Sci-Fi Lullabies
Encyclopedia
Sci-Fi Lullabies is a compilation album by English alternative rock
band Suede
, consisting of B-sides
from the singles that were released from the band's first three albums.
The album is not quite comprehensive, missing out around half a dozen exclusive songs released as B-sides by the band during the period it covers. Missing Anderson/Butler B-sides are "Painted People" (from "Animal Nitrate
"), "Dolly" (from "So Young
") and "This World Needs a Father" (from "The Wild Ones
" Disc 1), which was the last B-side of the Butler era. Tracks featuring Oakes and/or Codling omitted include "Asda Town" (from "The Wild Ones
" Disc 2), "Sam" (from "Beautiful Ones
") and "Digging a Hole" and "Feel" (from "Lazy"). Live performances released as B-sides (on "New Generation
" Disc 1 and "Filmstar" Disc 2) are also not included, neither is Suede's cover of the Pet Shop Boys
' "Rent." The track "Together" is included despite technically being a double-A side (with "New Generation") not a B-side, while the non-album single "Stay Together" is not present despite its B-sides being included and it not being available elsewhere. The track "Eno's Introducing The Band" (from "The Wild Ones
" Disc 2) is also not included.
The album is considered an important one for fans of the band, partially because of the wealth of material and partially as many of the songs on the compilation are considered to be as strong or even stronger as the singles from which they came.
of Allmusic, who awarded the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, noted that the first disc "...is as strong as any of their albums" and that the majority of the songs are "all strong enough to be A-sides." Overall he said, "...this is absolutely essential material, confirming the group's status as one of the '90s' greatest bands." Mark Beaumont of NME
said that "CD1 stakes a formidable claim as the fourth Suede album in its own right. Better than OK Computer
." John Harris
of Select gave the compilation 4 stars out of 5 and wrote: "Sci-Fi Lullabies exhaustively empties their under-the-stairs cupboard, and it's like a retelling of the entire Suede movie script." He concluded by saying that "this is truly as good as most Greatest Hits albums."
Tom Lanham of Entertainment Weekly
gave the compilation an (A) rating, saying that Anderson is a "...tireless diarist, judging from this anthology of 27 U.K.-single B sides, each one—like the grim concert staple 'Killing of a Flash Boy'—as fey, somber, and solid as any album track." Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club
gave the compilation a highly positive review, saying "...that Suede would not simply treat its B-sides as opportunities to unload half-baked and failed ideas. In fact, this collection has more consistency than many acts' studio albums, dispensing moody, catchy melodramatics while maintaining a remarkably high level of quality." Despite never placing on any of Billboards charts, Sci-Fi Lullabies has sold about 19,000 units in the U.S. per Nielsen SoundScan
figures.
said that "Suede set the track record of making each EP’s release an event, not tossing filler or failed experiments on the back of singles releases. Those early B-sides—collected on disc one of Sci-Fi Lullabies remain Suede’s strongest collection of songs." The album is considered to be one of the finest of the B-side/rarity genre, being described recently by The Independent
as "the greatest B-sides album ever made". The A.V. Club included the compilation in its list of 35 essential B-side/rarity/outtakes collections. The article said that "...Suede’s pre-burnout legacy remains remarkably strong, and decidedly incomplete without such flipside classics as 'My Insatiable One' and 'The Living Dead'."
in March 1994, where they performed the popular "Stay Together
" B-sides "The Living Dead" and "My Dark Star". In April 1997, Suede notably played an entire set of B-sides at a fanclub gig at the London Forum
.
, and is a phrase used in the lyrics of the song "Introducing the Band" from that album. The collection is accompanied by a 32-page, full-color lyric booklet designed by Peter Saville. The front cover, which recalls the works of J. G. Ballard
, features a destroyed English Electric Lightning
aircraft abandoned and used for target practice on a military range in Northumberland
. It was taken by noted North East photographer John Kippin.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
, consisting of B-sides
B-Sides
B-Sides is an iTunes-exclusive album from the Coventry Trio The Enemy, consisting of ten songs that were B-sides to the single releases from their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.-Track list:#Fear Killed the Youth of Our Nation...
from the singles that were released from the band's first three albums.
