Suede - "Bloodsports" (39:46)
"Barriers" (3:42) - ★★★★
"Snowblind" (4:03) - ★★★★★
"It Starts And Ends With You" (3:51) - ★★★★★
"Sabotage" (3:45) - ★★★★
"For The Strangers" (4:12) - ★★★
"Hit Me" (4:03) - ★★★★★
"Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away" (4:12) - ★★★★
"What Are You Not Telling Me?" (3:12) - ★
"Always" (4:42) - ★
"Faultlines" (4:05) - ★
"Barriers" (3:42) - ★★★★
"Snowblind" (4:03) - ★★★★★
"It Starts And Ends With You" (3:51) - ★★★★★
"Sabotage" (3:45) - ★★★★
"For The Strangers" (4:12) - ★★★
"Hit Me" (4:03) - ★★★★★
"Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away" (4:12) - ★★★★
"What Are You Not Telling Me?" (3:12) - ★
"Always" (4:42) - ★
"Faultlines" (4:05) - ★
Right...
So the last one of these I wrote sucked. Don't be kind - it was awful. I sat there, for hours, giving Johnny Marr a slagging off, which, in retrospect, was hardly wrong but probably a but unfair. I promise, despite the let down of "The Messenger" to try and be kinder to it from now on. It was also way too long in terms of the rambling; with this entry, I have only left in stuff worth reading though as with anything remotely lengthy that I post, please skim through and listen to the tracks before reading! YOU WILL OTHERWISE DIE OF BOREDOM! There is also a YouTube link of the whole album at the bottom - press play and then read, which should help you to save yourself the dull silence of your efforts...
Which we don't want.
Bang! Suede are back, and, opening their first album in 10 years with the electric "Barriers", the immediate expectations of the album soar. After the massive success of 1997's "Coming Up", "Head Music" and "A New Morning" seemed very disappointing releases from a band whose back catalogue included genius tracks like "Trash" and "Animal Nitrate", and so there were, understandably, fears that "Bloodsports" might do just the same - let us all down, massively...
And on the whole, it doesn't - it's very, very exciting stuff indeed..
"Barriers" is one hell of a jump into the album; loud, abrasive and with the crunchy, electric wandering lead in the chorus that listeners of the band have come to expect from these glamorous Brit-pop icons shamelessly imitating Bowie and Bolan. There's an immediate taste of Brett Anderson's cynicism, wildly flamboyant and sharp-witted as ever, and though the glimmers of poetry are visible, 'Aniseed kisses, and lipstick traces, lemonade sipped in Belgian rooms', they are just that; glimmers. The guitars are really good, but not the best on the album, and so the track misses out (just) on five stars; raucous, yes, but really edgy and with that classic Suede intricacy? Not quite - a tiny bit flat...
Exploding into earshot with even more energy and raw musical passion than "Barriers", the winding riff of "Snowblind" with it's contorted, distorted volume is one of the album's most amazing moments. Every instrument is at 100% drive by the passing of first 10 seconds and, shortly after, an even fuller force of the intricate, flowery metrics are thrown before your unsuspecting ears; 'The air is still, we are struck like matches, too beautiful to really know what's right, the rumours burn like roman candles in the morning light' - poetic and figurative lyrics for you right there. Later the 'aniseed' from "Barriers" returns in the form of 'lacewing kisses' and 'we find our keys on the kitchen table and forget what's done'. Superb.
This track is Suede at their finest and most evolved. "Snowblind" is the epitome of their work up to this point, encapsulating the raw crunch of their debut efforts, the lyrical pointedness of "Dog Man Star" era work, the heavier glam-rock aesthetic of "Coming Up" and the synthesised high-end production of their last two albums (like 'em or not). It's loud, 'in-yer-face', intelligently structured and has production values which, are shiny, luscious and basically bloody gorgeous to listen to. It's easily the high-point of the album and I love it.
