Released on 10 October 1994 "Dog Man Star" was the second studio album of English alternative rock band, Suede, under Ed Bueller production, it was the last Suede album to feature guitarist Bernard Butler; growing tensions between him and singer Brett Anderson ended with Butler leaving the band before recording was complete. As a result, some tracks on the album had to be finished with the assistance of session musicians.
The new album exhibits a more varied aesthetic and draws from a wider range of influences. Although it did not sell on the same scale as its predecessor, is regarded as one of the most pretentious albums ever released by a major label and featured the band trying to move away from the "Britpop pack".
Considered as a masterpiece by many, the album did not sell well back then due its obscured topic, it was generally overlooked at the time, in the United States the critics were polarised, curiously, the record gained a strong cult followers that considered a classic rock record.
Back in early 1994, the band was about to released the single "Stay Together", ironically, the band was at their lowest moment, Butler's father had died as the band were about to begin their second American tour. The first week of the tour was cancelled, and Suede flew back to London from New York. When the tour did resume, Butler—not only recently bereaved but now engaged to his fiancée Elisa—distanced himself from the rest of the band far more than before. According to drummer Simon Gilbert, Butler was becoming intolerable and impossible to work with, and the band could not function together any longer.
To record Suede's next album Anderson moved to Highgate, north London, and began to write lyrics while living in a secluded flat, the most pompous British album of the decade, Anderson has said that its overblown sound was down to his use of psychedelic drugs: I was doing an awful lot of acid at the time, and I think it was this that gave us the confidence to push boundaries. After the success of their debut album, Suede were hailed as the inventors of Britpop, something they were proud of for a short while. However, Britpop started to be dominated by the other bands, notably Blur, Oasis and Pulp. This disgusted Anderson, and fearing he was about to becoming a celebrity, Anderson deliberately distanced himself from the scene, as soon as the band became aware of it, they went away and wrote Dog Man Star. the less Britpop record ever, the topic is about torture, epic, extremely sexual and personal. None of those things apply to Britpop.
The album was recorded between 22 March and 26 July 1994 at Master Rock Studios, the rehearsals were very tense and would inevitably split the band into two separate camps. Butler had his own agenda, and he frequently clashed with the rest of the band and producer Ed Buller, over whom he had concerns during the recording of the first album. According to Buller, Butler and the rest of the band were not in the studio together once during recording, perhaps only for a matter of hours.
Buller has stated that the recording process had some "happy accidents" during recording. Butler recorded separately from the rest of the band in a purpose-built lounge. There was a TV in the lounge and Butler can be heard tuning the TV at the beginning of "The Asphalt World". At the end of the song, Butler can be heard changing channels and picking up a section of dialogue from Lauren Bacall from the film Woman's World. Buller also talked of the impromptu recording of Butler playing the intro to "The Wild Ones" on a dobro outside as he sat on the roof of his car.
At the time, Butler had been writing additional complex arrangements, was interested in progressive rock, the extended "The Asphalt World" and the experimental ending for "The Wild Ones" were borne out of this affinity. Osman later expressed he felt Butler's compositions were too experimental: "Lots of the musical ideas were too much. They were being rude to the listener: it was expecting too much of people to listen to them.
Butler issued the band and their management an ultimatum: either they sacked Buller, or he would walk out. The rest of the band refused to comply with Butler's demands, and decided to let him walk out before the record was finished. Butler insisted he was kicked out of the band, for he turned up to the studio one day to find he was not allowed in. Buller and the remaining members succeeded in completing the record. Butler did finish some of his guitar parts; however, he refused to do it at Master Rock and instead used another studio where he could work on his own.
Butler became a harsh critic of the album's production and overall musicianship. He cites lack of commitment in the studio and the band's unwillingness to embrace his elaborate ideas as his main criticism: "I just heard too many times, 'No, you can't do that'. I was sick to death of it. I think it's a good record, but it could have been much better."
Dog Man Star, looks back to the era when glam-rock met art rock, with meticulously arranged songs sung with a flamboyance reminiscent of David Bowie and accompanied by anything from a 40-piece orchestra to an old Moog synthesizer." The Bowie influence was still omnipresent, however, unlike their debut, Suede focused on a darker and more melodramatic sound, there is a perception among some that the album tells a story; that its structure consists of a beginning, middle and end. There is a proper introduction, a rousing orchestral finale, and arguably a coherent narrative of love, sex, drugs and loss." Anderson was highly influenced by cinema, and admitted that during his self-imposed exile living in Highgate he watched Performance every night.
Elements of Anderson's lyrics were influenced by his drug use, citing William Blake as a big influence on his writing style. He became fascinated with his use of visions and trance-like states as a means of creation, and claimed that much of the "fragmented imagery" on "Introducing the Band" was the result of letting his subconscious take over. The song was a mantra he wrote after visiting a Buddhist temple in Japan. Lewis Carroll was an influence on the lyrics, who Anderson was reading at the time. There was also an Orwellian tone, which permeated into the second song and lead single "We Are the Pigs",which depicts Anderson's visions of Armageddon and riots in the streets. Anderson's lyrical subjects became exclusively tragic figures, such as the addicted teenager in "Heroine", and James Dean in "Daddy's Speeding". Both songs, according to Anderson, introduce the themes of isolation where the obsession is forming relationships with fantasy figures, as opposed to real people. The recurring theme of self-loathing is reflected in the ballad "The Wild Ones", which tells of a dying relationship.
"Black or Blue" is a song about racial intolerance and tells the story of a doomed interracial romance, "This Hollywood Life" is one of the few rockers on the album. A standard rock song, it features a guitar riff throughout the verses and a guitar solo. Anderson states that the song is about the "seedier side of the music business," where people are forced to debase themselves somewhat to succeed. "New Generation" is an up-tempo song, considered the most upbeat song on the album and a moment of "sleek rock'n'roll.", "The Asphalt World" is the longest song on the album and considered its centrepiece. It is a slow-tempo rock ballad partly influenced by Pink Floyd, with one of Butler's longest guitar solos. Its lyrics convey deviancy and sexual jealousy as Anderson revealed the song's lyrics could have been lifted entirely from his own diary
The piano ballad "The 2 of Us", according to Anderson, is about loneliness against the backdrop of wealth and fame; a professional couple incapable of relating to one another emotionally. Echoing "Sleeping Pills" from Suede, "The 2 of Us" and "Still Life" are considered to be written from the viewpoint of a bored or lonely housewife.
The band recruited new guitarist Richard Oakes mid-September after hearing a tape of him playing "My Insatiable One" that he had sent to the band's fanclub. And then Dog Man Star was released in the UK 10 October 1994. It entered the UK Albums Chart at no. 3. However, it slid to no. 12 the following week. The album was released in the US on Columbia two weeks later 25 October. The album and its singles did not receive the same level of promotion and radio play as the previous album in the US. This was due to the difficult climate surrounding the time of release. Such difficulties were the aforementioned departure of guitarist Bernard Butler; a name change to the London Suede, as a little-known singer from Maryland has had rights to the name Suede in America for fifteen years; and what Billboard magazine described as an "anti-Anglo sentiment" at American modern rock radio.
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