release date: Oct. 10, 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Ed Buller
label: Nude Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 2. "We Are the Pigs" (4 / 5) - 3. "Heroine" - 4. "The Wild Ones" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "The Power" (4,5 / 5) - 9. "The 2 of Us" - 11. "The Asphalt World" (4 / 5) - 12. "Still Life" (4 / 5)
2nd studio album by Suede introduces a new sound, although, it's made with the same producer. It has a more subtle, less glam rock production, and it's more orchestrated with horns and strings, making it more of a chamber pop release than its predecessor (e.g. "Still Life" exits with strings and horns playing Ravel's "Bolero"). With this, it appears that the band wanted to distance itself from the britpop hype and the album wasn't launched with the same pop hit videos, which may or may not be the reason to its fine reception among music critics.
I find Dog Man Star an even better release than their praised debut, and it's a highly acclaimed follow-up to a fine and original debut. It has a conceptual feel but failed to sell as rapidly as the debut. To me, this is their best studio release, and it's by many considered their masterpiece, but it also marks the end of the original line-up as the band's main musical composer and guitarist, Bernard Butler (who had already been labelled the best guitarist of a generation) left the band after the release due to disagreements on the band's musical direction. Like the debut this is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, NME 4,5 /5, Q Magazine 5 / 5 stars ]