Overview
The album spans two discs and displays the band in its most prolific era. The first disc is dominated by tracks written by the Brett Anderson/Bernard Butler songwriting partnership (the exceptions are "Together," "Bentswood Boys" and "Europe is Our Playground") while the second showcases the various intra-band songwriting variations (Anderson/Richard Oakes and Anderson/Neil Codling, plus Anderson solo and compositions contributed to by the whole band) that emerged following Butler's departure and the subsequent recruiting of a new guitarist, Richard Oakes and keyboardist Neil Codling.The album is not quite comprehensive, missing out around half a dozen exclusive songs released as B-sides by the band during the period it covers. Missing Anderson/Butler B-sides are "Painted People" (from "Animal Nitrate
Animal Nitrate
"Animal Nitrate" is a song by the English Britpop group Suede. Released as the band's third single, it later appeared on their debut album Suede on Nude Records in 1993. It charted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, making it the highest charting single from the album.The video for the title...
"), "Dolly" (from "So Young
So Young
"So Young" is the fourth and final single from the debut album by Suede, released on 17 May 1993 on Nude Records. It charted at number 22 on the UK singles chart, which although lower than the number 7 charted by the previous single, "Animal Nitrate", was strong nonetheless...
") and "This World Needs a Father" (from "The Wild Ones
The Wild Ones
"The Wild Ones" is the second single from the album Dog Man Star by Suede, released on 14 November 1994 on Nude Records. It peaked at #18 in the UK. The ballad is considered a favourite among fans and is one of their most notable songs of this period. The B-side, "Modern Boys", appears as an album...
" Disc 1), which was the last B-side of the Butler era. Tracks featuring Oakes and/or Codling omitted include "Asda Town" (from "The Wild Ones
The Wild Ones
"The Wild Ones" is the second single from the album Dog Man Star by Suede, released on 14 November 1994 on Nude Records. It peaked at #18 in the UK. The ballad is considered a favourite among fans and is one of their most notable songs of this period. The B-side, "Modern Boys", appears as an album...
" Disc 2), "Sam" (from "Beautiful Ones
Beautiful Ones
"Beautiful Ones" is the second single from the album Coming Up by Suede, released on October 14, 1996. on Nude Records. The song became a Top Ten hit in the UK, peaking at #8....
") and "Digging a Hole" and "Feel" (from "Lazy"). Live performances released as B-sides (on "New Generation
New Generation
"New Generation" is the third and final single from the album Dog Man Star by Suede, released on January 30, 1995, on Nude Records. It is the first single to feature music by new guitarist Richard Oakes. Though the title track is written by Anderson and departed guitarist Bernard Butler, Oakes...
" Disc 1 and "Filmstar" Disc 2) are also not included, neither is Suede's cover of the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
' "Rent." The track "Together" is included despite technically being a double-A side (with "New Generation") not a B-side, while the non-album single "Stay Together" is not present despite its B-sides being included and it not being available elsewhere. The track "Eno's Introducing The Band" (from "The Wild Ones
The Wild Ones
"The Wild Ones" is the second single from the album Dog Man Star by Suede, released on 14 November 1994 on Nude Records. It peaked at #18 in the UK. The ballad is considered a favourite among fans and is one of their most notable songs of this period. The B-side, "Modern Boys", appears as an album...
" Disc 2) is also not included.
The album is considered an important one for fans of the band, partially because of the wealth of material and partially as many of the songs on the compilation are considered to be as strong or even stronger as the singles from which they came.
Release and reception
The album received praise from most critics on release. Stephen Thomas ErlewineStephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic, who awarded the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, noted that the first disc "...is as strong as any of their albums" and that the majority of the songs are "all strong enough to be A-sides." Overall he said, "...this is absolutely essential material, confirming the group's status as one of the '90s' greatest bands." Mark Beaumont of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
said that "CD1 stakes a formidable claim as the fourth Suede album in its own right. Better than OK Computer
OK Computer
OK Computer is the third studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 16 June 1997 on Parlophone in the UK and 1 July 1997 by Capitol Records in the US. It marks a deliberate attempt by the band to move away from the introspective guitar-oriented sound of their previous...
