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Sep 20, 2018Though their themes remain in the gutter, Suede aspire to monuments, and The Blue Hour will stand as another sordid masterwork.
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Oct 5, 2018An album that ought to be regarded as a creative peak for Suede, easily reaching the heights of their 90s best.
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Sep 27, 2018A thorny, earth-stained treasure.
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Sep 27, 2018If the thrill of the fight is one answer, The Blue Hour is up to it. Re-energised on all fronts, Suede are in the shape of their lives.
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Sep 27, 2018While there are other occasions--notably All The Wild Places’ excessively grandiose orchestration and the ridiculous gothic chanting on Chalk Circles--where it all feels just a bit much, all in all The Blue Hour is a bold, accomplished effort from a band who still have plenty of ideas more than a quarter of century after they first emerged.
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Sep 21, 2018It’s certainly an emotional and dramatic ride. From the thunderous strings and choir of opener As One onwards, this is an audacious record, stripped of the hand-clapping, guitar-pop ditties with which they made their name.
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Sep 20, 2018The Blue Hour is unlikely to win Suede many new followers, but it should convince any fans of old that their vitality is restored and they are at the peak of their powers once more.
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Sep 19, 2018I can say that Brett Anderson is in fine voice, with that trademark, anguished yelp firmly in place. I can say that I think the songs, pitched halfway between the energetic rock of Bloodsports and the out-and-out brooding noir of Night Thoughts, are possibly among their best.
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UncutAug 30, 2018It finds Suede wrapping up a triptych of records since their 2013 reunion and in doing so they feel positioned with one foot in the familiar camp of old while striding forward with the other into fresh, unknown territory. [Oct 2018, p.34]
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Classic Rock MagazineAug 30, 2018The Blue Hour is shot through with Suede's trademark gritty-yet-gracious melodies looped around the throats of outsider escape anthems. [Sep 2018, p.90]
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Sep 19, 2018Twenty-five years after their debut, they still retain that power, while finding ways to surprise within their firmly defined style.
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Sep 10, 2018While it may be overlong, overwrought perhaps, it's a worthwhile entry into their canon that should delight fans. [Aug - Oct 2018, p.83]
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Sep 24, 2018Dark and absorbing, The Blue Hour is never dull, although in an age of playlist-friendly immediacy it’s hard to imagine its appeal stretching far beyond already committed fans.
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Sep 19, 2018While there’s a comforting familiarity that comes with all things Suede, it’s wonderfully shrouded on The Blue Hour by a very new, romantic and alluring strangeness. These are not hits to shake your bits to. Nor will these beats shake your meat. Rest assured, Suede remain the beautiful ones, but are just looking for beauty in ever more curious places.
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MojoAug 30, 2018His commitment is palpable, the sequencing deft, and whole wilfully hit-free bombast-fest commendable, if scarcely palatable to anyone apart fro card-carrying Suede-heads. [Oct 2018, p.93]
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Q MagazineAug 30, 2018Intriguingly between success and failure, as if occupying a musical hinterland of its own. [Oct 2018, p.118]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 36 out of 47
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Mixed: 4 out of 47
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Negative: 7 out of 47
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Sep 21, 2018
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Sep 21, 2018
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Sep 23, 2018