Along thumps "It Starts And Ends With You", flamboyantly in tow - a brash drum intro and then, suddenly, Brett's right into it, snarling his winsome words, relating causes without martyrs and effigies of balsa. It's a wonderful and immediate fix of the idiosyncratic and smashes the brain into fragments of musically orgasmic oblivion, with unrelenting rock tempo from the word go. The bass-line slides around behind a very "Coming Up"-esque lead guitar, and, if you listen carefully, there's even synthesiser strings on top. It's loud, abrasive, and complimented on it's single release by passionately violent artwork, capturing wholesomely, as with "Snowblind", the essence of sexual energy suggested by the pretence and poetry of the lyrics.
The words here are fantastic and all pop music should sound like this; think of the hits from the '50s - this is the perfect next stage in the evolution of the popular sonic, moving away from the blindness of teenage love ad into the harsh reality of poetic cynicism and the changeable emotion of adult relationships - Rock 'n' roll, but grown up!
Phenomenally, this song received zero radio exposure, and was publicised only by it's performance on BBC2's "Later... with Jools Holland" which, even then, was marred by the botched live engineering, reducing Suede's set, the main feature on the programme, to a meagre one song in length. Ok, so it was this song; regardless, it was going to be epic. The band's Maida Vale radio session was also broadcast not on a main station, but via BBC Radio 4 at midday in the middle of the week; who planned that! Awful, awful, promotion... Subsequently, the single flopped, and fewer people than necessary have experienced it's distorting wiles and swaggering vibe.
Keyboardist Neil Codling's biggest contribution to "Bloodsports", the following number, "Sabotage", continues what has so far been an idyllic gallop back onto the rock scene for one of Brit-pop's most beloved bands after a stony-silent 10 year hiatus.
It's a plodding, synthy, rock track, whose lyrics are as comparably mellowed as the musical aesthetic, feeling substantially less meaningful and passionate than those on the previous tracks. That said, it's got a purely phenomenal and shiny chorus, backed silkily by glittering keyboards and shimmering lead guitars, probably one of the album's sparkliest moments and easily one of the most charged and evolutionary noises on "Bloodsports" as a whole. The track for me is still without the edge that makes some Suede songs, so good, better even, on occasion, than the 'beloved Smiths' of my blog description, leaving a disappointing impression at first (and then later, with retrospect, one which somewhat less so and instead foreshadowing of side B).
The opening riff of "For The Strangers", a jangly electric noodle, is brilliant. And then it just repeats. Ok, there's a refreshing acoustic guitar in the background, but it's nearly a minute before the guitars chop and change for the chorus, the first indication of any sound markedly different. It's quite repetitive. I'm harsh though really; spoiled. Where else do you get a string of potential hits aligned so beautifully on the first side of an LP? It's a rare thing indeed. And, to be totally fair, it's only in retrospect having heard the end of this (initial) 'masterpiece' that I can safely say how I feel "For The Strangers" to be lyrically, and musically, simply 'meh'. Not unappealing, not dazzlingly special. Just indifferently, and totally unemotionally, 'meh'.
It's no real shame or failure, don't get me wrong; I mean, 20 years ago, the first three songs here would have been top 10 singles, and the others would easily have charted. I find, in chronology with the album song listing at least, that the track is a bit wearing. In fairness though, that's based on a comparison to other songs from "Bloodsports" - there's still a fantastic middle-eight section, some really great Brit-pop distortion and a lovely, high-end bass-line, but, in the context of the album, and the wider context of the band, it's...I don't know...old-hat? What do you think?
It took me a while to warm to "Hit Me". Mainly because of a scathing review of this album from the NME. I say scathing; they awarded "Bloodsports" a 7/10, which, quite frankly is about right given what's on the way. That aside, they wrongly damned "Hit Me", the album's second single, and called it 'forgettable'. Ugh. How dare they? How very dare they? What valuable lesson have we learned here? Like IGN, the NME is a name that's gotten to be trusted slightly too much.
