Dog Man Star: История альбома Suede и распад группы

Dog Man Star is the second album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in October 1994 on Nude Records. The album was recorded in London at Master Rock studios in early 1994, and was produced by Ed Buller. 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. In contrast to their debut album Suede, which exhibited the influences of David Bowie and the Smiths, Out of step with the mainstream music scene, it featured the band diverting away from the "Britpop pack" of bands. While Dog Man Star was acclaimed by many reviewers as a masterpiece, In the decade between Suede's 2003 separation and the release of Bloodsports, Dog Man Star steadily gained a strong following as a classic rock record. In October 2013, NME magazine placed the album at number 31 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

In early 1994, when Suede were about to release the standalone single "Stay Together", the morale within the group was at an all time low. Butler's father had died just 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 Butler, "they got really resentful of the fact that they were on tour with someone who didn't want to party". He even travelled separately, either alone, by taxi, or on the tour bus of support act the Cranberries. Then, in Atlanta, Suede suffered the ignominy of having to open for the Cranberries, who had become a bigger draw, thanks to their recent hit "Linger". The band agreed to let the Cranberries go on last in three places, given that they were picking up airplay; Anderson said the "whole rivalry thing was blown out of all proportion." By the time of their arrival in New York, Suede had enough, and the last few dates were cancelled. 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; a time which is detailed in the band biography Love and Poison. The album was later described by writer Nick Duerden as "the most pompous, overblown British rock record 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."

The album was recorded between 22 March and 26 July 1994 at Master Rock Studios, Kilburn, London. 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. 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. 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." The arguments over "The Asphalt World" spilled over on to the rest of the album, as Butler became progressively more dissatisfied with Ed Buller's production. In a 2005 interview, the guitarist maintained his position on the matter, stating that Buller "made a terrible shoddy job of it". Butler wanted Buller dismissed, allowing him to produce the record by himself. It was later revealed that Butler had recommended Chris Thomas as their producer. Thomas was more experienced and had previously worked with punk rock bands The Pretenders and the Sex Pistols; however, Suede's label Nude Records dismissed the idea, saying he was too expensive. Nude's owner Saul Galpern claimed that the guitarist became impossible to reason with, and also made threats to him and Buller. Buller claims he received phone calls where he heard something akin to scratching knives. 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. He went back the next day to pick up his guitar, and was told through the intercom that his guitar would be left in the street for him (Buller disputes this, stating that the guitars were left at the studio reception desk for collection). Suede's manager Charlie Charlton made a final attempt to reach consensus between the two parties; however, during a tense phone conversation the final words Butler uttered to Anderson were along the lines of "you're a fucking cunt". Anderson offered to play acoustic guitar. Butler also later criticised the final orchestral arrangement for "Still Life". Osman and Buller share similar views on the final album. Buller described "Still Life" as being "over the top"; he said "New Generation" was in the wrong key, and that its drums and mix were "appalling".

Writing for The New York Times, Neil Strauss said: "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. With many noting "The Power" as the most obvious ode to Bowie. Butler drew inspiration from The Smiths' The Queen is Dead, Joy Division's Closer, Marc and the Mambas' Torment and Toreros and The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling". One critic opined: "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. Critics have noted the album's cinematic influence, with Simon Price writing that Anderson used the city as a "cinematic backdrop to the tragic heroism of his own life." Likewise, on the subject of Suede's familiar lyrical themes, the Radio Times wrote that "He [Anderson] would replace it with something deeper and timeless, drawing on old Hollywood and tragic, quotidian love stories." The uncharacteristic single chord opening song's style and lyrics baffled critics; some were unimpressed, while Stuart Maconie felt the song had a "cryptic, disclocated ambience that makes it an ideal opener". Both songs, according to Anderson, introduce the themes of isolation where the obsession is forming relationships with fantasy figures, as opposed to real people. "She Walks in Beauty like the night", the song's opening line, is the first line of a Byron poem. Anderson wrote the eulogy "Daddy's Speeding", about a dream involving taking drugs with the late American actor James Dean. "Black or Blue" is a song about racial intolerance and tells the story of a doomed interracial romance. Critics have likened the song to West Side Story. 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. It features Anderson's favourite lyrics on the album: the snow might fall and write the line on the silent page. A tap dancer was originally heard over the middle eight section. This was removed and replaced with a flute player. The title is intended as a proud summation of Suede's evolution. "It was meant to be a record about ambition; what could you make yourself into." An original cover design had been a still from Pasolini's Salò. Taken by American photographer Joanne Leonard in 1971, the front cover picture was originally titled "Sad Dreams on Cold Mornings" and the rear photo "Lost Dreams". Anderson says, "I just liked the image, really, of the bloke on the bed in the room. It's quite sort of sad and sexual, I think, like the songs on the album."