Don't shed tears over Tears

17 Jun 2005

I heard the new single by Tears today. Tears is the recombination of Brett Anderson, former front man of Suede before they decided to call it a day, and Bernard Butler, initial Suede guitarist and half of the spectacular musical due McAlmont and Butler (whose third album was seemingly scrapped when BB went to do Tears). My initial reaction:

  1. Musically sounds a lot like Butler hasn’t changed his style from the last M&B album.
  2. Anderson’s voice isn’t used at its best with that sort of track - too straight a signing part for him to shine.
  3. Reminded me vaguely of different strokes off the last M&B album, just straighter.

So my conclusions:

  1. Butler should have stuck with M&B if he wasn’t going to venture anywherenew with the Tears - I was hoping it would be a cross between whathe’s doign now and older Suede. I certianly think David McAlmont would have done abetter job fronting the current Tears single.
  2. I actually liked the last few Suede albums, though I seem to be in a minority. They had a certain vibe about them that was quite sassy. Regardless, they certainly provided a better canvas for Anderson’s voice.

In summary, a triple whammy of missed opportunities. Still, it’s their first single, so perhaps the album will hold some nice surprises.