I mean, just listen; was the journalist off his rocker? It's obscenely good. Opening with violently loud bass drum crashes, the delicate and calculated onslaught of guitar-on-overdrive rides on a wave of distortion-bloated rhythm and yet another sweet and meandering bass-line, unrelentingly suave and crowing.
The five stars awarded for "Hit Me" are made up mostly of these defining characteristics; the pure noise as well as the statements from one of music's most ecstatic wordsmiths. (Also, despite being previously unmentioned, the senseless but nicely-finished video, complete with pretentious plot revealed at the end, adds nicely). However, the fifth star comes courtesy of a fabulously fuzzy guitar solo that weaves around all over the place at 2:39, for yes, a minute 12 seconds, but still - it's perfect Brit-pop - utterly, utterly, perfect; candy to the ears...
Another virtually flawless pop song, "Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away" does what "Sabotage" sets out to do, but more accurately and with far more attractive results. It sounds smoother, it reads smoother, and overall, it butters the soul with that extra ostentation.
The opening riff is a beauty to behold, one unparalleled by this band on any of their other tracks. Even the brash, crunchy statement from the start of "Metal Mickey", the winding screech of "Animal Nitrate and the skippy, tripping hazard of "Beautiful People" don't come close. If there are any contenders, then it's the stuck-in-your-head-forver-ness of "My Insatiable One", the psychedelic whirl of "He's Dead" or the cowboy bumptiousness of "Golden Gun", but even then, I wouldn't hold your breath; none of them have the same emotional depth or skin-prickling musical finish. In fact, by the time Anderson's lyrics appear, it's pretty much over for these contenders. The stunning combination of music, words and vocal tone create a sublime atmosphere that only very few Suede songs could hope to match, and even then, with it's middle-aged and more knowledgable outlook on love and life, it's seems removed from these tracks entirely. I think what I'm trying to get at here, is that this song has a rather unique value.
The leap into the chorus from the waltzing wonder of the verse is beautifully achieved, with the unfaltering vocal accompanying intricate guitars every step of the way. Anderson's words, chronicling the chases around a lover's 'hairpin bends' and recounting of the stages of the 'male mistake' are amongst several acute observations that are so real and human, it's almost uncanny.
Amongst forgetting lines and signing over the soul 'one stab at a time', the lyric instills the darker passion that "Sabotage" was missing.
Combine this with a bold, brash and crunchy middle-eight, and you've got yourself an absolute cracker. A really fantastic, and very soulful slow-dance of a Suede track, backed beautifully by a Hammond organ, and finished nicely by an odd little chord change, reminiscent of the choppier sonic finish Bernard Butler's writing from the early '90s brought about.
"What Are You Not Telling Me?" - the worst song here to be quite honest. Totally lacking. And for no good reason. Ok, so the lyrics have some emotional value, but the instrumentation is so annoyingly empty that it's no wonder the NME handed out a 7/10. For example, the chorus has no backing - at all! It's just an echoey, reverb ridden chamber of vocal, followed by a second, winey piano backed verse. It's like a slightly aggressive Adele album track, but worse, because at least if she was singing the tone would be richer. Brett Anderson sounds ravaged and dead, and even a Julee Cruise-like backing guitar towards the end doesn't save it, trampled on by quiet strings and a weird Spanish guitar thing. It's not really rubbish, and, musically, it's probably technically alright. But it's very, very, very annoying - especially after the epic first side!
It seems unfair - on both the band and the listener. Not only does the album open up with three strokes of genius, not only does it close with three examples of the total opposite, but there are bonus tracks, songs that only appeared on special editions of the album - and the real tragedy? They are the best songs from these sessions! "Howl" is a masterpiece, worthy, easily of six stars just for it's tear-jerkingly warm opening, a guitar melody so profoundly perfect it makes me want to quite music myself altogether for fear of never being that good.
Not only a contextually bad song, but a let-down with regard to the band's entire discography; seriously, this belongs with "A New Morning" - and that's harsh...
