''Coming Up'' is the third album by English

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, Textile, fabrics, Handbag, purses, furniture, and other items. Suede is made from the underside of the animal skin, which is softer and m ...

, released on 2 September 1996 through

Nude Records Nude Records is an independent record label, established in August 1991 in London. The label was set up and operated by Saul Galpern, who had previously worked with artists such as Simply Red, The Fall, Julian Cope, The Triffids, The Slits ...

. It was the band's first album since the departure of guitarist

Bernard Butler Bernard Joseph Butler (born 1 May 1970) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation; BBC journalist Mark Savage called him "one of Britain's most origina ...

, who was replaced by Richard Oakes. Also added to the band was keyboardist (and Simon Gilbert's cousin)

Neil Codling Neil John Codling (born 5 December 1973) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and co-songwriter for the alternative rock band Suede. Early life Neil Codling was raised in St ...

. The album was nominated for the 1997

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

. A commercial and critical success, ''Coming Up'' was the second by the band to reach no. 1 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, producing five top ten singles and receiving a favourable reception at home and in the US. ''Coming Up'' was the album that introduced Suede to a worldwide audience, in places such as Europe, Canada and Asia.

Background

After the departure of guitarist Bernard Butler and the lack of commercial success with '' Dog Man Star'' and its singles, Suede were being somewhat dismissed by the British music press with

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBlur and

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

taking the limelight. Determined to bring Suede back into the mainstream, frontman

Brett Anderson Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead singer and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted the Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004� ...

decided that the sound of the new album would be the complete opposite of ''Dog Man Star''. "I think the next album will be quite simple, actually. I'd really like to write a straightforward pop album. Just ten hits."Barnett, p. 183 The guitarist to replace Butler was the 17-year-old Richard Oakes, who beat 500 other applicants for the role. Instead of applying for the job like everyone else, Oakes was auditioned on the strength of an impromptu demo tape he sent to the Suede fan club. Despite Oakes' smooth integration into his new role and the band's rejuvenated spirit, Anderson was tired of touring and was keen to get back in the studio with his new songwriting partner. He recalled: "it was becoming really not much fun touring an album that wasn't made by the band."Barnett, p. 179 At the time Suede were fatigued with being on tour, which was reflected in the B-side, "Have You Ever Been This Low".

Recording

After some hesitation over who was going to produce the album, the band decided to continue with long-time producer Ed Buller due to their strong working relationship over the years. Other candidates the band considered were

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

, however they could not fit the band into their schedules. Buller had in fact welcomed a parting of the ways due to the fractious relationship between the band members during the recording of the last album. However, in friendly discussions with Anderson, Buller found that his ideas about a possible new Suede direction tallied almost exactly with the band's own: to write less complex, more immediate songs; to use heavier drum sounds, play fewer guitar solos and only employ string sections on a couple of songs such as "She" and "The Chemistry Between Us." The album was recorded between December 1995 and June 1996 at various locations. To prepare for its recording, the band had immersed themselves in T. Rex's 1972 album ''

The Slider ''The Slider'' is the seventh studio album by English rock band T. Rex, and the third since abbreviating their name from Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was released on 21 July 1972 by record labels EMI and Reprise. Two number-one singles, "Telegram Sam ...

'' and its successor, '' Tanx''; as Buller stated that his aspiration was to make "''The Slider'' for the Nineties." T. Rex became the blueprint of the recording process, as the band spent a month at The Town House just working on drums. Buller explained how the recording process worked: "Basically, what we did, is that every track started with acoustic guitar, bongos, tambourine and Brett nderson so it all started life pretty much the same way that

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...

recorded all of his stuff originally." Bass player Mat Osman recalls how Buller was keen on making the album simple. "He was really keen on using all those devices: the big repeated end, the handclaps, the straightforward chorus, make it big and obvious." In an interview on the eve of the album's release, Anderson stated: "I wanted it to be a complete turnover from the last album, which was very dark and dank ... I wanted it to be communicative and understandable." Two songs which made it onto ''Coming Up'' had already been written in the early days of Suede. " Lazy" and "By the Sea" were two of Anderson's own compositions. "By the Sea" was actually written when Suede were recording their first album, which is why the song's opening line is similar to " So Young". Unlike the tense and chaotic recording of ''Dog Man Star'', which according to Anderson was mostly written "by post", in a shift-like format, the new material was far more celebratory in both its development and execution. As opposed to the previous album which followed a stringent pattern of Butler composing music for Anderson's lyrics, ''Coming Up'' was a more collaborative project. Anderson stated: "''Coming Up'' was more of a meritocracy – if something was good enough, it didn't matter what the source was." Songs such as "By the Sea" and "She" required the use of keyboards. Faced with the problem as to how to play them live, Suede recruited Simon Gilbert's cousin

