How I Learned to Love the Bootboys

Last updated

How I Learned to Love the Bootboys
AuteursBootboys.jpg
Studio album by
Released5 July 1999
RecordedJanuary – April 1998
Studio RAK, London
Genre Glam rock
Length35:15
Label Hut, Virgin
Producer
The Auteurs chronology
After Murder Park
(1996)
How I Learned to Love the Bootboys
(1999)
Singles from How I Learned to Love the Bootboys
  1. "The Rubettes"
    Released: 31 May 1999
  2. "Some Changes"
    Released: 18 October 1999

How I Learned to Love the Bootboys is the fourth and final album by British rock band the Auteurs. It was released on 5 July 1999 through Hut and Virgin Records. Following their third studio album After Murder Park (1996), Haines started the Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder projects. He regrouped with the Auteurs to start work on a concept album under the name ESP Kids, though sessions halted as Black Box Recorder worked on their debut album England Made Me (1998). The Auteurs re-started recording their next album in January 1998 at RAK Studios in London; Hut and Virgin were not happy with the lack of single-sounding songs. After writing "The Rubettes", the band finished recording in April 1998. How I Learned to Love the Bootboys is a glam rock album that takes atmospheric influence from England Made Me.

Contents

How I Learned to Love the Bootboys received generally favourable reviews from critics, some of whom praised the quality of the songs, while others commented on the nostalgia aspect. Ahead of the album's release, "The Rubettes" appeared as its lead single in May 1999, which was followed by performances in France and a tour of the United Kingdom in October 1999. That same month, "Some Changes" was released as the second single from the album. The Auteurs broke up shortly afterwards. Some outtakes from the ESP Kids sessions appeared on the compilation Luke Haines Is Dead (2006); How I Learned to Love the Bootboys was reissued in 2014 with B-sides, outtakes and a live show. NME and Select included it on their lists of the best albums of the year.

Background and recording

The Auteurs released their third studio album After Murder Park in March 1996. [1] Despite it being well-received critically, it underperformed commercially. Frontman Luke Haines released an album under the name Baader Meinhof later in the year, which he said was met with "duncery and confusion". He debated breaking up the Auteurs as he was confident that their label Virgin Records was going to drop them from the roster. As Haines struggled for a new direction, he opted to play with his friend Ian Bickerton in the folk act Balloon, where he met John Moore and Sarah Nixey. Haines, Moore and Nixey formed the Black Box Recorder project; to Haines' surprise, Virgin and Hut Records greenlit another Auteurs album, with the stipulation it would contain hit singles. Haines instead entered a studio with the rest of the band with the aiming of making a concept album known as ESP Kids. They recorded four songs – "How I Learned to Love the Bootboys", "Johnny and the Hurricanes", "Future Generation" and "School" – before progress halted with Haines continuing to work on Black Box Recorder. They made the album England Made Me (1998); while waiting for its release, the Auteurs started recording a new album of their own in January 1998 at RAK Studios in London. [2]

After three weeks, they recorded around 15 songs that centred on acoustic and synthesizer-based instrumentation. The following month, Haines showed his labels what he thought would be the finished version of the album, only to be told to write a single. He shifted his main focus to Black Box Recorder; the Auteurs planned to record, but were delayed when Haines broke his wrist after falling down a flight of stairs. Haines came up with "The Rubettes" for Black Box Recorder, but after Nixey was unable to work with the song, it became the single that the Auteurs needed. The final recording sessions for How I Learned to Love the Bootboys took place in April 1998 with only Haines and keyboardist James Banbury in attendance. [2] Haines and Pete Hofmann produced nearly all the songs, save for "Johnny and the Hurricanes", which was produced by Phil Vinall; Hofmann later mixed the recordings. [3] Haines later said that because of his focus on Black Box Recorder, How I Learned to Love the Bootboys "didn't receive my full attention". [4]

Composition and lyrics

How I Learned to Love the Bootboys is a glam rock album; [5] [6] it takes some of its atmospheric influence from England Made Me. [7] Drowned in Sound writer Alexander Tudor wrote that Haines incorporated the sound of glam "in the form of glossy synths, twinkling xylophones, doowop vocals, perfect pop hooks, and saccharine sentiments" with his "elegant guitar lines, and hushed narration". [8] Haines wrote all of the songs bar "The Rubettes", which is credited to Haines, Moore, Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington, and "Asti Spumante", which is credited to Haines and Sie Medway-Smith. [3] Haines referred to it as an anti-nostalgia album that focused on the darker aspects of life in the 1970s, [6] though admitted that it turned out darker than he was expecting. He expanded on this, detailing that the decade consisted of "black and white TVs and the power going off every Saturday night ... And closedown and the bloody national anthem at the end of it". [9] It was split into two parts, an experimental side and a pop-sounding one, to which Haines regretted not putting more material on it, such as the B-sides "Get Wrecked at Home" and "Breaking Up", to expand it into a double album. [2] Sunday Herald 's Neil Cooper wrote that the title was a homage to the "1990s vogue for all things laddish and the laughable re-invention of classroom geeks as lager-swilling football yobs"; Haines said he was "not a team player and I certainly wouldn't get involved with rough boys". [9] Clarence Tsui of South China Morning Post wrote that there was "deadpan tales of incestuous fathers, wily street gangs and the despairing rise of right-wing nationalism are set to 1970s and 80s grooves" amongst the lyrical themes found on the album. [10]