Opening with the same frustratingly, clichéd coda as past tracks "Everything Will Flow" and "She's In Fashion", "Always", in a way freakishly similar to these tracks and the "Bloodsports" number before it, totally fails to deliver.
The definition of totally forgettable, it carries on the trend set in motion by the previous song. Not even single B-side worthy, the instrumentation is flat and meaningless and seems boring and slow. Clumsy too. A bit doddery. No energy. Just thump. Yes. ** Johnny Marr thump.
There's not much to say here that wasn't said for the review of the previous song, other than the fact that Brett does put a little put a little more energy in here. All to no avail however, as the lyrics lose their poetry and instead look pretentious and corny; 'like a sniper in the wings' followed by 'I will always love you'? Oh deary, deary me...no...it certainly is a stark contrast from the exciting opening after the first crackle and hiss of side A's beginning motion, and not an an enjoyable one at that...
Empty, soulless - "Faultlines" is, for those who've listened from the start of "Barriers", an unbelievable and totally unexpected end to this record. Admittedly, things do pick up a bit here and return to their rightfully rocky rampage, but even this is spattered with the messy flickers of failure and inadequacy. The lyrics again, are forgettable, though not quite as bad -still suitably unworthy of celebration however. And, just as before the instruments are lacking as the track is routinely saved and then re-killed by a "Personal Jesus" style rock 'n' roll guitar. Other than that it's strings and maracas! Bloody maracas! Whose idea was that! It's an absolute mess, an abomination and a really tragic finish to a record that started so, so well. There's even less to say here since I've said it twice before, so I won't - I just won't...
The Verdict - ★★★
Overall, "Bloodsports" confuses and saddens me. Going along with what Anderson says the album is about, which sounds to be the violent swings of emotion in a relationship, many of these songs represent the passion, love, desire, and suitably bloodthirsty energy of romance all in one, as the winding riff continues to penetrate the airwaves, throughout the verses, chorus and especially fantastic and varied bridge section, backed by a similarly meandering bass line and synthesised strings. This successfully applied sonic however, literally deteriorates as side B lingers on, starting (and thankfully not quite managing), to out balance the hits. It's a shame truly that 3 songs almost sink what was otherwise a gleaming feat of contemporary music and this only made worse by the fact that it could all have been saved if only the relegated bonus tracks had been preserved for the final album...not quite a brilliant album, and more a compilation-style portal to a few fantastic tracks...
So the last one of these I wrote sucked. Don't be kind - it was awful. I sat there, for hours, giving Johnny Marr a slagging off, which, in retrospect, was hardly wrong but probably a but unfair. I promise, despite the let down of "The Messenger" to try and be kinder to it from now on. It was also way too long in terms of the rambling; with this entry, I have only left in stuff worth reading though as with anything remotely lengthy that I post, please skim through and listen to the tracks before reading! YOU WILL OTHERWISE DIE OF BOREDOM! There is also a YouTube link of the whole album at the bottom - press play and then read, which should help you to save yourself the dull silence of your efforts...
Which we don't want.
Bang! Suede are back, and, opening their first album in 10 years with the electric "Barriers", the immediate expectations of the album soar. After the massive success of 1997's "Coming Up", "Head Music" and "A New Morning" seemed very disappointing releases from a band whose back catalogue included genius tracks like "Trash" and "Animal Nitrate", and so there were, understandably, fears that "Bloodsports" might do just the same - let us all down, massively...
And on the whole, it doesn't - it's very, very exciting stuff indeed..
"Barriers" is one hell of a jump into the album; loud, abrasive and with the crunchy, electric wandering lead in the chorus that listeners of the band have come to expect from these glamorous Brit-pop icons shamelessly imitating Bowie and Bolan. There's an immediate taste of Brett Anderson's cynicism, wildly flamboyant and sharp-witted as ever, and though the glimmers of poetry are visible, 'Aniseed kisses, and lipstick traces, lemonade sipped in Belgian rooms', they are just that; glimmers. The guitars are really good, but not the best on the album, and so the track misses out (just) on five stars; raucous, yes, but really edgy and with that classic Suede intricacy? Not quite - a tiny bit flat...