, who made his debut at a fan-club gig in January 1996. Buller has stated that the reason why the album has a much better sound than the previous albums is that he had minimal involvement in the mixing process, mixing only two songs. Buller credits much of the album's success to Dave Bascombe, who mixed the majority of the songs. According to Buller, having an outside observer mix the record with "fresh ears" enhances the overall production quality. Bascombe's input on "Trash" was crucial, as it was his idea to speed up the vocals. One of Suede's popular B-sides "Young Men" was left off the album, as Buller felt it was "too dark" and not as "poppy ndin your face" as other songs on the record.

Music

The musical sound of ''Coming Up'' is more accessible than previous album ''Dog Man Star''. Its singles were much more successful than those of their second LP, while the lyrical content concerns the band's disaffection at the mid-90s hedonistic, celebrity-obsessed culture; "

Beautiful Ones "Beautiful Ones" is a song by English rock band Suede, released as the second single from their third album, '' Coming Up'' (1996), on 14 October 1996 through Nude Records. The song became a top-10 hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number ...

" and "She" are caricatures of British

yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

s, celebrities and heroin-chic models. "Beautiful Ones" was originally titled "Dead Leg" after Osman threatened to give Oakes a dead leg if he was unable to write a top ten single. According to Anderson, "The Chemistry Between Us" is about "the emptiness of it all", when it comes to taking drugs with strangers who have no common ground other than being high on drugs. The main

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...

of the song is " Class A, Class B, is that the only chemistry between us."

Critical reception

Reviews were generally positive and seemed to respect Suede's new poppy and direct sound.

James Delingpole James Mark Court Delingpole (born 6 August 1965) is an English writer, journalist, and columnist who has written for a number of publications, including the ''Daily Mail'', the ''Daily Express'', ''The Times'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', and ''T ...

of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' wrote: "''Coming Up'' is their defiant reminder of what made Suede so special ..If ''Dog Man Star'' was ''

Diamond Dogs ''Diamond Dogs'' is the eighth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 in London and the Netherlands, following the disbanding o ...

'', then this is Suede's '' Ziggy Stardust'' – extravagant, steeped in glam and unashamedly poppy." Roy Wilkinson of '' Select'' called it: "a wondrous pop album, simultaneously immediate and full of scope, a lovely, charming mix of absolute beauty and the thrillingly awkward." Caroline Sullivan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' felt that even despite the album's simplistic composition of "vibrant three-minute howla-longs", it still manages to avoid being too mainstream and incomparable to rivals

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBlur. Andy Gill of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', however was a harsh critic of the album. In contrast to the band's earlier work, he wrote: "two albums and one guitarist later, they sound utterly mined out." He added: "in many ways, it's a step back from ''Dog Man Star'' – and their manner grows increasingly obnoxious." Despite its success in the UK and Europe, ''Coming Up'' did not win an audience in America, partially because of its later release in April 1997 and partially because Suede only supported it with a three-city tour. Critical reception, however was generally positive stateside. Marc Savlov of ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'' wrote: "Oakes more than fills the boots of his predecessor, and the new CD is a pure pop pleasure, thick and sinewy and terribly, British." Keith Phipps of ''

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'' had similar views, saying: "The London Suede should, by all laws of musical logic, have disappeared by now. However, after surviving a name change, the replacement of co-songwriter/guitarist Bernard Butler with an obscure 17-year old, and more than a few changes in musical fashion, the band has returned with a third album that's more consistent and accessible than anything it's produced before." James Hunter of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' said that "the band pushes its case by ascending to heights of absolutely lucid songcraft that, in this often fuzzy era, feels exhilarating." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' critic Elysa Gardner noted their "concise melodies and taut, brashly energetic arrangements". Other critics were favourable, however with the caveat of highlighting the album's simplicity. In a retrospective review,

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote: "The most striking thing about ''Coming Up'' is the simplicity ..As a statement of purpose, ''Coming Up'' is unimpeachable. Though it doesn't break any new ground for the band — unless you count the new-found sense of optimism." With similar views, Kevin Courtney of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' wrote: "Sometimes the songs seem a little too simple and throwaway, but Anderson tosses them aside with such aplomb, you can't wait to pick up after him." Suede embarked on a short tour of the US and Canada in May 1997 to support the album, but fell upon bad fortune when their equipment got stolen after playing a sold-out show in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

on 17 May.

