Customer Reviews

Dog Man Star

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have owned this album for six years and it still surprises me how good it is. You'd have a hard time trying to convince me that this album is not brimming with forgotten classics. It is the worlds loss that in twenty or thirty years time songs like The 2 of Us, Still Life and The Asphalt World will not be looked upon and remembered with the same wonder and reverence that we now hold for Imagine, Strawberry Fields Forever and A Whiter Shade of Pale. The timing and circumstances of it's release were very unfortunate. At a time when much more fun records were out; Park Life, Definitely Maybe it would be difficult to convince a fickle public to invest in Dog Man Star's dark charms. Also the departure of Bernard Butler completely overshadowed its release, the media were far more interested in kicking a band when they were down than mourning its creators loss. Singles fell on deaf ears. Even though they contained seductive and all consuming melodies they didn't show the wider plan of this visionary album. The songs are of another world, a half-lit underworld where an unfathomable sadness permeates ever failed romance and lost dream. You almost feel that the people of this world are helplessly alone, that they cannot communicate with each other atall and that this interaction is forbidden and is all they really long for. Unquestionably a great album, but not for everyone. You do have to be of a certain temperament for this music to take over your world. If you found their previous album compelling and you have a soft spot for the bed-sit tristess of the Smiths then this album is for you..

Long-term listening to Dog Man Star has convinced me of the following: 1) It is a mature album, with complex tunes having intricate melodic lines (Daddy's Speeding, The Asphalt World, Still LIfe, Black or Blue), which cannot be easily learned according to a "la la la" pattern: the vocals and the guitar start from the same point, then they go apart in different, very convoluted (sort of like cigar smoke) directions, striving for different courses, to reunite in the end in the same direction (take The Asphalt World); 2) It has a special atmosphere, very dark indeed, someone said, although I can't remember who, the darkest dark, the dark before dawn, but not hopeless, not suicidal; 3) It is very original. I have listened to Bowie in my life time and have not noticed any similarity whatsoever; 4) It is, indeed, despite some boyish momentum here and there, an intellectual album (sorry if it sounds insulting), but not openly intellectual, like Radiohead; that's why you won't find it in any charts or tops (Like 100 best albums ever in Britain, with Oasis at number 3 or something). And it's not a matter of reasoning, you either are on the same wavelength or not. I don't know how "rational" these arguments are.

Suede's `Dog Man Star' teeters frustratingly on the edge of greatness, but in the final reckoning falls short of being a landmark record. Though at times Suede showcase their once lavish talents to startling effect, at others they are disappointingly mundane. However, the highpoints of `Dog Man Star' are the highest points the band ever reached.

The recording of Suede's second album was dogged by the increasingly fractious relationship between singer Brett Anderson and guitarist Bernard Butler, which eventually saw Butler walk out on the band before `Dog Man Star' was even finished. This marked the end of an era for the band labelled as the great white hopes of 90s British guitar music. Though they went on to greater commercial success with `Coming Up', the heart had been ripped out of the band with Butler's departure, which also marked the end of one of the great British rock n roll songwriting partnerships.

The album's opening salvo is impressive: the mantra-like drone of `Introducing the Band' sets the sexed-up, fetishistic mood adroitly, Brett opining, somewhat bizarrely, "Steal me a savage subservient son/Get him shacked up, bloodied up and sucking on a gun". Marvellous. `We Are the Pigs' was perhaps not politically the wisest choice for first single, but with it's sleazy brass section and Butler's guitar histrionics, it provides an ominous and seductive call to arms for the disenchanted. `Heroine' is Anderson's tribute to Marilyn Monroe, but `Candle in the Wind' it certainly aint. Butler's helium-fuelled guitar line coupled with Brett's Byronesque lyrics, brings an otherwordly quality to another standout track. Yet five minutes later `Heroine' pales into insignificance once the final bars of `The Wild Ones' fade from your speakers. This is Suede at their very best, a plucked acoustic riff and Brett's surprisingly rich tenor, joined by a string section, before Butler remembers to plug his electric guitar in, and the rest of the band come out of the shadows. `The Wild Ones' is a beautiful, Romantic swoon of a song which will melt your heart, if you have one. As Anderson implores: "And oh if you stay, I'll chase the rain-blown fields away/We'll shine like the morning and sing in the sun oh if you stay/We'll be the wild ones running with the dogs today" you'll remember just how vital and exciting it felt to listen to Suede when they were still contenders.

