A New Morning

Its a celebration of the mundanity and marvel of everday life - stupid things that people do, how nice rainstorms can be, shaking your rear, media pressure for aspirational lifestyles, love and defiant individuality. Oh and, of course, a few Astrogirls, make-believe skies and Atlantis thrown in for good measure.

As a whole album, this is the best thing they have done since Dog Man Star. Brett's given in to his Bowie & Prince fetish and gone and made an album that's an onslaught of choruses, suburban sci-fi imagery, gurgling guitars, swells of sparkly synth and more choruses. Musically, they've really thrown the net wide - harmonicas, bongos, mellotrons and (in a bit of a suede revelation) layers and layers fabulous harmonies.

Brett also seems to have reinvigorated himself lyrically - becoming the dominating pressence over the whole album. A New Morning is full to the brim with stuff that makes me grin like a big happy rock chimp - Obessions & Beautiful Loser particularly. This is really welcome after the psychotic urban alienation of Head Music, A New Morning is a lot more open and universal by comparisson.

The bonus track "you belong to me" is a stormer too (seemingly being Bretts lyrical manifesto for the whole album), and would nestle nicely in between Positivity and Obessions if you ask me. When you add in the fascinating alternate sessions you can link to with the CD, this is amazing value as a purchase.

And that artwork! Great swirls of bright paint - lovely stuff.

1. POSITVITY- A short, catchy mid paced number. Not a million miles away from 'She's In Fashion; in the verses. A light acoustic touch, jangly riff and summery strings make this a gentle opener.

2. LOST IN TV- A great opening line from Brett grabs the attention 'I see you in my life, I see you on the screen, an ascending socialite, orbiting the scene'. Unashamedly eclectic, LOST IN TV, with its mellow organ line, acoustic guitars and three part harmonies is reminiscent of early Bowie, with a chorus that R.E.M would be proud of.

3. OBSESSIONS- The first uptempo number, and this is great. Unlike the rockers on 'Headmusic' OBSESSIONS sounds as fresh and exciting as earlier tracks like 'Trash', 'New Generation' and 'This Hollywood Life'- nice harmonica. A Suede classic.

4. LONELY GIRLS- After OBSESSIONS, LONELY GIRLS calms down the listener with a pleasant acoustic -almost folky- guitar. As the title would suggest, this is a song about lonely girls. While this may not be the best song on the album, it is decidely cathcy and has a suprisingly good string arrangement.

5. ASTRO GIRL- Another moment which brings Bowie to mind. A lovely sparse piano and strange distorted strings frame Brett's voice as he croons about a strange relationship with an astro girl. Odd stuff for Suede, but nonetheless,this is a damn fine song.

6. BEAUTIFUL LOSER- A definite highlight- and again, classic Suede. This song is instantly memorable, and is very, very sing-along.

7. STREET LIFE- the catchiness continues, with another strong track, which grows on you- a lot. When listening to the album, this is the one you'll want to dance to most, so 'Shake your rear' as Brett says.

8. UNTITLED- a lovely, lovely song. Those sparse piano chords are back, as are some very effective three part harmonies, this song sounds like it was recorded live, with some nice subtle background noise addinf texture tot he bold simplicity.

9. MORNING- a short John Lennonish acoustic moment, which builds well. Not the best though.

10. ONE HIT TO THE BODY- a strange one this, what exactly is 'One hit to the body'? Well apart from that questin this song is dumb sing-along fun, but slighlty dissapointing compared to the rest of the album.

11. WHEN THE RAIN FALLS- an up tempo ballad, which your foot demands to tap to. Reminiscent of good Swedish pop, from the likes of the Cardigans and the Wannadies. the spoken verse at the end is a tad cloying though... but fear not it is not the end.

12. OCEANS (hidden track). Leave WHEN THE RAIN FALLS on for about 10 minutes, and then you'll get 'Oceans' which is brilliant. Not exactly continuing the 'up' happy feeling of the album, this is about a failed, dull marriage! It is reminiscent of past glory the Living Dead for it's acoustic guitar and meloncholy verse- and its great!

New single 'Positivity' is a light, pleasant song, though slighlty dissapointing. Luckily it is not representative of the rest of the album. A good handful of these new tracks are reminiscent of the pop moments on 'Dog Man Star', 'Obsessions' would sit well on that album, as would the charming simplicity of 'Untitled', with it's 'At the Drive By...' lyrics sounding like 'Aladin Sane' David Bowie. 'Lost In TV' is all acoustic guitars and three part harmonies, a definite highlight.'Beautiful Loser' is the album's typical suede rocker, which rocks very well, and 'StreetLife' is a jolly jangly number about 'shaking rears' and 'sexual equality'. 'Astro Girl' treads on new territory, sounding like a mix between a harder Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips with its strange Retro Sci-Fi sound. Suede do slow songs well, and any Suede fan will know a song by their favourite band called 'When The Rain Falls' won't dissapoint. After the last track, a ten minute gap leads to a 'hidden' song; 'Oceans'. Premiered at the Iceland Airwaves Festival in 2000, this song is excellent. Suede have made a good comeback.

Lyrically, as with 'Headmusic' this record isn't as strong as the earlier days, though 'Untilted's line '...like flies on a windscreen/like insects in glue/we could stick together/if you wanted to...' shows Anderson has not lost his humour.