Best tunes of 2013: #17 Suede “It starts and ends with you”

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Suede (aka The London Suede) is a band that I didn’t love upon first hearing. I thought their self-titled debut was just… ok. Nevertheless, I grew to appreciate them more with each new album and upon return listens and further reevaluation of their previous outputs. So by the time of their fifth album, 2002’s “A new morning”, the album that would ultimately break up the glam rock, erstwhile Britpop outfit, I was a full-fledged fan.

My fandom continued to grow in their absence and thus, I was ecstatic when the group re-formed in 2010 for some concerts, thinking I might finally get a chance to see them live, and then, super-enthused when new material started appearing. I still haven’t seen Brett Anderson and company perform live but I’ve fully enjoyed the four albums they have released in the last decade or so and am looking forward to hearing their tenth album, released just today. The first of their post-reunion albums was 2013’s “Bloodsports”, an album that was a critical darling the world over upon release and got quite a bit of love by yours truly on my old blog, Music Insanity!

“And then I fall to the floor like my strings are cut
Pinch myself, but I don’t wake up”

The first single to be released from “Bloodsports” sounds from its title like it could be a straight-ahead love song, the stuff of fairytale wedding first dances. But hey, this is Suede we are talking about here. Like much of the album, it blends the best of what made their first three albums so great. “It starts and ends with you” is epic without being overwrought and glam without too much glitz and none of the saccharine sap. It is sonically dense, layers of razor sharp guitars and pounding drums. Brett Anderson is as cheeky and hip-smacking as ever, teasing both the good and the bad of being completely in love. Is it a healthy relationship or is it really catastrophic, destined to end in pain on all sides? You decide.

But while you consider, I’m just going to press play one more time, turn it up even louder, and dance in my bedroom like no one is watching.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.