Exploding into earshot with even more energy and raw musical passion than "Barriers", the winding riff of "Snowblind" with it's contorted, distorted volume is one of the album's most amazing moments. Every instrument is at 100% drive by the passing of first 10 seconds and, shortly after, an even fuller force of the intricate, flowery metrics are thrown before your unsuspecting ears; 'The air is still, we are struck like matches, too beautiful to really know what's right, the rumours burn like roman candles in the morning light' - poetic and figurative lyrics for you right there. Later the 'aniseed' from "Barriers" returns in the form of 'lacewing kisses' and 'we find our keys on the kitchen table and forget what's done'. Superb.
This track is Suede at their finest and most evolved. "Snowblind" is the epitome of their work up to this point, encapsulating the raw crunch of their debut efforts, the lyrical pointedness of "Dog Man Star" era work, the heavier glam-rock aesthetic of "Coming Up" and the synthesised high-end production of their last two albums (like 'em or not). It's loud, 'in-yer-face', intelligently structured and has production values which, are shiny, luscious and basically bloody gorgeous to listen to. It's easily the high-point of the album and I love it.
Along thumps "It Starts And Ends With You", flamboyantly in tow - a brash drum intro and then, suddenly, Brett's right into it, snarling his winsome words, relating causes without martyrs and effigies of balsa. It's a wonderful and immediate fix of the idiosyncratic and smashes the brain into fragments of musically orgasmic oblivion, with unrelenting rock tempo from the word go. The bass-line slides around behind a very "Coming Up"-esque lead guitar, and, if you listen carefully, there's even synthesiser strings on top. It's loud, abrasive, and complimented on it's single release by passionately violent artwork, capturing wholesomely, as with "Snowblind", the essence of sexual energy suggested by the pretence and poetry of the lyrics.
The words here are fantastic and all pop music should sound like this; think of the hits from the '50s - this is the perfect next stage in the evolution of the popular sonic, moving away from the blindness of teenage love ad into the harsh reality of poetic cynicism and the changeable emotion of adult relationships - Rock 'n' roll, but grown up!
Phenomenally, this song received zero radio exposure, and was publicised only by it's performance on BBC2's "Later... with Jools Holland" which, even then, was marred by the botched live engineering, reducing Suede's set, the main feature on the programme, to a meagre one song in length. Ok, so it was this song; regardless, it was going to be epic. The band's Maida Vale radio session was also broadcast not on a main station, but via BBC Radio 4 at midday in the middle of the week; who planned that! Awful, awful, promotion... Subsequently, the single flopped, and fewer people than necessary have experienced it's distorting wiles and swaggering vibe.
Keyboardist Neil Codling's biggest contribution to "Bloodsports", the following number, "Sabotage", continues what has so far been an idyllic gallop back onto the rock scene for one of Brit-pop's most beloved bands after a stony-silent 10 year hiatus.
It's a plodding, synthy, rock track, whose lyrics are as comparably mellowed as the musical aesthetic, feeling substantially less meaningful and passionate than those on the previous tracks. That said, it's got a purely phenomenal and shiny chorus, backed silkily by glittering keyboards and shimmering lead guitars, probably one of the album's sparkliest moments and easily one of the most charged and evolutionary noises on "Bloodsports" as a whole. The track for me is still without the edge that makes some Suede songs, so good, better even, on occasion, than the 'beloved Smiths' of my blog description, leaving a disappointing impression at first (and then later, with retrospect, one which somewhat less so and instead foreshadowing of side B).
