The production on the early Suede albums

I rate Bloodsports up there with the first three Suede albums, but my god is the mastering horrible.

I've grown to appreciate the production as this particularly British shitty sound aesthetic, sort of like American lo-fi, but higher-fi, yet still so weird and thin and shitty. Like they just don't know how to record the bottom end or distorted guitars right, or are trying to use hi-fi equipment to recall the less hi-fi "Ziggy Stardust" sound.

yeah i'm baffled by the raves too it's a terrible record IMO, no better than Head Music. post-Butler they had maybe 2 great songs (Picnic.. and Chemistry.. off Coming Up) and beyond that they could be any half-decent Uk guitar band.

somehow, I think the first taste of the post BB line up is "the power". even at the time of the release, when I didn't know that butler didn't play on it, I found it a bit dull and liveless although it's nice and poppy (it's the only song that I never feel like listening to on DMS). so the problem of post butler suede is not just about the songwriting, since it was a butler/anderson song. there's a raw and passionate aspect in the performance that got lost with butler's departure.
when you listen to the guitar parts on "the power", it's almost a joke. some (very un-butler) acoustic strumming and very basic electric licks. there's almost nothing. they filled up the song with strings but it still sounds very empty.

the end of "the power" is scary, what is that huge whining sound that envelopes everything?

While I'll agree that 'The Power' sounds out of place on Dog Man Star, not only because Butler isn't playing on it, but also since there's a noticeable difference in production from the rest of the album which makes it come out sounding lighter, I completely disagree that Suede stopped being good when Butler left. What fucked Suede up was Brett's drug intake, not Butler leaving.

who played the parts on "The Power" -- was it Anderson uncredited or Oakes?

It definitely wasn't Oakes. I think he only became a member of Suede about month or so before Dog Man Star was released, and it would have been finished and "in the can" by then. I think the first recording Oakes played on was 'This World Needs A Father', B-side to The Wild Ones, which has both Oakes and Butler on guitar... and then of course, his first songwriting contribution was 'Together', B-side to New Generation.

From this piece:

"There was one song he didn't play on at all, The Power," Paphides explains. "They got this session guitarist in who was one of the very best you could get. He played what was on Bernard's demo, note for note. But it didn't sound right."

The demo of The Power was called Banana Youth. The session guy obviously followed some of the guitar parts note for note, but BY doesn't sound anything like a finished song. Brett's just trying stuff out, high in the mix and full of reverb, on top of a very very rough guitar track. If Bernard had still been about, this would have ended up very different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBXqIbGLe0Q

I like The Power btw. At the time, it seemed like one of the weaker tracks, but now it's cool. I remember them talking it up in an interview at the time (in Select I think), saying how its lighter sound reflected their relief from the tension of BB being around.

The Power = Shed 7 on an off day.

I rate Bloodsports up there with the first three Suede albums, but my god is the mastering horrible.

― Welcome To (Turrican)

Completely agree with this.

The Power is a really good song but compared to some of the B-sides they had around then it seems like a strange choice to have on the album. I'm not sure what would have been the best replacement. Killing of a Flashboy is my favourite but not sure that would work in its place.

Whipsnade would've worked instead of The Power. Similar lyrical themes and kind of light touch compared to surrounding songs. But I like The Power. Would rather have got rid of Black or Blue.

The Power = Shed 7 on an off day.

This is really crazy talk though. Just about the only Suede song I can think of that is Shed 7 level is One Love:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbxopjx02DE

I finally got to listen to the BBC program "follow up albums" for DMS.
It's very interesting and quite heartbreaking the part with BB and BA admitting they were stupid and are still wounded and full of regrets to this day.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01j6srs

Also BA saying he should have changed the name of the band when BB left... so that they could have reunited later.

Meh, I think Suede did very well without Bernard. People are attracted to the Butler-era though, because that line-up didn't stick around long enough to make some out and out crap, which they probably would have done at some point had they continued. Post-Butler Suede made Coming Up and Bloodsports, so both line-ups have made two very good records, IMO. Not to mention B-sides such as 'Together', 'Europe Is Our Playground' amongst others.

Suede did lots of great stuff after Butler left, it's true, but it was within a quite specific 90s/00s alt-rock/indie template. They turned into a superior version of Placebo/Mansun, I reckon, which was fine but frustrating, because Dog Man Star suggested they were heading towards something more. Dog Man Star isn't indie at all - it's kind of pure classic/experimental rock, Bowie/Neil Young/Pink Floyd, not that original really - but even if they'd never have transcended the obvious influences I would've liked to have heard their equivalents of Station to Station or Low. On the other hand, there's nothing that Bernard's done since - in his solo stuff, with McAlmont, The Tears, or producing Libertines/Duffy etc - that comes anywhere close to the wildness of Dog Man Star. Maybe that record finished this part of him off? But there's this rock'n'roll fantasy of band members who hate each other making madder and madder music, and that's the thing that inspires regret.

well, I don't think it's possible to imagine what they would have done after DMS had they stayed together. and "coming up" and the mcalmont & butler stuff are certainly no indications since they would have evolved differently if they had kept working together, I suppose.
the BBC documentary is interesting when BB says 1/ he's never been as creative as during DMS ever since 2/ he's been traumatized for years and until now by having been left behind and not being able to finish his "baby".
I guess something was broken in him (and BA) at that key moment.