." John Harris
John Harris (critic)
John Rhys Harris is a British journalist, writer, and critic.-Early life:Harris was raised in Wilmslow in north Cheshire by a university lecturer and a teacher, daughter of a nuclear research chemist...
of Select gave the compilation 4 stars out of 5 and wrote: "Sci-Fi Lullabies exhaustively empties their under-the-stairs cupboard, and it's like a retelling of the entire Suede movie script." He concluded by saying that "this is truly as good as most Greatest Hits albums."
Tom Lanham of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the compilation an (A) rating, saying that Anderson is a "...tireless diarist, judging from this anthology of 27 U.K.-single B sides, each one—like the grim concert staple 'Killing of a Flash Boy'—as fey, somber, and solid as any album track." Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
gave the compilation a highly positive review, saying "...that Suede would not simply treat its B-sides as opportunities to unload half-baked and failed ideas. In fact, this collection has more consistency than many acts' studio albums, dispensing moody, catchy melodramatics while maintaining a remarkably high level of quality." Despite never placing on any of Billboards charts, Sci-Fi Lullabies has sold about 19,000 units in the U.S. per Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
figures.
Legacy
The collection is widely regarded as Suede's best output and is often recommended along with their first two albums. Scott Plagenhoef of Stylus MagazineStylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
said that "Suede set the track record of making each EP’s release an event, not tossing filler or failed experiments on the back of singles releases. Those early B-sides—collected on disc one of Sci-Fi Lullabies remain Suede’s strongest collection of songs." The album is considered to be one of the finest of the B-side/rarity genre, being described recently by The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
as "the greatest B-sides album ever made". The A.V. Club included the compilation in its list of 35 essential B-side/rarity/outtakes collections. The article said that "...Suede’s pre-burnout legacy remains remarkably strong, and decidedly incomplete without such flipside classics as 'My Insatiable One' and 'The Living Dead'."
Live performances
The Suede B-sides have been an integral part of Suede's live shows as well as Anderson's solo performances. Notable favourites from disc one include "The Living Dead" and "Killing of a Flash Boy", which were performed at Suede's March 2010 reunion shows in London. Anderson and Butler made their last TV appearance on MTV's Most WantedMTV's Most Wanted
MTV's Most Wanted was a 1990s MTV Europe television series broadcast from London, England, presented by Ray Cokes. It ran from 1992 until 1995....
in March 1994, where they performed the popular "Stay Together
Stay Together
"Stay Together" is a non-album single by Suede, released on 14 February 1994 on Nude Records. It is the last single released while guitarist Bernard Butler was in the band, though subsequent singles from Dog Man Star feature his music...
" B-sides "The Living Dead" and "My Dark Star". In April 1997, Suede notably played an entire set of B-sides at a fanclub gig at the London Forum
London Forum
The London Forum, or sometimes Kentish Town Forum is a well-known venue for concerts in Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom owned by the MAMA Group. The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the closure of the cinema, The Town & Country Club was established...
.
Packaging
The title of the album was a phrase considered as a title for the band's second album, Dog Man StarDog Man Star
Dog Man Star is the second album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in October 1994 on Nude Records. It was the last Suede album to feature guitarist Bernard Butler, due to growing tensions between Butler and singer Brett Anderson ending with Butler leaving the band before the album...
, and is a phrase used in the lyrics of the song "Introducing the Band" from that album. The collection is accompanied by a 32-page, full-color lyric booklet designed by Peter Saville. The front cover, which recalls the works of J. G. Ballard
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction...
, features a destroyed English Electric Lightning
English Electric Lightning
The English Electric Lightning is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, noted for its great speed and unpainted natural metal exterior finish. It is the only all-British Mach 2 fighter aircraft. The aircraft was renowned for its capabilities as an interceptor; Royal Air Force ...
aircraft abandoned and used for target practice on a military range in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
. It was taken by noted North East photographer John Kippin.