The opening riff of "For The Strangers", a jangly electric noodle, is brilliant. And then it just repeats. Ok, there's a refreshing acoustic guitar in the background, but it's nearly a minute before the guitars chop and change for the chorus, the first indication of any sound markedly different. It's quite repetitive. I'm harsh though really; spoiled. Where else do you get a string of potential hits aligned so beautifully on the first side of an LP? It's a rare thing indeed. And, to be totally fair, it's only in retrospect having heard the end of this (initial) 'masterpiece' that I can safely say how I feel "For The Strangers" to be lyrically, and musically, simply 'meh'. Not unappealing, not dazzlingly special. Just indifferently, and totally unemotionally, 'meh'.
It's no real shame or failure, don't get me wrong; I mean, 20 years ago, the first three songs here would have been top 10 singles, and the others would easily have charted. I find, in chronology with the album song listing at least, that the track is a bit wearing. In fairness though, that's based on a comparison to other songs from "Bloodsports" - there's still a fantastic middle-eight section, some really great Brit-pop distortion and a lovely, high-end bass-line, but, in the context of the album, and the wider context of the band, it's...I don't know...old-hat? What do you think?
It took me a while to warm to "Hit Me". Mainly because of a scathing review of this album from the NME. I say scathing; they awarded "Bloodsports" a 7/10, which, quite frankly is about right given what's on the way. That aside, they wrongly damned "Hit Me", the album's second single, and called it 'forgettable'. Ugh. How dare they? How very dare they? What valuable lesson have we learned here? Like IGN, the NME is a name that's gotten to be trusted slightly too much.
I mean, just listen; was the journalist off his rocker? It's obscenely good. Opening with violently loud bass drum crashes, the delicate and calculated onslaught of guitar-on-overdrive rides on a wave of distortion-bloated rhythm and yet another sweet and meandering bass-line, unrelentingly suave and crowing.
The five stars awarded for "Hit Me" are made up mostly of these defining characteristics; the pure noise as well as the statements from one of music's most ecstatic wordsmiths. (Also, despite being previously unmentioned, the senseless but nicely-finished video, complete with pretentious plot revealed at the end, adds nicely). However, the fifth star comes courtesy of a fabulously fuzzy guitar solo that weaves around all over the place at 2:39, for yes, a minute 12 seconds, but still - it's perfect Brit-pop - utterly, utterly, perfect; candy to the ears...
Another virtually flawless pop song, "Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away" does what "Sabotage" sets out to do, but more accurately and with far more attractive results. It sounds smoother, it reads smoother, and overall, it butters the soul with that extra ostentation.
The opening riff is a beauty to behold, one unparalleled by this band on any of their other tracks. Even the brash, crunchy statement from the start of "Metal Mickey", the winding screech of "Animal Nitrate and the skippy, tripping hazard of "Beautiful People" don't come close. If there are any contenders, then it's the stuck-in-your-head-forver-ness of "My Insatiable One", the psychedelic whirl of "He's Dead" or the cowboy bumptiousness of "Golden Gun", but even then, I wouldn't hold your breath; none of them have the same emotional depth or skin-prickling musical finish. In fact, by the time Anderson's lyrics appear, it's pretty much over for these contenders. The stunning combination of music, words and vocal tone create a sublime atmosphere that only very few Suede songs could hope to match, and even then, with it's middle-aged and more knowledgable outlook on love and life, it's seems removed from these tracks entirely. I think what I'm trying to get at here, is that this song has a rather unique value.
The leap into the chorus from the waltzing wonder of the verse is beautifully achieved, with the unfaltering vocal accompanying intricate guitars every step of the way. Anderson's words, chronicling the chases around a lover's 'hairpin bends' and recounting of the stages of the 'male mistake' are amongst several acute observations that are so real and human, it's almost uncanny.
Amongst forgetting lines and signing over the soul 'one stab at a time', the lyric instills the darker passion that "Sabotage" was missing.
