Shooting to prominence in 1992 as the next great white hope for at-sea indie kids looking for somebody new to latch on to, Suede certainly didn’t fail to deliver, becoming stalwarts of the whole ‘Britpop’ scene and delivering some mighty catchy tunes to boot. Having gone through a number of prototype stages – and names (Geoff, Suave and Elegant) – even including a certain Justine Frischmann in their Line Up (heehee) at one stage (who went on to dump singer Brett Anderson for Blur frontman Damon and form her own little combo named Elastica) - a couple of killer singles left the public slavering for their debut album. Hell, they even survived the rather curious comparisons to The Smiths they received – incredibly strange for a bunch of pretty boys who had more in common sonically with the likes of David Bowie and later Gary Numan than mopey old Morrissey and his incredibly talented, but also incredibly blokey cohorts. Mind you, somewhat perversely The Smiths’ drummer Mike Joyce did actually play with an early incarnation of Suede for a little while...

Anyway, a decade and four studio albums later, Lost in TV is a very thorough gathering of the 19 promos for their 17 singles thus far. Now if you think that doesn’t add up, explanation lies in the Yanks feeling it necessary to remake Suede’s fun low budget debut The Drowners into a so-so high-budget clip, and Australia got its very own promo for Can’t Get Enough before it was released as a single elsewhere.

So, we get all the clips chronicling the band’s sound changes, line-up changes and hairstyle changes from those low budget days of butchery (Metal Mickey) and breakdancing piggies (Animal Nitrate) in support of their self-titled debut, through to clips from their generally ill-received sophomore effort Dog Man Star with everything from burning red flags (We Are the Pigs) to the slow-mo, odd coloured artiness of The Wild Ones onto the spell-it-out-for-you obviousness of Beautiful Ones and the back to basics, black and white graininess of the fabulously bump and grindy Filmstar (from their third long player Head Music) and finally on to the zap laden Electricity and ode to wanton vengeful destruction that is the international clip for Can’t Get Enough.

Oh, there’s even a copyright notice that’s actually worth reading for a change, too...

Track listing:

You can probably predict what comes next... As this is a compilation of video promos ranging from the band’s low budget days of 1992 through to their big budget days of 1999, all aspects of video quality vary greatly at times. This is also exacerbated by what are obviously artistic decisions as to the inclusion of arced up grain in many clips, all manner of visual effects plus the use of Super 8 footage at varying times. It all comes in full frame, with various clips opting for various different non-enhanced aspect ratios. Averaging everything out, the video quality is certainly good throughout, with only a few examples of aliasing here and there bringing things down a little.

Oh dear, somebody stuffed up severely here. Touting supposed Dolby Digital 5.1 audio on the back cover, this is, unfortunately, a blatant lie (unless you count the menu accompaniment – so technically it wouldn’t hold up in court) – with two essentially identical tracks – labelled ‘stereo’ and ‘surround’ as options. Sure, they select different audio streams, but if anybody out there can spot a difference between them then you deserve to have your ears bronzed. Put into perspective, the sound is as good as the original CDs, so it’s certainly authentic, however those of us drooling at the thought of delightfully immersive 5.1 Suede audio swirling about our heads will have to remain sorely disappointed. This problem aside, synch is perfectly fine throughout – bar a few cases where the miming isn’t quite spot on (which, of course, is not a technical issue).

A natty little selection of extras is included, enough to add much value to this release for fans of Suede. After getting past the quite stunning menus, each with different themes relating to their relevant albums, the most intriguing bonus inclusion by far is entitled ‘On the Couch’, which is basically a commentary from various band members, where they blow in and out of the room, plopping themselves on a couch which appears at the bottom left of the screen as the videos play. Some fascinating insights are here in regards to what the band themselves think of their visual output, with them discussing what they believe worked and didn’t work, intentions of clips, pointing out personal cringe moments and, in the case of Stay Together, using their feet to tell us what they think of the promo.

Another fun feature, Sing to a Popular Tune is essentially a Karaoke option, allowing most of the songs featured (12 of the 17 different tracks) to be played sans lead vocals, and with lyrical subtitles on or off, so you can squawk along at the top of your voice when the neighbours are getting on your... erm, nerves.

There is also bonus footage included under the banner Europe America Winterland, totalling around 24 minutes in all, and divided into six different years. Annoyingly it isn’t playable as one continuous lump, but there is some great stuff to be seen – highlights including the track Simon, which is the theme from the CS Leigh film Far From China, included here with the entire opening credits of the flick; a promo for Suede’s take on the Robert Wyatt/Elvis Costello track Shipbuilding, recorded for the 1995 Help! charity album; plus a vast assortment of live performances, TV appearances, backstage and studio footage and more. Rounding out the package is a fabulous little eight-page booklet, full of fun facts and information for those who have decent eyesight (as it’s rather challenging to read) and there’s also a rather obscurely placed Easter egg featuring studio footage recording the first single, Positivity, from Suede’s forthcoming (at the time of writing) fifth studio album, A New Morning.

Whilst so many clip compilations basically give us just the facts ma’am (not naming anybody, Blur), Suede’s Lost in TV has had quite an effort put into it to offer extra value, something the band do regularly for their fans. If you are in this latter category then get a hold of this, get a hold of this now, whereas if you’re new to the band then this is a perfect way to obtain a ‘best of’ collection with just that extra bit more specialness.

Oh, do you wanna here my very own Suede joke?

Q: What did the clucky chicken say to the farmer?
A: Stop taking me ovahhh.

(Sigh. Don’t worry, nobody’s ever laughed at it...)