Now I'm A Cowboy - Auteurs (The)

...up a ticket. And now here I was, ensconced in a corner trying not to look too conspicuous (I hadn't made any friends yet), watching the support act with rapt interest as Suede fans milled about half interestedly. Suddenly having a bit of money for the first time in my life, I hadn't wasted any time in buying a few audio tapes. At this point, my best friend in town was my Aiwa tape-to-tape deck with it's Dolby noise reduction and inbuilt FM radio. ...
...I'm a Cowboy" but I now consider it amongst their best work. And so with that, it's time to revisit it.


THE AUTEURS

Formed in the early 1990s, the group comprised of leader Luke Haines (formerly guitarist in The Servents), cellist/keyboardist James Banbury, bassist Alice Readman and drummer Barney C. Rockford. The Auteurs were considered by British music publications to be part of the "New Wave of New ... more

THE NEW WAVE OF NEW WAVE

Bradford, September 1992. Having accidentally managed to gain a place on a course and fortuitously got funding for it too, I found myself in a place I didn't really want to be in, on a course I didn't particularly want to be on, but watching a band I was very keen on seeing. When I first arrived a couple of weeks earlier, I'd seen that there were tickets on sale to see Suede. Infinitely more interesting was the fact that The Auteurs were the support act. I snapped up a ticket. And now here I was, ensconced in a corner trying not to look too conspicuous (I hadn't made any friends yet), watching the support act with rapt interest as Suede fans milled about half interestedly. Suddenly having a bit of money for the first time in my life, I hadn't wasted any time in buying a few audio tapes. At this point, my best friend in town was my Aiwa tape-to-tape deck with it's Dolby noise reduction and inbuilt FM radio. In my mouse infested student room above a post office on Great Horton Road, I would pore away the evenings reading lecture notes that I never understood (my project supervisor once noted that I was "very good at explaining why I hadn't actually done anything" - a tactic used to great effect in my career ever since), avidly listening to Steve Lamaq and Jo Wiley on the Radio 1 Evening Session every weeknight, to pick up any nugget of information on the Indie scene (man). The Auteurs soon to be released first album "New Wave" was on my "to buy not rip off" list, thanks to their catchy yet obtuse tracks, and I was impressed with the live renditions I was hearing of the later to be released album. A couple of years later, I was initially disappointed with the follow up "Now I'm a Cowboy" but I now consider it amongst their best work. And so with that, it's time to revisit it.

THE AUTEURS

Formed in the early 1990s, the group comprised of leader Luke Haines (formerly guitarist in The Servents), cellist/keyboardist James Banbury, bassist Alice Readman and drummer Barney C. Rockford. The Auteurs were considered by British music publications to be part of the "New Wave of New Wave" movement of new groups, along with the likes of Elastica. Shed Seven and Echobelly - young, Indie guitar rock bands, who can now be considered as nascent Britpop bands along with The Verve, Blur and Oasis.

They found a home on the ostensibly Indie label Hut (who in fact were an offshoot from Virgin records; The Verve and Smashing Pumpkins were also at the time on Hut). Their debut album was self-consciously titled "New Wave" as a result of this, but in reality leader Luke Haines should never have felt the need to attach himself to anything; he was a brilliantly unique talent. Haines writing covered the off-beat and later on, the macabre (later song titles including "Unsolved Child Murder" and "Light Aircraft On Fire"), with the song narrative always being moved along with his clever wordplay and musical arrangements, in a quintessentially English style. He has been compared to Ray Davies of The Kinks in that respect. Perhaps too clever by half, eccentric in his subject matter, and intellectual (name checking obscure poets in his lyrics), Haines never really broke into the mainstream, Now I'm a Cowboy being the nearest they ever got.

NOW I'M A COWBOY TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW

LENNY VALENTINO - A rare rocker of a track from the band, and possibly their biggest hit and best known track. The introduction slams in with guitar and the songs rocks along to the lyric ostensibly about Rudolph Valentino's funeral (but also about Lenny Bruce - hence the title) and the first example of Haine's skill with unusual subject matter, weaving unusual lyrics into the fabric of his songs:

There were mourners on the street
of every shape and size
The motorcade came down from Redondo

BRAINCHILD - more laid back and more back to form, a gentle percussive track with the occasional whining guitar and the catchy lyric "you're a thief with style".

