If you were to believe the liner notes, Paul Morley would have us accept that Luke Haines comes somewhere between Colin Wilson, Peter Cook, Joe Orton, a bottle of Worcester Sauce and a good old Sunday roast, and though there’s no doubting the contribution the Auteurs made to the circulation of Britpop in the early nineties, it would be a mistake to suddenly render Haine’s peculiar and idiosyncratic talent in the likeness of ANY kind of movement. Believe this kind of nonsense, and you’re just as likely to believe that Noel Gallagher’s thrift-store Beatlisms singularly ignited post-structuralist and deconstructionalist movements. But the message is clear; if you have an unabating fondness for Blur’s ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’, Pulp’s ‘His n’ Hers’ and Suede’s debut release then you’re just as likely to fall down and salivate at the prodigious lyrical thrust and glamtidings of The Auteur’s 1993 Mercury nominated ‘New Wave’ release, crafted as it is from the same insurgent regionalism and the same cheeky preoccupation suburban sleaze, down to the same sardonic nasally twang and the looming sense of violence. This landmark album is represented here by Rough Trade versions of the singles ‘Housebreaker’, ‘Valet Parking’ a live version of ‘Starstruck’ and ‘Home Away’ originally given away as free 7inch singles, plus album versions of ‘American Guitars’, ‘Showgirl’. There’s also a cracking range of B-Sides, unreleased tracks and rarities from this period too.
This is, however, a three-CD collection, covering the subsequent Auteur’s release ‘Now I’m A Cowboy’ (1994), a veritable labyrinthe of unreleased Auteurs material in addition to the copious outpourings of his extraordinary mid-90’s alter ego, Baader Meinhof. As the ubiquitous Morley points out in the sleeve notes, there’s some material missing from his work, with The Servants, Black Box Recorder and the Auteurs vs. U-ziq remix but considering there’s a staggering 63-tracks worth of b-sides, out-takes, session versions, remixes and age-resistant super singles like ‘Lenny Valentino’ to support it, it would cantankerous indeed to hold it against him.