Review: Suede—Sci-Fi Lullabies vol.2 (2025)

The kings of the flipside round up the killer Bs from '99-'23, exclusively for RSD 25.

Has there ever been a better b-side compilation than Sci-Fi Lullabies? You’d be hard pressed to find one. More than 2 hours over 27 tracks from the band’s imperial phase, when they could score five bona fide top ten hits from one studio album, and still leave potential chart troublers hidden away on CD singles, 12”s, 7”s, hell, cassette singles. It’s probably the only greatest hits collections that has precisely zero singles on it. Or album tracks for that matter. Astonishing.

After that release in 1997, the band maintained its approach to making albums, with a large pool of songs in play, and the ones not picked for albums being scattered around elsewhere. But then they split up in 2003, and by the time they reconvened and started making new music again in 2013, the singles market had changed beyond recognition. From downloads to streaming, there was no longer the same opportunity to put these songs out.

Instead, Suede began to embrace the deluxe edition, putting out bonus tracks on exclusive 7” or even 12” singles that added to the allure of buying the box set vinyl version. Over the course of Bloodsports, Night Thoughts, The Blue Hour and Autofiction, the band had once again amassed a treasure trove of deep cuts.

But with most of these songs rather inaccessible to all but the most obsessive fan, there was an opportunity to finally produce a “sequel” to their celebrated compilation, and finally get these songs in the hands of more fans.

However, for now at least, Sci-Fi Lullabies vol. 2 is a Record Store Day exclusive, with just 3000 pressed worldwide on clear vinyl. But if I know Demon Records, this exclusivity period will likely not last long. Let’s just say they have form for this kind of caper, and I kinda wish they would quit doing it, because it forces the real fans to pay considerably more than they would if it was on general release. Shady business.

The song selection here is by no means comprehensive, unlike the original. This time, 19 of the deep cuts have been collected, more out of a desire to focus on quality over quantity, and produce a genuinely great listen than to tick off every last track they recorded.

To those ends, it’s very much job done. This set is a surprisingly strong collection, given that the pool of songs is naturally far weaker than what was available for the original. As much as the post-reformation Suede albums are stronger than they have any right to be, they still cower in the mighty shadow of the band’s first three albums. Much like (the) Pixies, you can’t top perfection. You just have to not tarnish the legacy, and they’ve certainly never done that.

So the Suede ultras might feel a little sore that this isn’t a triple vinyl release like the original, and leaves quite a bit behind as a result, this is an indisputably great collection.

The interesting thing about it is how the newer tracks blend really well with the older ones, to the point that it really doesn’t sound like things may have been recorded 20 years apart. The Suede identity and ethos has been so unbreakably strong for so long, they rarely became distracted by irritating modern production techniques, and so there’s nothing that sounds out of place or dated here.

On side one, you get 2022’s The Sadness In You, The Sadness In Me juxtaposed with 2013’s Dawn Chorus and 1999’s Let Go and Crackhead. Dancing through a 23 year span, but very much a convincing sequence. Side two we get songs from 2002, 2013, 2022, and 2018. On 3 it’s 2023, 1999, 2003, and on 4 1999, 2023, 2013, and 2022. You won’t see (or hear) the join.

Overall, the split between pre-split and post-reformation is weighted 8 to 11. I think that’s the right approach, with a) the 1999/2002 era b-sides probably the weakest of the band’s career and b) the post-reformation stuff being both very strong, and the least heard of any of their material. And unlike in the olden days, I confess to having not really paid that much attention to the bonus tracks. That happens with bands. You obsess over every last track when they’re new, but by the time they’re onto albums 7, 8, 9, 10 and it’s 30-odd years down the line, it’s normal to have stuff pass you by.

Sometimes you simply need a band to curate their own stuff well, and Suede does a wonderful job with this set. You can really tell this is a band endeavour, and not some cash grab record company rush job. You just know the band had opinions about what songs to put on and where. They even managed to slip on an unreleased track, Blind, a as a special treat for the true obsessives that have everything, have heard everything and still want more.

For those who really want to hear every single last damned thing the band ever did in the studio, you could make your own playlist and probably concede: Suede were right in the things they left behind.