Customer Reviews

Sci-Fi Lullabies (2 Cd-Set)

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3 star:		(2)
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...that most of these 27 songs on this 2-disc set are B-sides or somehow didn't make their earlier albums. Simply put, this is an amazing collection surpassed only by their debut album and its immediate predecessor "Coming Up". Suede are one of a handful of current groups (and I really can't think of any others offhand) who haven't forgotten what melody is about. Listen to "The Sound of the Streets" and you'll see what I mean. This song is so beautiful I just want to get the biggest speakers I can find and broadcast it loud from the top of a mountain. Suede's songs are the prefect antidote for most of commercial 90's music's (including and particularly rap) ugliness. All of the tracks are outstanding; highlights include "Graffiti Women", "My Insatiable One", "Killing of a Flash Boy" and "Money." I suspect that Suede will be one of those groups that audiences, especially American, "discover" much later and wonder why they never heard of them sooner. Stateside, word of mouth is probably their best friend, and I can wholeheartedly recommend this decidedly English, sometimes moody, but always brilliant album.

Okay, so where are Stay Together, Dolly, Painted People, and any other non-album tracks I may be forgetting? Huh? That's a minor complaint, though, because what is here is great, and it'll save you the small fortune that amassing all the singles these come from would cost you. There are, predictably, a few sub-par songs, but most of them are great. The songs from Suede and DMS singles include classics like My Dark Star, To the Birds, The Big Time, and of course the ever-popular Killing of a Flash Boy, but the real surprise is the Coming Up tracks--although it was obvious that the band was running out of ideas towards the end (as evidenced by the medicre Filmstar songs), most of them are very wonderful; better than most of the tracks from the album. WSD is probably my favorite Suede b-side, and then there's Sadie--the great song from which He's Gone from Head Music was blatantly ripped off. To say nothing of Every Monday Morning Comes, Europe is our Playground, and Have You Ever Been This Low?

The whole set is brilliant. If you're a Suede fan and you don't own it, you are a fool. That is all.

This is a beautiful album through and through--from the packaging and cover art down to the last cut. Nothing but quality. From the very first spin I was lost in this collection for weeks...no!...months! Over the past few years I have found myself rediscovering this album to no less effect than that of the very first listen. In this respect, I feel it is yet another timeless bundle of music from Suede and worthy of going into my "5 albums for a desert island collection" (although it's a bit of a cheat since it's a double disc set). For those not familiar with Suede, SciFi is an excellent venture...buy it or borrow it. You will not be disappointed...unless you're a weirdo.

Dollar-for-dollar, this compilation is a better deal than any of Suede's albums. In some cases, these b-sides are quite a bit stronger than the a-sides they were originally packaged with.

The first side is the stronger of the two, with 'To The Birds,' 'High Rising,' 'My Dark Star,' 'Killing of a Flash Boy,' 'Together' and especially 'Europe is our Playground' brushing the sublime. 'But that's almost all the songs on the side,' you might say. Well, yeah.

The second side is Suede in their later phase, their grittier, less artistic phase, and while I don't think it led to a decline in the quality of their albums, I do think the b-sides suffered. Still, 'Every Monday Morning,' 'Money' and 'Sadie' are excellent.

This is just Suede's best music, simply. A must-have for any collection, and especially for the fan.

sci-fi lullabies is a well-chosen title for this double disc album of suede's b-sides (more so for the first disc than the second, though).

for me, suede's music on this album creates the same sort of mental landscape with sound that, say, george orwell's 1984 created for me in words. many of the songs on this album have a feel of decadence, decay and sexual perversity without being in your face...and without being overtly dark and dreary...it's subtle. and suede are tops at using subletly to create a much deeper emotional effect.

bernard butler is the guitarist for the most part on disc one, which i feel is a set of stronger songs. the second disc sees richard oakes taking over the empty spot after bernard left...and the songs he plays on/co-writes have a poppier feel to them and are missing that mystical quintessence that the songs on the first disc (with bernard) have.

if you like some of david bowie's earlier stuff, particularly diamond dogs and aladdin sane, then you will definely enjoy sci-fi lullabies.

As a London Suede fan from their first album, I was intrigued when I found out they were putting out a B-sides compilation. I purchased the CD out of loyalty to the band, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the songs. The CD has since become my favorite of their discography. If you like the London Suede even a little bit, purchase this CD -- it's well worth the money. Songs like "To the Birds," "Europe Is Our Playground," and "Killing of a Flashboy" are true classics. Other excellent cuts include "Jumble Sale Mums," "Whipsnade," and "This Time." Get it and find out for yourself.

I was skeptical when a friend handed me a copy of this two-disc set and said, "Listen." The only Suede album I had heard at that point was "Head Music," which I remembered as an uneven album that contained a couple of great songs (both of which can be found on their singles collection, but not here). I am seldom a big fan of B-sides even by my favorite bands, so this set seemed like a bad way to get into a band I was mostly unfamiliar with.

Boy, was I ever wrong. "Sci-Fi Lullabies" immediately became the soundtrack of my summer. Most of the 27 songs collected here are good enough to be A-sides or strong album tracks. "My Dark Star" was the one that hooked me most. It sounds like something from Radiohead's "The Bends," and here's the kicker: It was recorded BEFORE "The Bends." The most obvious influence on Suede is Bowie, circa "The Man Who Sold the World," and there is some Smiths in there as well. But that's not to say that this isn't highly original stuff. Most important of all, the songs are loaded with hooks.

There are only a couple of lulls in this collection: tracks 4-6 on disc one and the last couple tracks on disc two. But even those are not bad songs--they just sound like the B-sides that they are. Two of the best tunes on this collection ("The Living Dead" and "Another No One") are quiet and slow, with sparse instrumentation, allowing Brett Anderson's voice to take full control. But even on the louder tracks, Anderson remains front and center. It is an operatic style of singing--the kind that can only be done when the singer doesn't have to worry about playing an instrument. If you think you know something about 90's music and you have not heard this band, you need to give them a listen, and "Sci-Fi Lullabies" is a great place to start.

For me, this collection of B-sides proved why Suede were a cut above the plethora of British indie artists who trod the path Suede had beaten in the mid nineties.

They produced these quite beautiful and moving songs, that without this compilation would have been forgotten; almost thrown away to accompany singles that didn't exactly sell profusely.

What a tragedy that would have been. Generations never having the chance to hear the heart-wrenching melancholy of The Living Dead, the sadness of The Big Time or the swagger and menace of Killing of a Flashboy.

The majority of the songs here deserved to be singles in their own right. A quite staggering achievement.

Like many reviewers have claimed, Suede didn't just decide to dump weak tracks to produce a B sides collection. This B sides collection surpasses a lot of bands "best of" albums and is one of the best albums I own. I purchased the CD today with the influence of the reviews written here on (...) and you guys were sooo right. It's amazing. This was the first suede CD I have ever purchased and it's great, so this is amazing even for people who are just discovering the group. Don't hesitate one bit on this album please, go out and get it TODAY!

i like this 2CD set and these songs are all best except 1 or 2...but as one person said the second review i think the bsides and songs after Bernard left the band is as good as the songs when he was with Suede...he said the songs gone worse after he left but i dont think so...they are also too good...thankies for reading this...if the second reviewer you read this please contact me and share some suede use my ICQ#11174519 byies...