7. A New Morning
'Give a little bit of something new/Give a little bit of attitude' When A New Morning was released in 2002, Suede had been together (just about) for nearly thirteen years. In that time, they'd given birth to Britpop, almost completely dropped out of it with a difficult second album, and then come roaring back into the fold as a more conventional, pop-focused act. But there was no Britpop in 2002. 2002 was the end of one of those difficult transitional periods in British rock music when nothing seemed to be happening. The biggest album of the year was Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head, a wisp of a record that could only have had meaning in an era that meaningless. It was not a time for Suede, and they proved that with their worst album. Calling your album 'A New Morning' is almost too transparent to qualify as symbolism. This is Suede hoping to cast off the detritus of their grimy past and stride boldly on to pastures new. Which would be admirable, if it wasn't so drippy. Where once guitars squalled and synths rumbled, we now have bongo-paddling and harmonica tootling. Even when the band try to rock out, it sounds like they're playing along to 'Trash', 'Beautiful Ones', or, on 'Astrogirl', trying to piece 'Saturday Night' back together by memory (and Saturday Night was already a borrowed tune- hello 'Tears In Heaven'!) This combination of rote tunesmithery and misconceived sonic frills has the effect- the ruinous effect- of making everything pleasant and forgettable. The lack of balls on the instrumental front reveals Brett Anderson for the weary husk that he surely must have been after kicking a long-term drug habit. His pipes sound audibly damaged by the sh**loads of crack he'd been shovelling down them for the last five years, although it's the words that are most exhausted. Anderson had already achieved full self-parody before this, but lyrics like 'Your smile is your credit card/And your currency is love' lack even schoolboy poetry. It's awful to say, but he was much better at that sort of thing when he was on the drugz. At least that was an excuse.