It's great. Not the best, but not the worst. Veteran Suedeheads aren't going to accept it; it's not a guitar-heavy album like the S/T. And, it's not heavily composed like "Dog Man Star". But, it's pretty solid. The ones that will be quick to accept it are the ones that accept Richard Oakes.
"Head Music" really pushed their sound away from the Butler era. I see no remnaints of the sound at all. The production is great, but I miss the Ed Buller mix--this record sounds more Def Leppard than the Spiders from Mars.
"Electricity" had to grow on me; I hated it at first, but it's catchy. Brett has too many effects on his voice, and it almost disguises it. And, sometimes there is trouble distinguishing the guitar parts from MIDI. The hard-rocking songs tend to be oversaturated, and the only one that seems to be loud is "Elephant Man".
Speaking of "Elephant Man", not everyone agrees on it, but I like it. Neil came up with a good hook, but the lyrics.....uh, well, who cares! It's Suede, not The Smiths!
My favorite song is "She's in Fashion". To me, it was a departure from the typical ubpeat songs they put out. More danceable, and certainly a potential single. It think it's gonne be their next. I hope it becomes a crossover hit.
There are a few duds, though. I always skip "Hi-fi" because it's not very hi-fi. "Indian Strings" is kinda bunk. And, I was just getting into "Crack in the Union Jack" until the song @#!!!ing ended!!! What is it, a 30 second song?!?! They must've ran out of studio time or something, because the song was great, but then they pulled the @#!!!ing plug!!!
At this point, Suede has yet to release a record I didn't like. I have all of them, and they still rotate my stereo daily. "Head Music" is a good one, and you really should give it a chance. Don't waste you money on that new Gene, though. It's crap.