I guess the comedown is inevitable. With a band like Suede, it's all too easy to step over the line between wasted glamour and overblown ridicule. Unfortunately many of the middle tracks on the album smell suspiciously like filler.'The Power', `This Hollywood Life' and `The 2 of Us' are overegged, lacklustre affairs for the most part. It's not until the gentle strum of `Black or Blue' ushers in the panoramic, tear-stained majesty of `The Asphalt World' that `Dog Man Star' splutters into glorious life once more. At nearly 10 minutes long this is a truly epic affair - even if it Brett's lyrics are about a junkie prostitute! However this is Bernard Butler's song through and through, and the sheer invention of his guitar work is breathtaking, bordering on prog but never overstepping the mark.

`The Asphalt World' puts what could be called unfair pressure on anything that follows, and `Still Life' is, not surprisingly, something of a letdown. Perhaps it would have been wiser to go for a more subdued last track, but Suede wouldn't be Suede without attempting an even more grandiose closer. However this time the strings seem overblown and, to be honest, your senses will still be reeling from the previous track.

`Dog Man Star' represents a fascinating legacy from one of the best British bands of recent decades. Just when it seemed the world was theirs for the taking, the usual acrimonious split between the two talents in the band nearly derailed them. Though Suede recovered with a new guitarist and a decent album in `Coming Up', the record that almost destroyed them is decidedly more interesting in its breadth of ambition, which at times borders on pompousness but at others scales heights other bands can only dream about.

If I had only listened to my friend 5 years ago when he offered me a listen of some cd's that he had - one of a band called Suede - when I still couldn't get the 80's out of my head or cd player. I stumbled upon Suede's debut effort last year, also 5 stars as far as I'm concerned, then I listened to Dog Man Star, over and over - at work - over and over - at home, it sinks in and takes hold, very hard to shake. It's a tremendous album of music. Every song fits and flows, The Asphalt World, We Are The Pigs, The Wild Ones, Still Life... continuosuly creep into my mind no matter what I seem to be doing. That is music to me. I can only hope that the ever changing line-up of suede can continue to push their music in new directions. For it surely got me out of the 80's, now i'm just getting into the 90's.

Lastly, it's a shame that Suede isn't better known in the US - a loss that I'm glad not to be a part of. I wonder if Conway Twitty might be popular in the UK? Thanks for reading - now by the disc, then go find some headphones and listen to Dog Man Star uninterrupted.

Sometimes a record is overshadowed by the controversy that went into its production. Sadly, this was the case for many in Britain prior to the release of "Dog Man Star". When tensions arose in the band causing guitarist Bernard Butler to exit near the end of production, many had lost hope in the future of the band, as he had been an integral part to the songwriting.

For those that ignore the politics of the album's background, you will find one of the greatest and most challenging albums of the 90's. The first notable thing in the album is its extensive length and the complete revamping of the band's sound. This will become apparent to you as soon as bizarre eastern sounds of "Introducing the Band" almost put you in a trance.

To make things clear, the album is challenging in the sense that it is unlike anything you've heard from a mainstream rock band and it is not instantly accessible. The first single, "We are the Pigs" displays this, with its Orwellian imagery and its intense atmosphere.

For those worried about the guitar situation, don't, because Butler's guitar is still ALL over this, and his co-writing status remains intact. His blistering solo in "We are the Pigs" and his quasi-country riff in "The Wild Ones" are some of the best guitar work in the band's entire career.

Lyrically, Anderson is pushing dark romanticism to its extreme with songs like "The 2 of Us" and "Black or Blue", but never hides his glam fury, which is flashed proudly on "Heroine" and "This Hollywood Life". One thing that has always been his strength is to give his lyrics justice with his booming vocals.

For those looking for a quick hit, the song that sounds like something from the debut album would be "New Generation", which benefits heavily from Gilbert's crashing drums.

By the time "Still Life" hits you, you will have decided whether this is the best album you've heard in a long time or an unfocused and pretentious attempt at pop experimentation. The best thing to do is to give this album a fair chance, and not just complain that the album is "missing an Animal Nitrate".

