While I’m not particularly a fan of the phrase ‘lightning in a bottle’, from the wealth of iconic, timeless albums released across 1995 and 1996, The Sound Of… McAlmont & Butler (out in the UK in November ’95) can confidently fit inside that description. Forged from the ashes of guitarist Bernard Butler leaving Suede, and David McAlmont as the singer with Thieves, a musical moment in time occurred.

In retrospect, it’s not unfair to say that both songwriters suffered with creative and personal clashes during the recording process, but it resulted in is one of the most underrated albums of the era. If you’re a fan of singles Yes or You Do, and have spent time within The Sound Of…, you’ll know there’s a conceptual masterpiece within its 11-track existence, an album that takes you on a journey as it literally loops back on itself from start to finish. If you’re not sure what I mean, listen out for the strings from track 1 Yes kicking into play just as track 11 You Do fades out.

It’s now some 30 years later and we’ve got a fresh release from Demon Records on vinyl and CD, and a couple of signed prints if you’re quick. The Sound Of… was on rotation in my late teenage years, along with Edwyn Collins’ Gorgeous George. This was the mid-90s and, let’s be honest, we didn’t go anywhere bar our own four walls, encased by posters from Select and images from gigs cut out of the NME, the smell of freshly printed newspaper and incense, alongside the sound of the peak of Britpop, colliding in an epic crescendo of unexpected discovery. The last great era before digital dearth? Very nearly – the mid-early 2000s can raise its hand for that final stamp of reality.

This release has been mastered from the original studio tapes, overseen by Butler and studio partner George Shilling, and over two LPs, you’ve got a killer kick of quality. And The Sound Of… buzzes from the off, with that colossus single Yes, the first thing Butler wrote after leaving Suede, and then McAlmont’s voice helping it come to life as it hit the charts in May 1995. While it only peaked at Number 8, the song has persisted as a champion example of that year, frequenting turning up on all-time lists, and quite right to. From that opening, track 2 – What’s The Excuse This Time? – examines joy and deep sarcasm, which is exactly what the title suggests, with a soulful, upbeat tempo while telling the story of an expected let down.

After those openers, the album initiates its heartfelt rhythm with The Right Thing, a moody, piano-dusted mini-epic that lyrically sits within the image of hoping something will emerge from a relationship, before exploding into a full-blown guitar and drum release, as McAlmont’s voice considers the beauty and the beast. Although decides to pull us back under the covers, continuing the album premise of love and loss, with a song balancing an ideal level of self-reflection and a realisation of reality.

Don’t Call it Soul strips it down acoustically, but then builds and focuses on the storytelling both through the words and music, and it remains one of my favourites, especially with Bernard’s guitar work helping to enhance David’s lyrical dilemma – this song always reminds me of my musical education at that time. From here, we subtly segues in Disappointment/Interval, with the line ‘it’s life, you learn to cope with disappointment’ forever lingering in my head as McAlmont hits the vocal highs, before dropping into an ethereal mix of brass, haunting vocals and then into an amalgamation of sound and fury – in the best way. The Debitor keeps up that concoction of noise, agreeably, before they sit us back down with a story we can all relate to in the gentle, beautiful How About You? A song fuelled with the confusion of your 20s in the pub, flirting with encounters of self and others – drifting in that epic, emotive guitar work layered through the song by Butler.

And then we hit the final three, Tonight is the tale of self-worth and belief, and listen out for ‘fire, fire!’ in the middle, as the voice of someone in the studio seeps out of the session, which is a moment that once woke up me up as I feel asleep with the album on. Then, we lead into You’ll Lose A Good Thing, the only cover involved, which is a 1960s rhythm and blues classic written by Barbara Lynn Ozen (who performed it as Barbara Lynn), before closing with You Do, the gigantic, heroic, 7-and-a-half-minute album finale, a song that would easily grace the last spot of any great album. One full of strings, guitars, percussion and sensation which soars, expands and swoops into an ideal place, it’s a fitting ending, one that befits the beautifully bittersweet struggle and creation of this all-timer of an album.

The Sound of McAlmont & Butler, by McAlmont & Butler, Signed Edition [Blue & Green Vinyl] is available here: https://link.amazon/B01wJAaBh

Or pick up a signed copy on CD here: https://demonedsel.lnk.to/thesoundof