Sci-Fi Lullabies

''Sci-Fi Lullabies'' is a two-disc compilation album by English alternative rock band Suede released by Nude Records on 6 October 1997, consisting of B-sides from the singles that were released from the group's first three albums. It reached no. 9 on the UK Albums Chart, and received universal acclaim on release. In subsequent years, the record has been hailed as one of the finest B-side compilations in popular music.

Background

The album spans two discs and displays the band in its most prolific era. The first disc is dominated by tracks written by the Brett Anderson/Bernard Butler songwriting partnership (the exceptions are "Together," "Bentswood Boys" and "Europe is Our Playground") while the second showcases the various intra-band songwriting variations (Anderson/Richard Oakes and Anderson/Neil Codling, plus Anderson solo and compositions contributed to by the whole band) that emerged following Butler's departure and the subsequent recruitment of a new guitarist, Richard Oakes and keyboardist Neil Codling.

The album is not entirely comprehensive, missing out around half a dozen exclusive songs released as B-sides by the band during the period it covers. Missing Anderson/Butler B-sides are "Painted People" (from "Animal Nitrate"), "Dolly" (from " So Young") and "This World Needs a Father" (from " The Wild Ones" Disc 1), which was the last B-side of the Butler era. Omitted Anderson solo compositions include "Asda Town" (from "The Wild Ones" Disc 2) and "Sam" (from "Beautiful Ones"). Codling's "Digging a Hole" and the band's group effort "Feel", (both from " Lazy"), were omitted from the collection. Live performances released as B-sides (on "New Generation" Disc 2 and "Filmstar" Disc 2) are also not included, neither is Suede's cover of the Pet Shop Boys' "Rent". The track "Eno's Introducing The Band" (from "The Wild Ones" Disc 2) is also not included.

Bassist Mat Osman outlined the band's reasons for the release of the collection, saying: "We had the tracks, we liked them and wanted people to hear them... We were going to release them before our last album ('' Coming Up'' in April), but that would have been backwards. Also, a load of bootlegs have begun appearing in Europe, and they cost a sum of money. These are songs we want people to hear. This tends to tie up all the loose ends." The album is considered an important one for fans of the band, partially because of the wealth of material and partially as many of the songs on the compilation are considered to be as strong as or even stronger than the singles from which they came. In Hindsight, in a 2016 interview with Canadian magazine ''Vice'', Anderson revealed some regrets over the content of the collection, which he felt could have been better and possibly his favourite of all Suede albums.

Reception

The collection was released to universal acclaim, with some of the best reviews coming from the American music press. Tom Lanham of ''Entertainment Weekly'' said that Anderson is a "tireless diarist, judging from this anthology of 27 U.K.-single B sides, each one—like the grim concert staple 'Killing of a Flash Boy'—as fey, somber, and solid as any album track." David Daley of the ''Hartford Courant'' felt the album was akin to a "best of" release, writing: "Far from an assortment of throwaways that didn't make the albums, this essential double-disc, 27-song set contains some of Suede's strongest material... the perfect antidote to Oasis' cartoonish 'Best Band' claims."

Likewise, also comparing Suede to Oasis, Ed Masley of the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' admitted that Suede would always be the underdog to their Britpop rivals. However, he said that the songs on ''Sci-Fi Lullabies'' "could outshine most of their better-known UK rivals' finest gems." Kurt B. Reighley of ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' found the compilation to be overlong and, in contrast to other writers, pointed to the second disc as the strongest. He conceded, however, that "there's nary a track among these 27 that wouldn't have made a worthwhile album cut, and a few that merit A-side status." In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted that CD1 "is as strong as any of their albums," and that several tracks are "strong enough to be A-sides." Overall he said, "this is absolutely essential material, confirming the group's status as one of the '90s' greatest bands."