I'M A RICH MAN'S TOY - a gentle introduction, with a riffing guitar, brought gradually to a crescendo of riffing guitar and hard drumming with the lament of self-disgust from Haines "what's the matter with me?" and the memorably witty, wry lyric earlier:

Your boyfriend moved all my things in the hall
- Didn't know you were sleeping with him

I love this track for it's slow build up and classical arrangement in the background.

NEW FRENCH GIRLFRIEND - starts off with what sounds like a violin and is joined by chiming guitar, moving into quite rocky territory and even has a electric guitar solo somewhere in the middle! I find this a quite soothing track, strangely enough, with it's thumping bass, as Haines add a bit of "aaahhh"ing, quite the fashion at the time.

THE UPPER CLASSES - for me it's always seemed strange that Haines appears to have some sort of obsession with the British class system; with clipped pronunciation apparently evident in his singing (he was born in Walton-on-Thames and spent his later teenage years in Portsmouth), and a foppish appearance, you'd have thought he'd want to ignore it if anything, but he clearly has a strong social conscience, and again he lays into privileged lifestyles and soon to be inherited trust fund wealth, against a backdrop of warm bass and a chiming guitar riff, sneering:

I'm in cahoots with the upper classes now
That c**t's really got it sussed
Selling wine, selling drugs
You can get so far with a perishing wit
But the money's in trust - isn't it?

CHINESE BAKERY - Quite a rocky track, more heavy electric guitars, but a bit of oboe mixed in there too, makes this a pleasantly fast-paced track. I have no idea what this is about.

A SISTER LIKE YOU - ballad like, beautiful and haunting, this track brings together everything that is great about The Auteurs sound; electric guitars and classical instrumentation complementing eachother perfectly, with haunting strings underpinning the song with soft drumming.

UNDERGROUND MOVIES - possibly my favourite track, with a beautifully strummed acoustic guitar, thumping bass and urgent cello, complimented by the par for the course unusual and clever lyric, about an actress. Looking at the lyric, you marvel at how he fits this into a song and somehow makes it sound right:

She's got a credo in underground movies
Her father is a lawyer
Who paid for the fittings and fixtures
And a house with bay windows

LIFE CLASSES / LIFE MODEL - a song about an art class live model, this is another gentle rocker with guitar and cello and that pleasingly thumpy bass.

MODERN HISTORY - a slow track, thump goes the bass again set off with a chiming guitar and the soft lyric.

DAUGHTER OF A CHILD - a very acoustic vibe to this more upbeat track, with that gently thumping bass again, acoustic guitar and soft percussion, a sweeping violing weaving in and out very occasionally.

TRACK LISTING

1. "Lenny Valentino" - 2:20
2. "Brainchild" - 3:43
3. "I'm a Rich Man's Toy" - 2:54
4. "New French Girlfriend" - 4:15
5. "The Upper Classes" - 6:45
6. "Chinese Bakery" - 3:05
7. "A Sister Like You" - 2:48
8. "Underground Movies" - 3:32
9. "Life Classes/Life Model" - 4:02
10. "Modern History" - 5:36
11. "Daughter of a Child" - 2:36

LEGACY

Luke Haines continues to record solo, and also had a project called Baader Meinhof. Another side project, Black Box Recorder, has enjoyed some success. The Auteurs are occasionally reformed although I'm not aware of any recent activity.

CONCLUSION

The Auteurs are another of my so called "lost groups", with a hardcore underground following and a lack of wider recognition. Their sound is surprisingly poppy and accessible, with hints of a classical influence in their use of instruments. This album is my favourite of theirs because the subject matter hasn't yet moved on to the controversial or macabre, and the music retains it's light touch. It got much darker in the follow up album After Murder Park, not surprising perhaps given the fact that Haines had broken both of his ankles in an accident, and spent much of the time writing the 3rd album in a wheelchair. Now I'm a Cowboy is a more mature, thoughtful work than their debut and is a delight to those of those prepared to give the undemonstrative songwriting genius that is Luke Haines a chance. And I quite enjoyed Bradford in the end! 

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