Personally, I find this to be the highlight of the band's career and an honest attempt at making a beautiful set of songs in an era where care and emotion aren't so easily shown in a public so desperate for instant hits.

Minneapolis/St Paul, Mary Kate/Ashley, Lennon/McCartney - some things were just born to be together. I wonder if the heavens opened and a shining beam of light engulfed Bernard when he first walked into the Suede rehearsal room, clutching a copy of the ad. from the NME and shook hands with Brett? Probably not, but this album showcases what the two of them could only do together. While the eponymous debut album was good, compared to this masterpiece it sounds hasty, shallow and cheap. Dog Man Star is the lush and expansive sound of a band at the height of their powers. Majestic without being overbearing, Butler was equally at home creating wide-screen soundscapes and crunching riffs, while Anderson wailed and emoted his way around lyrics that focused in on a society in decline, where even our dreams are worthless, and the lowlife glamour of an underdog was all that one could wish for.
The Suede manifesto is fully explored here - sex, drugs, corruption, failure and a future without hope - Brett himself describes the album as about "Living in the gutter and staring at the stars".
The opening menace of "Introducing the Band" sets the tone with its heavy use of alliteration, consonance and assonance ("So as the sci-fi lullaby starts to build...). The next section takes a run at the singles chart, with fast, sexy, catchy numbers that hook into the brain from the first listen ("Well the church bells are calling; Police cars on fire.
And as they call you to the eye of the storm, all the people say "Stay at home tonight""). The final third collects the slow numbers, with a series of hymns to a corrupt and secular world, drawing the parallels between a joyless life in the suburbs and a dangerous one in the inner cities with no chance of redemption and no hope for anything better.
To me this is almost the perfect album (although I've never heard the extra track 13 on the US version), however it could so easily have been the perfect album - all they needed to do was ditch the pointless and dull "Daddy's Speeding" (Yes, yes, another drug reference, very good Brett...) and replace it with either the majestic lost single "Stay Together" that appeared between the 1 st and 2 nd albums, or the fabulous B-side "Killing of a Flash Boy". Then this truly would be the perfect album. I'm still gonna give it 5 stars though, and lament a little for the future. Bernard's solo career never really went anywhere as he slid into a cozy domesticity. Throughout the early 90's he was the raw and emotional "Hendrix" to John Squire (Stone Roses, Seahorses, equally interminable solo career)'s technically better but less emotional and therefore less effective "Clapton". This works fine when next to an androgynous and depraved rake, but really doesn't cut it when you're singing your own songs about the joys of raising children. Suede without Bernard though have been equally unimpressive, the decent "Coming Up" saw them nosedive into self-parody, and their forsaking of the drugs and partying of old make "Head Music" equally uninspiring. Thankfully now the band have decided to call it a day and [ignore] the ghost of their past greatness.
Dog Man Star though remains the legacy of two geniuses feeding off each other, and making the horrible world a better place for 56 minutes.

In my view 1994 was quite possibly the best year there has ever been for great albums. In that time we were given Pulp's "His & Hers," Morrissey's "Vauxhall & I," Portishead's "Dummy," Oasis's "Definitely Maybe"...but this masterpiece tops them all. I'll go even further and proclaim this to be the greatest album of the 1990s. Each and every track is quite simply stunning (yes, even "Black or Blue" which appears to be the most heavily criticised by the reviewers here yet also happens to be my absolute favourite.) This review may seem over-enthusiastic to anyone who hasn't yet heard the album, but once you have listened to it all the way through past the glorious, grand finale of "Still Life" (featuring a 40-piece orchestra!) you most probably will be feeling the same way as myself. Sadly, with the departure of guitarist Bernard Butler from the band soon after this was recorded, Suede have never since managed to produce another album of such magnificence, though their subsequent releases certainly all do have their moments.

Created under mounting pressure from both the British music press and their fans to produce a worthy follow up to the bands stunning debut; not to mention the in band conflicts which threatened the likely demise of the group (guitarist Bernard Butler soon left after it's release to persue an unremarkable solo career) Dog Man Star was by all accounts Suede's "difficult" second album. Fortunately the lads managed to pull it off- in spades- to put together a work of mesmerizing beauty. By employing the liberal use of lush richly layered brass and string arrangements and even a full orchestra for the albums grandiose closing track; the sound was huge. If this was to be the bands last record which many had speculated it would be
then this work would see the band going out via the biggest bang they could muster.

