with regards to the vibes it is very much, look you see, the best of times and the worst of times. whilst this year is panning out to be one of the best for a while for new releases, no matter what sort of music you like, we've spent most of this month saying goodbye to some of the greats.
and all of that goes some way to explaining why, should some sort of explaining be required, i managed to forget that there was a shiny new Suede album out for release yesterday. fortunately, the day before yesterday - or if you like Thursday - i got a reminder, so yesterday - or if you like Friday - i could make my way to the V of the HM.
as you can see, even by the minimalist standards by which the HMV now promote music they didn't seem all that keen to promote the fact that the Suede, indeed briefly The London Suede for reasons of copyright in America, had, as the kids of today say it, "dropped" a new album. in a very, very "puppet show and Spinal Tap" move, their promotion or profile raising of Suede seems to be second to the news that someone or something called Savages or something like that. let us hope that the Suede at least got the bigger dressing room.
there is the slightest of defence for HMV in doing this. for some bizarre reason Suede carried out much of the promotion and fanfare for this album some 2 - 3 months ago. as in, they played it in full in concert in November and recorded that to include with a "special edition" version.
why announce and promote an album 2 - 3 months prior to the release? well, some of the reason or answer for that is in the next picture. oh, the new album of of the Suede is called Night Thoughts, since i have not mentioned this thus far.
yes, that's right - in the doorway the HMV have decided that the optimal positioning for Night Thoughts off of the Suede is above The King, Elvis Presley but below Megadeth. and next to a rack selling the most recent marking of the age of Adele.
i am going to guess that there was an idea to release Night Thoughts off of the Suede in November, when it was ready to go. the juggernaut that is the sales of an Adele recording, however, probably inspired them to delay it somewhat. are the Suede in the same target demographics as Adele? apparently, since everyone buys Adele. even, in a somewhat dubious testing method, my Dad rates Adele higher than he does Oasis.
a brief pause from the world of the Suede to celebrate the coming of Easter, via my preferred channel of having a look at how Pound Land are promoting the coming of that time of year.
whereas last year i was very excited and enthusiastic about Pound Land Easter cards, with particular emphasis on the smart yellow envelopes, i think not so much this year. few appreciated or responded to my enthusiasm, and for all the Easter cards i sent out in smart yellow envelopes i got only a very small percentage back in a reciprocal way. whether it is people don't like posting things in general or simply do not like me i do not know, but ultimately the conclusion of either is no post for me.
back to the Suede, then. whereas avoiding the Adele was wise, i am not sure that either Suede or their fan base would have expectations of mega sales and chart domination, to be honest. the band love what they do, the fans love it, that's enough i guess.
i did wish to purchase the special version of it, featuring the DVD, but HMV priced me out of that. whilst the amazon had the special edition for £12.99, i thought that if the HMV sold it for slightly north - say, £14.99, i would but. alas no, they stuck a £15.99 on it. that's just too greedy, so normal version it was.
and no, i went nowhere near the £29.99 uber deluxe version in an odd box with a book, thanks.
yes indeed, as you can see there deeper into the store HMV did elect to give Suede more prominence on their "trending" section, probably only to accommodate the uber edition box.
in this era of apparently dramatically falling CD sales, i don't get why the record labels cloud and confuse the market with multiple editions. outside of the Suede, take for example one of last year's better releases, Another Country off of the Rod Stewart. the "normal" version was £9.99, whereas the "special edition" with some 4 or 5 extra (excellent) tracks was £12.99. the dilemma was feeling like you were getting ripped off paying £9.99 for less songs, yet also felt you were being taken advantage of by being requested to pay a few pounds more for some 12 - 15 minutes extra music that, on face value, was not considered good enough to be in the "normal edition" of the album.
i am no marketing expert, but i cannot help think that if the Suede had just issued the CD & DVD version alone, in a normal box, for just slightly south of £10, then it might have inspired more purchases. we shall see, though, if i am right in this regard when the sales figures come out next week.
what's the Night Thoughts album like? outstanding. no, i had not bothered to listen to any of the "leaks" or "streams" of it prior to getting it home last night. i wouldn't go as far as some of the reviews, like in particular the one on the cover in which the Telegraph paper of news suggest that the band has "redefined" the concept of an album, but it is very good. it's atmospheric, very catchy, impacting and Brett's vocals are awesome.
yes, fans of the Suede, all factors are in place - Brett still, after all of these years, refers to we, the people, in terms of plastic and cellophane references, and images of diesel, chemicals and what have you come through. but it's all as excellent as ever.
nothing on the album has really or instantly tugged at my heartstrings or made the instant connection to me in the way that, say, Barriers off of their last album, Bloodsports did, or the whole of the Coming Up album did. that said, i feel this one's going to be played for quite a while, and just what the band are saying is going to sink in and resonate for a good while yet.
so, is that it for new releases for a while? as far as i know the next ones i am excited about happen, or "get dropped", on the same day in March, with Primal Scream and James issuing new recordings. if something else i like happens to get released in February, well then so much the better. the Suede and the Bowie will, however, do very nicely indeed for a good while yet.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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