Combine this with a bold, brash and crunchy middle-eight, and you've got yourself an absolute cracker. A really fantastic, and very soulful slow-dance of a Suede track, backed beautifully by a Hammond organ, and finished nicely by an odd little chord change, reminiscent of the choppier sonic finish Bernard Butler's writing from the early '90s brought about.
"What Are You Not Telling Me?" - the worst song here to be quite honest. Totally lacking. And for no good reason. Ok, so the lyrics have some emotional value, but the instrumentation is so annoyingly empty that it's no wonder the NME handed out a 7/10. For example, the chorus has no backing - at all! It's just an echoey, reverb ridden chamber of vocal, followed by a second, winey piano backed verse. It's like a slightly aggressive Adele album track, but worse, because at least if she was singing the tone would be richer. Brett Anderson sounds ravaged and dead, and even a Julee Cruise-like backing guitar towards the end doesn't save it, trampled on by quiet strings and a weird Spanish guitar thing. It's not really rubbish, and, musically, it's probably technically alright. But it's very, very, very annoying - especially after the epic first side!
It seems unfair - on both the band and the listener. Not only does the album open up with three strokes of genius, not only does it close with three examples of the total opposite, but there are bonus tracks, songs that only appeared on special editions of the album - and the real tragedy? They are the best songs from these sessions! "Howl" is a masterpiece, worthy, easily of six stars just for it's tear-jerkingly warm opening, a guitar melody so profoundly perfect it makes me want to quite music myself altogether for fear of never being that good.
Not only a contextually bad song, but a let-down with regard to the band's entire discography; seriously, this belongs with "A New Morning" - and that's harsh...
Opening with the same frustratingly, clichéd coda as past tracks "Everything Will Flow" and "She's In Fashion", "Always", in a way freakishly similar to these tracks and the "Bloodsports" number before it, totally fails to deliver.
The definition of totally forgettable, it carries on the trend set in motion by the previous song. Not even single B-side worthy, the instrumentation is flat and meaningless and seems boring and slow. Clumsy too. A bit doddery. No energy. Just thump. Yes. ** Johnny Marr thump.
There's not much to say here that wasn't said for the review of the previous song, other than the fact that Brett does put a little put a little more energy in here. All to no avail however, as the lyrics lose their poetry and instead look pretentious and corny; 'like a sniper in the wings' followed by 'I will always love you'? Oh deary, deary me...no...it certainly is a stark contrast from the exciting opening after the first crackle and hiss of side A's beginning motion, and not an an enjoyable one at that...
Empty, soulless - "Faultlines" is, for those who've listened from the start of "Barriers", an unbelievable and totally unexpected end to this record. Admittedly, things do pick up a bit here and return to their rightfully rocky rampage, but even this is spattered with the messy flickers of failure and inadequacy. The lyrics again, are forgettable, though not quite as bad -still suitably unworthy of celebration however. And, just as before the instruments are lacking as the track is routinely saved and then re-killed by a "Personal Jesus" style rock 'n' roll guitar. Other than that it's strings and maracas! Bloody maracas! Whose idea was that! It's an absolute mess, an abomination and a really tragic finish to a record that started so, so well. There's even less to say here since I've said it twice before, so I won't - I just won't...
The Verdict - ★★★
Overall, "Bloodsports" confuses and saddens me. Going along with what Anderson says the album is about, which sounds to be the violent swings of emotion in a relationship, many of these songs represent the passion, love, desire, and suitably bloodthirsty energy of romance all in one, as the winding riff continues to penetrate the airwaves, throughout the verses, chorus and especially fantastic and varied bridge section, backed by a similarly meandering bass line and synthesised strings. This successfully applied sonic however, literally deteriorates as side B lingers on, starting (and thankfully not quite managing), to out balance the hits. It's a shame truly that 3 songs almost sink what was otherwise a gleaming feat of contemporary music and this only made worse by the fact that it could all have been saved if only the relegated bonus tracks had been preserved for the final album...not quite a brilliant album, and more a compilation-style portal to a few fantastic tracks...