Not entirely bad... but leaves much to be desired
The Auteurs, vehicle for singer/songwriter/guitarist Luke Haine's curmudgeonly poetic vision, received quite a bit of praise over the past decade. And rightfully so, emerging as they did in an era overrun by moronic grunge and insipid Brit-pop, since Haines focused on the one thing many bands in the early to mid 90s completely overlooked: subtlety. And for that, they stuck out. Not quite like a sore thumb, but enough to warrant some attention. "New Wave" isn't quite that, but it does strive for a certain subtlety, maturity, and erudite sophistication with its attention to detail, i.e. - evocative and moody melodies, semi-baroque arrangements, intelligent, acid-tongued, college-prat lyrics, etc... When the album works, with some of the prettier songs like "Junk Shop Clothes", "Bailed Out", "Starstruck", "Show Girl", and "Housebreaker", you've got a sound that approaches an attractive combination of early 70s Bowie, the Go-Betweens, and the Beatles (yet witout ever equaling the brilliance of said artists). When the album doesn't work, as with "Valet Parking", "Early Years", and pretty much the rest of the album, you've got uninspired dross that could've been created by any run-of-the-mill indie-pop band, i.e. - aimless riffing, pleasant but very trite chord progressions, overt preciousness, glaring holes where melodies should have been, a pointless need to rock out just because it's '93 and grunge is everywhere, etc. So, it's a mixed bag. But if you're into the brand of subtlety and sophistication that only bands like the ever so brilliant Go-Betweens know how to pull off, you *might* like about half the tunes on this album.
Fantastic Sinister Pop Album
What Luke Haines and the Auteurs acomplished here was an erudite, melodic, largely acoustic set of songs that perfectly capsulated the early brit pop scene in a way to which only the Auteurs could. This album is fairly perfect and is a wonderful treasure of simple, yet wonderful songs.
Anything with Lenny Bruce on the cover can't be bad
Great pop record, not quite as refined as later Auteurs releases, but a good record nevertheless.
Highly recommended if you already own the other two full length CDs.