The collection was widely praised by several notable music critics of the UK press. Mark Beaumont of ''NME'' said that while the second disc resembles a typical B-sides album, the first "stakes a formidable claim as the fourth Suede album in its own right" and is arguably superior to three acclaimed studio albums of the period: Radiohead's ''OK Computer'', Spiritualized's ''Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space'', and Suede's own '' Coming Up''. John Harris of '' Select'' said the album plays like "a retelling of the entire Suede movie script" and is "truly as good as most Greatest Hits albums." Writing for '' Vox'', Simon Price felt that Anderson wrote some of his funniest lyrics on CD2, on the tracks "Young Men" and "Jumble Sale Mums". Aside from "Duchess", which he called "lazy rubbish," he had strong praise for both discs.

The album continued Suede's run of consecutive top ten albums, peaking at no. 9 in October 1997. Despite never placing on any of ''Billboards charts, ''Sci-Fi Lullabies'' had sold 19,000 units in the US by 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Legacy

Keith Phipps of ''The A.V. Club'' and Scott Plagenhoef of ''Stylus Magazine'' spoke of the effort invested in Suede's B-sides, with the band discarding "failed" ideas or experiments in favour of high quality tracks. Plagenhoef asserted: "Those early B-sides—collected on disc one of ''Sci-Fi Lullabies'' remain Suede's strongest collection of songs." The album has been named as one of the finest in the B-side/rarity genre. ''Independent'' critic Simon Price hailed it as "the greatest B-sides album ever made." Kevin Courtney of ''The Irish Times'' expressed similar views of the album's quality, while admitting that only The Smiths' ''Hatful Of Hollow'' could supersede it. Another ''Irish Times'' writer Brian Boyd felt that a compressed version of the collection would be a hit record, writing: "if this was a single 12-track album, it would be pushing for inclusion in the album of the year lists."

In 2017, ''Pitchfork'' ranked the record at number thirty in its list, "The 50 Best Britpop Albums."
''The A.V. Club'' included the compilation in its list of 35 essential B-side/rarity/outtakes collections. The article described ''Sci-Fi Lullabies'' as being "as good as any of Suede's proper albums." ''NME'' featured the compilation in their list of "30 Killer B-Side And Rarities Albums You Might've Missed", noting that Suede's B-sides "were as exciting as anything Britpop could muster." The record was also included in a 2013 ''NME'' poll of the 500 greatest albums of all time, where it placed at number 448. The 1995 book, ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' wrote: "Like the Smiths, Suede littered many of its best songs on its B-sides, a case in point being the fine 'My Insatiable One'." The song was covered by former Smiths singer Morrissey during his 1992 solo world tour.

Live performances

The Suede B-sides have been an integral part of Suede's live shows as well as Anderson's solo performances. Favourites from disc one include "The Living Dead" and "Killing of a Flash Boy", which were performed at Suede's March 2010 reunion shows in London. Anderson and Butler made their last TV appearance on ''MTV's Most Wanted'' in March 1994, where they performed the popular " Stay Together" B-sides "The Living Dead" and "My Dark Star". In April 1997, Suede played an entire set of B-sides at a fanclub gig at the Kentish Town Forum.

Title and artwork

The title of the album is from the lyrics of "Introducing the Band", a song from the band's second album ''Dog Man Star''. The title had previously been considered as a title for that album.

The collection is accompanied by a 32-page, full-color lyric booklet designed by Peter Saville. The front cover, whose artistic similarities to J. G. Ballard were noted by the BBC's Stephen Dowling, features a destroyed English Electric Lightning aircraft abandoned and used for target practice at the Otterburn Training Area in Northumberland. It was taken by North East photographer John Kippin.

Track listing

Personnel

Suede
* Brett Anderson – vocals
* Richard Oakes – guitars
* Bernard Butler – guitars, keyboards
* Simon Gilbert – drums
* Mat Osman – electric bass
* Neil Codling – keyboards

Production
* Ed Buller – production , mixing
* Bruce Lampcov – production
* Ian Caple – production
* Miti Adhikari – recording

Charts

References

External links

''Sci-Fi Lullabies''
at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)

{{Authority control

B-side compilation albums
Suede (band) compilation albums
Albums produced by Ed Buller
1997 compilation albums