Was this to be Suede's swangsong? With the exit of guitarist Bernard Butler before the end of recording that certainly seemed to be a prescient question at the time.
It wasn't, of course, and in retrospect this album marks the unequivocal end of one period of Suede's history - not only did they lose a member of the band but their sound would never be the same again.
Everything about 'Dog Man Star' feels like a band desperate to escape the confines of their peers. Whereas their debut album reached the stratosphere almost effortlessly at times, this album feels like much more of a struggle. The rewards are worth it though.
From the grandoise opening of 'Introducing The Band', this is a BIG record. An album that doesn't always deliver what it promises but stretches to breaking point, as did indeed the band, trying to reach its goals.
The single 'We Are The Pigs' is almost a bridge between the hook-friendly glam-pop of old and the new, epic Suede.
It's the ballads that provide the most powerful moments - the windswept 'Wild Ones', the inner-city doldrum of 'Asphalt World' and the broken-hearted 'Two Of Us'.
A towering achievement but the endeavour it took to reach those heights almost cost the band their future and made them regroup and retreat back into the glam rock songbook. Their loss, and ours.
by Simon P Ward