Commercial performance

''Coming Up'' was a commercial success. It spawned five top 10 singles in the UK and charted at number one on the

.. The album was certified as platinum by the BPI in January 1997. It had sold 425,000 copies in the UK as of July 1997. Excluding the US, where ''Coming Up'' had a later release date, year-end worldwide sales were roughly 600,000, with the top markets being the UK, Scandinavia and Japan. Worldwide sales reached 1.5 million by 1998. The proportion of worldwide sales in the US, however was much lower than the sales of the first album. According to

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, ''Coming Up'' has sold about 40,000 copies in the US as of September 2008. The record sold well in Scandinavia, with "Trash" becoming the band's first overseas number one single, topping the charts in Finland. The album charted at number one in both Sweden and Denmark, and number three in Norway. The album was also certified as Gold in Norway and Platinum in Sweden. Anderson saw the funny side of their newfound popularity, saying: "They went mad for it in Scandinavia, maybe because they're all depressed sex maniacs or something."

Legacy

In December 1996, '' The Face'', ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'', '' Q'', ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

'' and '' Select'' listed ''Coming Up'' as one of the ten best albums of the year, while ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'' and ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' ranked it 12th. In 1997, the album was listed at number 83 in

Virgin Megastores Virgin Megastores is an international entertainment retailing chain, founded in early 1976 by Richard Branson as a record shop on London's Oxford Street. In 1979 the company opened their first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenh ...

' "Chart of the Century" poll of the 100 greatest albums. The poll was compiled from votes cast by the UK public during August and September 1997. In 1998, ''Q'' readers voted ''Coming Up'' the 36th greatest album of all time. In the book, ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

'' by

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

, ''Coming Up'' was ranked at number 195. In 1999, American music critic Ned Raggett, writing in ''

Freaky Trigger ''Freaky Trigger'' is an Internet publication and e-zine that focuses on popular culture with topics varying from music to cinema. It was founded by the music critic Tom Ewing in 1999 and features Pete Baran and Mark Sinker as editors. From 2 ...

'', ranked ''Coming Up'' as the 42nd greatest album of the 1990s. The following year, ''Q'' ranked the album the 96th greatest British album ever. In 2014, ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' ranked ''Coming Up'' at number 10 in its list of the 10 best Britpop albums. To mark the album's 25th anniversary, the band played a UK tour in November 2021. ''Coming Up'' also featured in an episode of the

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

documentary series ''Classic Albums'' on May 7, 2021.

Track listing

2011 remastered and expanded version

Personnel

Suede *

– vocals * Richard Oakes – guitars * Simon Gilbert – drums *

Mat Osman Mathew David Osman (born 9 October 1967) is an English musician and author, best known as the bassist in the rock band Suede. Osman and singer Brett Anderson are the only two remaining founding members left in Suede, and perform along with dru ...

– bass guitar *

– keyboards Production *

Ed Buller Edmund Wilbur Hudson "Ed" Buller is an English record producer and former musician. He has primarily worked with English bands including Suede, Pulp, the Raincoats and the Courteeners. Biography Buller first became interested in music after ...

– production, engineering, mixing *Gary Stout – engineering *David Bascombe – mixing *Craig Armstrong – string arrangement Artwork * Nick Knight – cover * Peter Saville – cover *Brett Anderson – cover *Steve Seal – paintbox *Lee, Leah and Paula – cover models *Donald Christie – photography *Howard Wakefield – design

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Bibliography

* Barnett, David. '' Love and Poison''.

Carlton Publishing Group Welbeck Publishing Group, formerly Carlton Publishing Group, is a London-based independent book publisher of fiction, narrative and illustrated non-fiction, as well as gift and children's books. Established in 2019 by Executive Directors Mark S ...

, 2003.

References

External links

''Coming Up''
at

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(streamed copy where licensed) * {{Authority control 1996 albums Suede (band) albums Albums produced by Ed Buller