|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
___
___ BEAT
MUSIC______
THE AUTEURS - HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THE BOOTBOYS
Least expected and most welcome return of the year has to be that of Luke Haines and his band, The Auteurs, who have just released their fourth album How I Learned To Love The Bootboys.
Formed in London in 1992, the future looked bright for The Auteurs when their debut album New Wave was nominated for the 1994 Mercury Music Prize. However, instant fame and riches were snatched away as they lost out by just one vote to Suede.
Instead of feeling sorry for themselves a second album Now I'm A Cowboy was immediately released. This built on New Wave's fusion of understated melodies and well observed lyrics, with a more polished production.
Two singles from the album, the manic-guitar-thrill of Lenny Valentino, and the more subdued, Chinese Bakery, reached the lower-end of the British Top 40. The album itself peaked at number 27.
After a frustrating touring schedule, the band set about recording their third album. In what seemed an unlikely and ill-judged collaboration, cult American producer Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana) was brought on-board to oversee proceedings.
Fears that
this most English of bands more delicate moments would be lost in an Albini
inspired noise-fest proved unfounded when the resultant After Murder Park was
released early in 1996. Their best work yet, it was instantly hailed a classic
by smarter critics.
Indeed, Albini's hard-core reputation seemed to have more of an effect on Haines'
lyrics, which showed a pre-occupation with violent death, than on the music,
which retained the hallmark Auteurs' sound - albeit a more low-down, dirty one.
Success, however,
still proved elusive. After a radio-friendly re-recording of Light Aircraft
On Fire failed to bother the charts, the band disappeared. When Haines re-surfaced
as guitarist/songwriter with Black Box Recorder, The Auteurs looked dead and
buried.
Until now that is! Obviously, still with a point to prove, The Auteurs have
returned with a new collection of finely crafted songs. Fans will be glad to
hear that Haines has lost none of his bite, as he takes the listener on a lyrical
journey through the last four decades of pop culture. Along the way he lays
waste to the myth of the swinging Sixties and the sexy Seventies.
After years
of frustration, it would've been understandable had the band taken the easy
route and altered their sound in a bid to find a wider audience. But their integrity
remains intact and no concessions are offered. This is certainly not one last
stab at chart success.
In fact, How I Learned to Love The Bootboys is possibly the least commercial
Auteurs album. Haines' detached vocal style lends an almost harrowing feel to
some tracks. Although songs such as Some Changes and The Rubettes would be massive
hits in a perfect world.
Haines' annoyance at his lack of success is expressed on the album's closing track Future Generation, where he predicts "the future generation will get it from the start: the future generation will catch my falling star"
Do yourself
a favour and check out The Auteurs, now! while they're still around.
How I Learned to Love The Bootboys is out now on Hut/Virgin Records
John Prendergast ©1999