Monday 27 April 2020

Monday long song: The Asphalt World

I haven't done one of these for a long time, but what better way to restart than to dig out this, the penultimate track from Suede's troubled second album, Dog Man Star. Back then, punning wordplay like asphalt/arse-felt seemed clever, arch even. Looking back, it might have all been a bit contrived, but it didn't matter, back then, and it matters even less now. This has always been a favourite track of mine, and is presented here in the unedited form (not released officially until the album got the remastered "special edition" treatment in 2011). It makes what is already a long song even longer... but then that's what this series is all about, right?

And you can't talk about early Suede without taking a stance on whether Suede with Bernard was better than Suede without. My position is unequivocal here - for all they achieved later, with Richard and Neil, they were never as good as their high-points with Bernard. There are those that disagree with that... but they're wrong.

Here's the unedited version of The Asphalt World. Enjoy.

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