Suede – Dog Man Star: 20th Anniversary (2014)

Suede – Dog Man Star: 20th Anniversary (2014)
Label (Catalog#): Records | Demon Music Group
Country: UK
Genre: Rock, Alternative, Indie Rock, Britpop, Neo-Glam
Quality: DTS-HD MA 2.0 96 kHz 2871 kbps 24 bit (DTS Core 2.0 48 kHz 1509 kbps 24 bit)
Time: 01:45:57
Full Size: 2,12Gb

Suede will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their incredible second album ‘Dog Man Star’, with a special limited edition box set. Purchasers from this store will receive the very limited (500 worldwide) alternative sleeve version, plus ‘Stay Together’ on 12″ vinyl. ‘Dog Man Star’ has consistently been voted one of the seminal albums of the 90s. It produced the singles ‘The Wild Ones’, ‘We Are the Pigs’ and ‘New Generation’, as well as the critic and fan favourite epic ‘The Asphalt World’.

Instead of following through on the Bowie-esque glam stomps of their debut, Suede concentrated on their darker, more melodramatic tendencies on their ambitious second album, Dog Man Star. By all accounts, the recording of Dog Man Star was plagued with difficulties — Brett Anderson wrote the lyrics in a druggy haze while sequestered in a secluded Victorian mansion, while Bernard Butler left before the album was completed — which makes its singular vision all the more remarkable. Lacking any rocker on the level of "The Drowners" or "Metal Mickey" — only the crunching "This Hollywood Life" comes close — Dog Man Star is a self-indulgent and pretentious album of dark, string-drenched epics. But Suede are one of the few bands who wear pretensions well, and after a few listens, the album becomes thoroughly compelling. Nearly every song on the record is hazy, feverish, and heartbroken, and even the rockers have an insular, paranoid tenor that heightens the album’s melancholy. The whole record would have collapsed underneath its own intentions if Butler’s compositional skills weren’t so subtly nuanced and if Anderson’s grandiose poetry wasn’t so strangely affecting. As it stands, Dog Man Star is a strangely seductive record, filled with remarkable musical peaks, from the Bowie-esque stomp of "New Generation" to the stately ballads "The Wild Ones" and "Still Life," which are both reminiscent of Scott Walker. And while Suede may choose to wear their influences on their sleeve, they synthesize them in a totally original way, making Dog Man Star a singularly tragic and romantic album. –AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Setlist:
1 Intrducing The Band
2 We Are The Pigs
3 Heroine
4 The Wild Ones
5 Daddy’s Speeding
6 The Power
7 New Generation
8 This Hollywood Life
9 The 2 Of Us
10 Black Or Blue
11 The Asphalt World
12 Still Life
13 My Dark Star
14 The Living Dead
15 Stay Together [Full Length Version]
16 Klling Of A Flash Boy
17 Whipsnade
18 This World Needs A Father
19 Modern Boys
20 Eno’s Introducing The Band

Brett Anderson – vocals
Bernard Butler – guitar & keyboards
Simon Gilbert – drums
Mat Osman – bass guitar

Additional:

Phil Overhead – Percussion
Simon Clarke – Trumpet
Roddy Lorimer – Saxophone & Flute
Richard Edwards – Trombone
Andrew Cronshaw – Cimbalon and Ba-Wu Flute
Tessa Niles – Additional Vocals
Children from The Tricycle Theatre Workshop – Additional Vocals
Orchestra – Sinfonia of London (Arranged & Conducted by Brian Gascoine)