"Oh let the century die to violent hands" Anderson laments amidst a swirl of distortion on the opening Introducing The Band, laying down the pre apocalyptic feel of the album. Anderson displays nearly all of his romantic obsessions on Heroine. Teenage boys, unreciprocated love/lust, domestic decadence, dead filmstars and those old stalwarts sexualy and and chemically ambiguous lyrics. The songs title is a sly pun. He's "been dying for hours and hours" though for what or who exactly we can only imagine. The bittersweet Wild Ones is the albums anomalous track a stray ray of FM friendly light betwixt veraying degrees of darkness. Movie icons are revisted in the chilling Daddys Speeding where over a delicate piano line Brets seeemingly disembodied voice tells us of his imaginary
adventure with James Dean "sadness brings his face to mine, come with me now it's your time". The shadow of Diamond Dogs era Bowie has been looming quietly throughout the album; the tracks harbouring something of an Orwellian dysutopia about them as they do. The influence is mostly keenly displayed here on The Power. It's monosylabic closing chants echo Starman and on New Generation whos gigantic glam rock opening sound is enough to make the Thin White Duke turn green with envy. With a sound so British it appears odd some how that Bretts lyrics are inherently anti-homeland on this work e.g. "you may live in a world that's gone, it's the English disease" or more blatantly "I don't care for the U.K. tonight". Quite refreshing in the light of bands like Blur and the Manics who are always telling us what a depraved and corrupt place America is never having lived there.

The sad and beautific "The 2 Of Us" is a character potrait of a lonely housewife- sung in the first person- estranged from a husband who's "making permanent love to the nuclear age". The song ends on a bizarrely optimistic note. Again there's that ambiguity "Alone but not lonely, you and me" she reflects as though things will turn out alright. But wait this is diametricaly contradicted by her next line "Alone but loaded" hinting at a short-lived happiness with a reality of pain and addiction looming like a harbinger. This creates a type of calculated decadence that is rarely found in other bands and an effect which gives Suede so much of their credibility as an original and ground breaking group in their own right. An air of chemical lethargy underpins the nine minute The Asphalt World as we are taken on a guided tour of the metropolitian underworld a place of taboo pleasure and unexpected delights. Any question as to whether Bernard Butler is anything but a six stringed brit pop genius will be quickly rectified by a listen to his blinding guitar work in this song. His axe shrieks and wails with a slowly increaing intensity bringing us head on into the heart of the most decadent darkness. Any attempt at romantic restraint is
disposed of entirely in the albums breathtaking closing epic "Still Life". The lonely housewife figure is reprised here sitting "there by the window, quitely killed for you". Sung in deep baritone over a full orchestra the song threatens to verge over into overblown melodrama at any moment. Yet, somehow Andersons sheer gall and sincererity wins us over. An apt finishing statement for a listening experience heretofore unsurpassed in the realms of Brit-pop history. Though not as immediate or as accesible as its predecessor (the song snippets found here are woefuly inadequate) it is easily the pinnacle of Suedes career thus far. "Cos on you my tattoo will be bleeding and the name will stain" indeed.

I honestly feel that this is one of the most well written, performed, and produced albums in rock history. For first time listeners, I urge you to listen to it in its entirity the first time. Each song on the album melds together to create an overall feel. At times melodramatic, ecstatic and sexy. The album seems to slither and grind its way through 13 songs. Unfortunately with all of the pseudo-alternative albums of the early to mid-ninties, this one got lost in the shuffle. It fell to the wayside when it actually possesses more talent, emotions, and lyrical genius than all Nirvana, Oasis, and Hole albums put together. If you liked the smiths, bowie, bunnymen, even sisters of mercy, I think this one is for you.

I really have fallen in love with this album. It wasn't as immediate as the debut album, but man, Dog Man Star has truly won me over. From the menacing opener "Introducing The Band", to the crunch of "We Are The Pigs", and "This Hollywood Life", to the glorious sing-song "The Power", this is rock and roll the way it was meant to be. Passionate, edgy, yearning. Listening to Bernards guitar swirl around under Bretts vocals in "The Wild Ones", is truly brilliant. Its such a shame that Suede will never make a record like this again, but Im glad we have these 2 records as a testament to their greatness. (3 including Sci-Fi Lullabies)