Suede
Bloodsports

When you hear about "lipstick traces" and "lemonade" in the same verse, only one band comes to mind.

Eleven years after an honest but noncommittal album like "A New Morning," Suede is back in action, returning to the world with a new tour, and most importantly, a brand new album of unreleased material, christened "Bloodsports." The British band's lineup is the same as the "Coming Up"/ "Head Music" era: keyboardist Neil Codling rejoins, and even takes the liberty of co-writing much of the new work along with the indispensable and charismatic frontman Brett Anderson. And, last but not least, Ed Buller, the essential producer who worked on the first three masterful albums of the Albion band, is called back to the production bench, who, as his first move, has the band discard almost all of the first batch of songs (already presented live during some 2011 shows).

Aside from this handful of splendid news, there were many questions about a new album of unreleased songs: the band's form, first and foremost, given the lackluster solo trials of leader Anderson (perhaps excluding a decent record like "Slow Attack," still far from the splendid achievements of past times with the main band), and then a certain creative decline hinted at in the aforementioned 2002 album, which seemed to be the precursor of a premature artistic downfall.

Nothing could be further from the truth: "Bloodsports" is a great album. Described emphatically (but quite accurately) by Anderson himself as a cross between "Dog Man Star" and "Coming Up," it's certainly not a modern work, but nevertheless fresh, enveloping, convincing. It draws heavily from the band's rich past repertoire, without falling into vulgar self-referencing (you might catch a hint of it in the opening of "Hit Me," a Britpop ride that seems like a direct sequel to the old "Trash," but little more), and reintroduces an Anderson determined to clarify his position as one of the best living British frontmen, and above all, it reintroduces a Richard Oakes, overweight yes, but in incredibly brilliant form, intent on taking up the lesson left to him by his predecessor Bernard Butler, without forgetting to add much, much of his own.

And to say the two tracks that previewed the work had, as it were, warned us: "Barriers," which also opens the album, initially surprises with a U2-like momentum before veering, in the magnificent refrain, into unmistakably Suede territory. "It Starts And Ends With You" is the perfect single: it doesn't have the wild energy of old gems like "Beautiful Ones" or "Animal Nitrate," but it perfectly meshes Oakes' great six-string work with the usual lyrical, theatrical, and pathos-laden brilliance of good Brett.

The rest of the offering stays more or less along the same quality lines, and here and there, despite there being only ten tracks (thank goodness, more and more artists have realized the uselessness of fillers), there's some attempt at renewal (much less marked, however, compared to the two previous works), as in "Sabotage" (echoes of the penultimate Editors) and "For The Strangers," which tries to shape a typically Suede track into a more linear and less melodramatic flow, without losing an ounce of impact and enjoyability.

"Snowblind," placed right after the opener, is a good spot for the sound of the entire album; "Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away" slows things down, giving Anderson a chance to express himself more appropriately to his expressive capabilities. The result is a memorable piece that could fit into any of the band's previous works without looking out of place. Beautiful, though slightly intrusive, is Oakes' guitar work before the grand finale. "What Are You Not Telling Me?", with its bare and essential structure, is a precious gem closer to the forty-five-year-old leader's solo efforts, while "Always" and "Faultlines" (the first relying on a more complex musical structure, the second on an Anderson once again stellar) close the discussion in great style.

Suede, embarking on a new beginning, almost do (hardly) nothing wrong. There is a rising curiosity about what they will be able to do from this point on: rebirth or a solitary blaze, the only certain thing is that they have succeeded in giving us a great album. Welcome back.

Best track: Why Are You Not Telling Me?