Izdavač: Ostalo
Žanr: Alternativni Rok, Elektronska muzika, Pop, Rok
Poreklo: Strani izvođač

Original, made in EU

Knjizica od 24 str.

knjizica 5-/4+ Cd 5-

Studio album by Suede
Released 3 May 1999
Recorded August 1998 – February 1999
Genre
Alternative rockelectronic rockalternative dance
Length 57:47
Label Nude
Producer Steve Osborne
Suede chronology
Sci-Fi Lullabies
(1997) Head Music
(1999) A New Morning
(2002)

Head Music is the fourth album by English alternative rock band Suede, released by Nude Records in May 1999. Produced and mixed by Steve Osborne, Head Music features a more electronic sound, which was a new approach for the band. The recording of Head Music was plagued with difficulties such as singer Brett Anderson`s addiction to crack, and keyboardist Neil Codling`s struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome. The album still went to number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, however, making it the band`s third and final chart-topping album. Overall, the album received generally favourable reviews from critics.

Background and recording
After the release of the B-sides compilation Sci-Fi Lullabies, Suede decided to put themselves out of the limelight for over a year. Neil Codling spent most of the year in bed due to his illness and at the same time Anderson`s drug abuse was becoming a cause for concern. Anderson began to associate himself with people outside the band`s social circles, whom the band, especially Mat Osman, seemed to dislike. `More than anything there started to be a whole load of people he was associating with who I just couldn`t stand. They had nothing to do with the band, nothing to do with anything but drugs. They were drug buddies.`[1]

Suede decided to move on from Ed Buller as their producer. After demoing 15 songs with three different producers,[2] wanting to go in a more produced, electronic-sounding direction, the group chose Steve Osborne to produce the album.[3] Osborne had previously worked with the band Happy Mondays. According to Anderson, Head Music was Suede`s most experimental album,[4] and Osborne`s role played into the group`s experimentation, `Steve was responsible for a hell of a lot of this album`s sound. We chose him first of all because he did this fucking brilliant job on `Savoir Faire`... It just sounded really exciting and unusual.`[4] Osborne`s involvement sparked rumours of Suede going in a dancier direction, which the band denied. Osman insisted it is “groovier” than their previous songs with some using only one or two chords,[5] while Anderson said: “The last thing we wanted to do was some obvious attempt to make a dance album, because it would have sounded like shit.”[4]

Osborne was initially hired for one week of trial-run recording at Mayfair Studios, just to see how the process was going to work, or indeed if the two parties could work together.[3] Suede`s biographer David Barnett remembers the day when they did a test-run of `Savoir Faire` with Osborne at the trial sessions. He recalls being offered a crack pipe by two of Anderson`s friends. `Naively assuming it to be a hash pipe, I took them up on the offer and was surprised to experience a sensation akin to inhaling several bottles of poppers at the same time. This was my first and last personal encounter with crack.`[6] Anderson was addicted to the drug for two and a half years, but stopped in late 1999 when somebody very close to him became ill. He has been clean since.[7] Head Music was recorded between August 1998 and February 1999. Several studios were used including, Eastcote, Sarm Hook End, Master Rock and Eden Studios.[3]

For guitarist Richard Oakes, the rehearsals for Head Music were unpleasant. Faced with Anderson`s hedonistic lifestyle, Oakes began to drink more to make rehearsing more endurable. As he recalls: `I remember for quite a few of them, having to make sure that I was semi drunk just in order to turn up.`[8] Oakes also found his contributions being regularly knocked back in favour of Anderson and Codling`s electronic experiments.[9] Anderson felt that his spiralling drug use and Codling`s illness made Oakes become more isolated from the group; and that the only people who were still getting on well were Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert.[10] At one point relationships became so strained that Anderson demanded future member Alex Lee to be summoned to the studio presumably because no one else was willing to turn up.[11]

