the singles. Ten of the 27 tracks here are post Bernard songs reflecting perhaps the rise of the multi-format rip-off single in recent years. Highlights of these tracks include "Every Monday Morning Comes", the best rocker on the album "Money" and the excellent "These are the sad songs".
The BB tracks, to my mind consist the better half of the LP, if only marginally, from "He's Dead" through "The Big Time" to "Killing of A Flash Boy".
Buy it or bin it? Well if you don't like Suede, this won't change your mind. If you do, you may well own most of these anyway, but if you don't own half of the tracks mentioned above, ignore the B-sides compilation tag and buy as the next Suede album.