Suede have today announced details of a new project going by the title of “Suede30”. As the title might suggest, this refers to a re-release of the band’s classic self-titled debut album, but newly mixed and mastered allowing fans feel “So Young” once more, but in the best sounding way possible.
The album will release on 7th July 2023 via Demon Music and is available for pre-order here.
Suede30 will serve as a timely reminder of just how influential and transformative a role the band’s haunting and elegant songwriting played in shaping British music from the band’s early beginnings. Suede’s eponymous debut was an overnight critical and commercial smash. Adorned with the iconic image captured by American photographer Tee Corinne, it topped the UK album charts immediately upon release. Selling over 100,000 copies in just its first week, it became the fastest-selling debut album in the UK in history, going on to earn the band the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and helped foster ‘Britpop’ as a musical movement, though the band distanced themselves from the term.
Reminiscing of that era, frontman Brett Anderson recalls, “It was a genuinely magical time in my life and one for which I’ll always be grateful. It felt incredible being in what I thought was quite probably the most exciting band in the world at the time, making a record which felt like more than just another band making another album.“
Helmed by the album’s original producer and long-time Suede collaborator Ed Buller, there will be a Blu-Ray audio edition centred on a 5.1 mix and Dolby Atmos treatment created by the musician and producer Steven Wilson; a half-speed master edition pressed on 180g black vinyl; a newly mastered 2CD edition complete with B-sides, the limited edition full album picture disc with newly reimagined bespoke sleeve, and highly collectable 30th anniversary 7″ picture discs of the band’s classic first four singles, ‘The Drowners’ / ‘To The Birds’, ‘Metal Mickey’ / ‘Where The Pigs Don’t Fly’, ‘Animal Nitrate’ / ‘The Big Time’ and ‘So Young’ / ‘High Rising’, each featuring the original and striking cover artwork on the discs.
The news of Suede30 follows the release of Autofiction, Suede’s brand new studio album. Debuting at #2 in the UK Albums Chart in September 2022 and marking Suede’s highest charting LP since 1999’s Head Music, the album has been universally received as a late-career triumph, with the NME proclaiming “one of the greatest comebacks of the 21st century”.
Whilst performing Autofiction in front of tens of thousands of fans at an entirely sold-out and rapturously received UK tour, Suede marked 30 years to the day since the release of their self-titled debut album with a very special surprise set. Fans at Suede’s second sold out night at Manchester’s Albert Hall on 29th March 2023 were treated to a rare set list including eight songs from the Suede-era in ‘She’s Not Dead’, ‘Breakdown’, ‘Moving’, ‘Pantomime Horse’, ‘Animal Nitrate’, ‘So Young’, ‘Metal Mickey’ and ‘My Insatiable One’.
Suede30 will be released on 180g black vinyl LP, x2CD, picture disc and blu-ray editions, all with audio newly mastered by Phil Kinrade at AIR Studios from the original ½” tapes and production masters, overseen and approved by original album producer Ed Buller.
The 2CD Deluxe Gatefold edition of Suede will also include the nine B-sides on a second CD, along with a cover of ‘Brass in Pocket’, originally recorded for an NME covermount cassette. The two CDs are presented in brand new seven-inch deluxe gatefold packaging, with an 8-page booklet including lyrics and credits.
The black vinyl edition was expertly cut using precision half-speed mastering by Barry Grint at AIR Mastering. Pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl, housed in a poly-lined inner sleeve, featuring an obi strip and a 4-page booklet insert.
The highly collectible limited edition picture disc LP (limited to 1030 copies world wide) features reimagined exclusive artwork by Paul Khera (a black-on-black spot UV version of the iconic cover), with an exclusive picture disc featuring Brett Anderson’s lyrics housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve featuring gold foil detailing, and a classic Kevin Cummins photograph across the centrefold.
The Blu-ray edition will include a Dolby Atmos Mix, 5.1 Surround Mix and new Stereo Mix, each completed by Steven Wilson, alongside the 1993 Definitive Original Stereo Mix.
The first of four 7″ single picture disc releases begins with the one that started it all, ‘The Drowners’ / ‘To The Birds’ (30th Anniversary Edition). Originally released in 1992 via Nude Records, the NME and Melody Maker both voted it their Single Of The Year.
All formats are available to pre-order here ahead of global release on 7th July 2023.
For Record Store Day 2023 the band’s debut album demos will be issued on vinyl for the first time in specially-commissioned sleeve artwork, created by Brett Anderson, which resembles a cassette inlay. The LP includes the original demos of the classic singles “The Drowners” and “Metal Mickey”, as well as the album tracks “Pantomime Horse”, “Sleeping Pills” and “He’s Dead”, plus B-side “To The Birds”. Also featured are the outtakes “Diesel” and the rehearsal room recording “Stars On 45”. Pressed on 140 gram clear vinyl.
Suede’s UK Autofiction tour continues with two nights at London’s Brixton Academy on 15th and 16th December, with further announcements soon to be revealed.
The Suede230 Tracklist plays as follows:
CD 1: SUEDE
1. So Young
2. Animal Nitrate
3. She’s Not Dead
4. Moving
5. Pantomime Horse
6. The Drowners
7. Sleeping Pills
8. Breakdown
9. Metal Mickey
10. Animal Lover
11. The Next Life
CD 2: THE B-SIDES
1. My Insatiable One
2. To The Birds
3. He’s Dead
4. Where The Pigs Don’t Fly
5. Painted People
6. The Big Time
7. High Rising
8. Dolly
9. My Insatiable One [piano version]
10. Brass In Pocket
So, roll on 7th July, and until then, well leave you to enjoy the remastered music video for the band’s second single, ‘Metal Mickey’.