The album is notable for being the first Suede album to have a title track. `Head Music` was one of Anderson`s personal offerings, which Nude`s Saul Galpern insisted should not go on the album. Osborne actually refused to record it,[12] instead they got Arthur Baker to do a version, however they disliked it.[13] Osborne eventually relented, but was not so flexible when it came Codling`s next offering. `Elephant Man`, which is the only song on a Suede album not written or co-written by Anderson. It was recorded, mixed and engineered by Bruce Lampcov.[14] Codling contributed a greater amount of material to Head Music than Coming Up, receiving writing credits on six songs. Recording took six months but was extended by a break mid-way for more writing, finishing up more than two months over schedule.[15] Danton Supple, who mixed the album with Osborne said: `Brett and I felt we were short of a couple of songs to complete the album. It would have been good to finish last year. We had the album but not the arrangements and we’ve just been mixing since.`[15]

Musical style
`It`s a fantastic album, but it could`ve been a lot better if we had left a couple things off of it. I still don`t know why the hell we put `Crack in the Union Jack` and `Elephant Man` on there. It was meant to be an experimental record; we were trying to again push Suede in a slightly different direction. It was made with the right intentions, but it confused a lot of the fans.`

– In hindsight, Brett Anderson divulging his regrets on the album.[16]
More groove-oriented than previous Suede albums, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that, due to Osborne`s production, Head Music adds `some vague elements of electronic and dance music to Suede`s signature sound, but these primarily manifest themselves in the form of gurgling analog synths and canned, old-school drum machines. Essentially, they`re just window-dressing, since the songs themselves are extensions of the glam flash of Coming Up.`[17] The BBC felt the electronic influence was larger, describing an `emphasis placed on synths and all things electronica,` although also noting that `the Suede identity is kept firmly in focus throughout.`[18] Spin thought likewise, saying the record `embraces the supposed contradiction of rocking out with a dance music mentor` and made note of its `complex sheen.`[19] Anderson has said the album was influenced by Asian Dub Foundation, Audioweb, Tricky, Prince and Lee `Scratch` Perry.[20]

Title and artwork
As a joke, the group originally started to leak the album`s title to the press one letter at a time.[5][21] But two days after releasing the second letter, bassist Mat Osman announced the album`s title and explained where the idea of releasing the title one letter at a time come from: `Saul [Galpern], head of Nude was hassling for a title, and Brett said, `I`ll tell you one letter at a time until you can guess it.`[5] After the first two letters were revealed, there was speculation that the title was going to be called Heroin.[22] The artwork, which features Anderson`s girlfriend Sam, and Neil Codling, was art-directed by Peter Saville and designed by Howard Wakefield and Paul Hetherington. Anderson told Saville `I wanted two people joined at the head, sort of listening to each other`s heads. He showed me some photos and we eventually got the cover we released.`[23]
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. `Electricity`
Brett AndersonNeil CodlingRichard Oakes
4:39
2. `Savoir Faire` Anderson 4:37
3. `Can`t Get Enough`
AndersonCodling
3:58
4. `Everything Will Flow`
AndersonOakes
4:41
5. `Down`
AndersonOakes
6:12
6. `She`s in Fashion`
AndersonCodling
4:53
7. `Asbestos`
AndersonCodling
5:17
8. `Head Music` Anderson 3:23
9. `Elephant Man` Codling 3:06
10. `Hi-Fi` Anderson 5:09
11. `Indian Strings` Anderson 4:21
12. `He`s Gone`
AndersonCodling
5:35
13. `Crack in the Union Jack` Anderson 1:56

Personnel
Suede

Brett Anderson – vocals
Richard Oakes – guitars
Simon Gilbert – drums
Mat Osman – electric bass
Neil Codling – keyboards, synthesisers
Production

Steve Osborne – production, mixing
Ben Hillier – engineering
Paul Corckett – engineering
Danton Supple – mix engineering
Bruce Lampcov – recording, mixing and engineering on `Elephant Man`
Bunt Stafford Clarke – mastering
Artwork

Nick Knight – cover
Peter Saville – cover
Brett Anderson – cover
Howard Wakefield – design
Paul Hetherington – design