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The Tears

Here Come The Tears 8 ( 2005 )
Refugees / Autograph / Co Star / Imperfection / The Ghost Of You / Two Creatures / Lovers / Fallen Idol / Brave New Century / Beautiful Pain / The Asylum / Apollo 13 / A Love As Strong As Death

Says one leading co-star of The Tears, on the britpop explosion and Oasis in particular, "Proper music, made of wood, like something out of the Arts and Crafts movement". No so for Suede, who were unlucky enough to explode into the music world just that year or two before britpop really held the nation. So return Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler, together for the first time since Suede's 'Dog Man Star' in 1994, under new moniker 'The Tears'. And you know what? It's almost like the past 11 years never have been. 'Here Come The Tears' contains the kind of luxurious, modern Phil Spectorisms in the production that Bernard Butler dreamed that 'Dog Man Star' would have had. Recorded in Bernards own home studio, 'Here Come The Tears' positively bristles and sparks out of the speakers. The guitars during the rockers contain all the trademark sounds that we'd expect from Bernard Butler. The vocals of Brett Anderson, well. I was surprised, because the last couple of Suede albums showed his vocal chords in a poor state of repair. Here, his voice sounds utterly reborn. The lyrics avoid a lot of the pitfalls and cliches that dogged Suede during their latter years, also. This is all good news for the long-term commited Suede fan. What's even better is some of the new songs themselves, ambitious and wide-screen in the way the very best highlights of the Suede catalogue always were. Turning back the clock to a time when Anderson/Butler were spoken of in the same breath as Morrissey/Marr can't have been an easy thing to try to do after all these years. They haven't quite managed to recapture the sense of excitement this writer felt during those early years of the nineties, but they have had a damn good go, all the same.

Lead single 'Refugees' is a classic piece, the guitars do all sorts of twisty things, the glam beat is there, the romance is there during the chorus. It's kind of an exact mix of the pop-sensibilities of 'Trash' mixed with the Bernard guitar madness of a Suede track from 1994. In a couple of words, 'Refugee' makes for an absolutely stunning comeback. Several other potential singles abound, 'Beautiful Pain' would make for a good single, The Spiders From Mars produced by Phil Spector. 'The Asylum' falls a little flat, a rare dud here whilst 'Imperfection' seems to contain more Anderson than Bernard, writing wise. A little closer to post Butler Suede than to 'Dog Man Star', shall we say. It's still a decent catchy song, though. 'Lovers' is another pop highlight, too many other songs get bogged down in the too similar mood and over-reaching ambition the production lends the album. It all gets a little too much, there isn't enough darkness present to alleviate the light. The kind of romantic darkness that those windswept 1993/1994 Suede ballads had, ballads that often ended up as b-sides, cherished by fans. Thank goodness for the closing epic 'Love Is As Strong As Death', then. A song that reminds me of Suede tracks such as 'High Rising', etc. Strings appear, Anderson's vocal reaches hitherto unimagined heights without sounding too pinched. A good album, all in all. Funny thing is, it sounds like a debut album. Well, it is a debut for 'The Tears', for Bernard and Brett, it's something more than that. Perhaps they were a little cagey around each other and that's why certain songs fall flat. The highlights are very high though, high enough that a positive '8' rating seems utterly appropriate.

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Readers Comments Simon psi_fla@yahoo.com Half way through the album at present Adrian, liking it so far. Was sold on The Tears thanks to Refugees, such a simple, but catchy and evocative song. Looking forward to seeing them at Oxegen.

this page last updated 17/06/07