Auteurs [1999] How I Learned To Love The Bootboys

[01] The Rubettes
[02] 1967
[03] How I Learned To Love The Bootboys
[04] Your Gang, Our Gang
[05] Some Changes
[06] School
[07] Johnny And The Hurricanes
[08] The South Will Rise Again
[09] Asti Spumante
[10] Sick Of Hare Krishna
[11] Lights Out
[12] Future Generation



amg: The most refined of England's bands manages to refine itself even further on their fourth disc. How I Learned to Love the Bootboys is Luke Haines' most immediate sounding release to date, and even though his claim that each of the record's 12 tracks are singles sounds a bit highfalutin, he's not far off. While each of the Auteurs' three prior LPs are equally arresting, there are points at which the mind tends to wander, but not here. Haines' familiar themes of Englishness, youth, and hooliganism remain, playing like another short movie. The cohesiveness of the record is no small feat, given the wide-ranging sounds and moods. Opening bedroom tale "The Rubettes" features a delicate, Brill Building lullaby chorus while a repetitive staccato riff offplays the fragility. The title track's quiet chaos has Haines' whispered vocals buttressed by sirens, percolating electro bleeps, and a graceful dub bassline. "Your Gang Our Gang" relocates the fight scenes of Grease and West Side Story to the streets of London with equal doses of menace and tongue-in-cheek. Tough and joyful at the same time. Haines and Pete Hofmann attain the band's best production yet. Haines' guitar has never sounded so fittingly sharp while avoiding abrasiveness. Even guitar guru Steve Albini couldn't coax such an ideal sound from his guitar. Haines' supporting cast punches in with some excellent work, providing all the necessary support for an excellent record. Surely the few who have stuck around since New Wave are being spoiled rotten by the Auteurs' remarkable consistency.
(amg 9/10)

Auteurs [1996] After Murder Park

[01] Light Aircraft On Fire
[02] Child Brides
[03] Land Lovers
[04] New Brat In Town
[05] Everything You Say Will Destroy You
[06] Unsolved Child Murder
[07] Married To A Lazy Lover
[08] Buddha
[09] Tombstone
[10] Fear Of Flying
[11] Dead Sea Navigators
[12] After Murder Park



amg: The pairing of two curmudgeons like Luke Haines and Steve Albini in a studio seems like a marriage made in heaven to some, and the very thought triggers an instant headache to others. The Auteurs are unlike the typical downtrodden U.S. indie bands Albini works with, but they nonetheless walked out of Abbey Road Studios with their nastiest-sounding record. That's probably what Haines wanted, and that's what he got. Grittier guitars and sharper drums don't get in the way of the more intricate arrangements that involve strings and a dash of horn every now and then. First single "Light Aircraft on Fire" is probably the most feisty Haines song yet, kicking down the doors with the opening line, "When you cut your lover's slack, you'll get a f*cking monster back." Haines' guitar lines sparkle during the chorus but dig like claws during the verses. Ace utility man James Banbury, in his usual Auteurs role as secret weapon, contributes threatening organ swells during the seething "New Brat in Town." After Murder Park serves the usual combo platter of growlers and barbed lullabies, but Haines definitely sounds more embittered than usual, quite possibly the result of watching too many of Albini's wildlife videos. He paints plenty of "sucks to be you" scenarios with sneering flair, exposing the corrupted side of humanity just as well as his engineer when he's on the other side of the glass. Not many fates could be worse than having Haines write a song with you as the subject, but listening to him air his insightful dirty laundry is an entirely unique experience. Pretentious and snotty as Haines might be, he's one of the sharpest tools in the shed.
(amg 8/10)

Auteurs [1994] Now I'm Your Cowboy

[01] Lenny Valentino
[02] Brainchild
[03] I'm A Rich Man's Toy
[04] New French Girlfriend
[05] The Upper Classes
[06] Chinese Bakery
[07] A Sister Like You
[08] Underground Movies
[09] Life Classes - Life Model
[10] Modern History
[11] Daughter Of A Child



amg: "Brainchild" may have informed the title of the Auteurs' sophomore album, Now I'm a Cowboy, but it was the sneering, in-with-the-hip-crowd antics of the opening "Lenny Valentino" which flew in the face of the light retro-pop the band wielded just a year earlier. Rougher, sexier, more slipshod than before, this song had a lot to say, and the band was right behind it. But that's not to imply that the band didn't carry itself with equal aplomb across the rest of the set. The Auteurs blazed through a mixed mutant bag of smoothies and deadlies, where every title read like a trip around the world. Meanwhile, pre-empting all that Pulp would later perfect, Luke Haines' feral lyricism touched on the struggle of upper and lower classes and the horror that falls when they collide. "New French Girlfriend" hashed Haines' vocals to bits with a yummy guitar, while "Chinese Bakery" is an off-kilter rock rampage across streets that slice uptown and downtown, leaving "The Upper Classes" to fill the breach. Elsewhere, both "Life Classes/Life Model" and the sordid claustrophobia of "Underground Movies" emerge as biting commentary. Now I'm a Cowboy served the Auteurs well, becoming an edgily delicious bridge between their immediate past and their enduring future. Dig a little deeper and add a pinch of hindsight, however, and it's also easy to discern the treasure trove of embryonic nuggets that would surface in Haines' Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder solo projects.
(amg 8/10)

Auteurs [1993] New Wave

[01] Show Girl
[02] Bailed Out
[03] American Guitars
[04] Junk Shop Clothes
[05] Don't Trust The Stars
[06] Starstruck
[07] How Could I Be Wrong
[08] Housebreaker
[09] Valet Parking
[10] Idiot Brother
[11] Early Years
[12] Home Again



amg: With their 1993 debut album, New Wave, the Auteurs established themselves as one of England's best guitar bands of the early '90s. Driven by the bittersweet, ironic songwriting of Luke Haines, the band's carefully crafted, three-minute pop songs are in the vein of the Kinks, the Smiths and the Beatles, particularly the songs of George Harrison. Yet the band never sounds like imitators — they combine their influences into a signature sound, distinguished by Haines' sharp lyrics and sighing melodies.
(amg 9/10)