Album Review: Brett Anderson by Brett Anderson

It's too easy to carp that Brett Anderson is no longer the gothic romantic that he was when he led Suede, a band legendary for its decadent theatricality, thrift-shop glam, and dark sexuality. Age changes a person, and it's mellowed Anderson -- and, frankly, after years of toxic indulgence and sorrows, he deserves to settle down at least a little bit. And even if his long-promised solo debut -- arriving a couple years after the long-anticipated reunion with Bernard Butler, the Tears -- is clean and precise in ways that Suede never was, this is undoubtedly connected in its heart and groin to the Anderson who spent the '90s celebrating trash floating on the breeze and all kinds of nuclear debris.

Full Review >>

What does a roué do when he is facing 40 and the old pick-me-ups of drugs and decadence aren't quite the ticket any more? He takes stock in the form of a solo album - his first - where he can brood to his heart's content. Regrets? He's got a few - that much is obvious from the downbeat tone, which first appears on Love Is Dead and persists through 10 similarly frayed ballads. There's a fair bit of self-indulgence here, but the former Suede leader has a way with these things, and the result is generally listenable.

Full Review >>