Review:

on 2011-02-20 CharlesMartel Said:

Originally given a pre-released on Valentine's Day 1993, "New Wave" was the debut album by the Auteurs. On the same day the debut album by Radiohead, "Pablo Honey" was also given a pre-release. There should be no comparison but while one band has gone on to achieve worldwide acclaim and blind devotions from legions of hipster fanboys, the other band stumbled on for a few years and then folded. But if there was any justice in the world, the fate of the two bands should have been reversed for there can be little doubt that, looking objectively at it, "New Wave" is the superior album.

Despite its title, there is nothing new wave about this album. However, it was something different when it came out, at as time when British indie music was morphing from the introspection of the shoegazers into the brash attitude of the Britpoppers. Luke Haines, the driving force behind the Auteurs had a style of songwriting which was as idiosyncratic as the subjects he chose to write about. The result was a kind of synthesis of some of the greatest names of British songwriting - Ray Davies, David Bowie, Morrisey - where the world was riven by those peculiarly British concepts of class, rampant self-pity and a sort of resigned ennui.

Several of the tracks bear with them an obsession with modern day ideas of stardom for all that it is sometimes hard to accept that this release came out in the nineties, before reality TV, the X-Factor and the various hideous examples of public humiliation of starstruck nobodies became TV fodder. On "Starstruck" Haines adsopts the character of someone who has been born into a life of showbusiness without ever having anything meaningful to show from it. On a different note, "Show Girl", the opening track and first single off the album, sees Haines' character marrying into low grade entertainment as a way out of mediocrity and finding himself saddled with a life of mediocrity and the mundane.

Of course, Haines did not restrict himself to a purely British theme, although in many ways his lyrics are reminiscent of the uniquely British concerns of Ray Davies during the Kinks late sixties enforced exile from the States. "American Guitars", probably the best track on the album in my view, is a poke at the grunge scene then dominating the US music scene and the fascination with it which was beginning to develop among some on the UK. Just in case you wondered, "Junk Shop Clothes" pokes fun at the lack of sartorial elegance of the devotees of the same. Meanwhile, on "Idiot Brother" Haines sings of those who are deluding themselves that things are better than they are, in another reference back to the perils and futility of seeking fame.

Each track on the album has a story to tell, and takes a unique perspective on that story instead of presenting the listener with what may be regarded as the stereotypical viewpoint. And in the process, Haines manages to come up with some wonderful observations, such as the opening line from Housebreaker -

"When I first met you
You were not housetrained"

While the lyrics and the songs have a coherence about them, I have to confess that the musical accompaniment is not on a par. With a few exceptions, it generally sounds too weak despite the fact that was a deliberate attempt to move away from purely guitar driven music. The use of what may be termed unconventional instruments for rock (do I hear a glockenspiel in there? Yes I believe I do) doesn't really work and comes across as being a little bit 'for the sake of it'. Still, as a debut, this was one good album. It is a pity that the pompous gits from Oxford did not take a few lessons from this and deal more with real life than the ridiculous parody of art-rock them have become.
Rating: 7/10