The album's opening track "The Rubettes" is a Brill Building [11] tribute to the band of the same name, [12] incorporating that act's song "Sugar Baby Love" (1974). [9] Haines wrote it on a glockenspiel during the period he injured his wrist, to which Moore wrote the second verse lyrics. [2] It was originally intended to be a Black Box Recorder song until Haines explained that it dealt with the 1970s, which would have been a little too old" for Nixey. [13] Nixey and Moore sing backing vocals on the song; Chris Wyle played drums on it and the following song "1967", [3] which is named after the year Haines was born in. [7] Louder Than War 's Craig Chaligne wrote that both "The Rubettes" and "1967" detailed "characters with polar opposite attitudes towards pop music but both finishing with a reference to the nineties". [14] "How I Learned to Love the Bootboys" is a quiet track, with hushed vocals from Haines, that is joined by the sound of sirens, a dub bassline and electro noises. [11] Tsui considered it to be a "confession from a bullied youth", while recalling "Atomic" (1980) by Blondie. [10] "Your Gang, Our Gang" sees gangs from movies such as Grease (1978) and West Side Story (1961) fight in London streets. [11] The chorus of "Some Changes" evokes "Heroes" (1977) by David Bowie; "School" sees Haines sing from the viewpoint of a child in the process of being abducted over a start-stop drum pattern. [14] [8] "Jonny and the Hurricanes" is a leftover from the ESP Kids project. [14] "Asti Spumante" and "Sick of Hari Krisna" are two mood pieces. [14] The album concludes with another ESP Kids' holdover, "Future Generation", which sees Haines ponder if the band would be remembered in years to come. [2] [6]

Release

On 6 March 1999, How I Learned to Love the Bootboys was announced for release in a few months' time. Haines and Moore wrapped up a residency with their other band Black Box Recorder the following month. "The Rubettes" was released as the album's lead single on 31 May 1999, with "Breaking Up" and "Get Wrecked at Home". [12] How I Learned to Love the Bootboys was released by Hut Records on 5 July 1999; it was promoted with one-off performance from the Auteurs at the Embassy Rooms in London 11 days later. [15] They appeared at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, prior to some shows in France and a headlining UK tour in October 1999; the band broke up shortly afterwards. [16] [17] "Some Changes" was released as the album's second single on 18 October 1999. [18]

Haines re-recorded "Future Generation" and "The Rubettes" (the latter as part of a pregap medley) in an orchestral style for Das Capital (2003). [19] Songs from the abandoned ESP Kids project were later released on the Luke Haines Is Dead (2005) compilation, which compiled material from Haines, Baader Meinhof and the Auteurs. [20] How I Learned to Love the Bootboys was reissued as a two-CD set in 2014, which included B-sides, acoustic versions and a live set recorded in late 1999 at the LSE Students' Union. [2] [16] That same year, the standard version of the album was re-pressed on vinyl. [21] How I Learned to Love the Bootboys was then included on the career-spanning CD box set People 'Round Here Don't Like to Talk About It – The Complete EMI Recordings (2023) alongside the other Auteurs albums. [22]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [11]
Alternative Rock9/10 [23]
Drowned in Sound 7/10 [8]
NME 7/10 [24]
Select 4/5 [6]
The Times 5/10 [25]

How I Learned to Love the Bootboys was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. Kellman said the album's "cohesiveness ... is no small feat, given the wide-ranging sounds and moods". He complimented Haines and Hofmann's "best production yet" as the guitars have "never sounded so fittingly sharp while avoiding abrasiveness". [11] Tudor called it a "daring return to form" after the "intriguing diversion" of the Baader Meinhof project, adding that it was a "more successful and accessible collection of songs and stories than its recourse to glam-stylings might suggest". [8] Select writer Gareth Grundy said Haines was "still the master of the pilthy dismissal", adding that "both conceptually and sonically" this is the album that Haines "has been building towards". [6] Eamon Sweeney of Hot Press saw it as an "almost faultless collection of songs", [26] to which The Irish Times writer Kevin Courtney echoed. [27] Author Dave Thompson wrote in his book Alternative Rock (2000) that it was a "very English album, ... but a universal horror haunts its dusty corners." [23]

Some reviewers commented on the older sound and 1970s aspect of the album. musicOMH contributor Michael Hubbard highlighted a variety of influences that "work[ed] bloody brilliantly" meshed together. [7] The staff at Entertainment.ie said Haines "dips into the darker recesses of the decade [1970s] and comes up with one of the albums of the year"; [28] The Guardian critic Dave Simpson similarly wrote that the band returned to "poop the festivities of 1970s nostalgia ... Coal-black humour is matched by marvellous tunes in Haines's 'anti-nostalgic, retarded glam rock'. You may wish to avoid him in the pub". [29] In a review for The Times , journalist Nigel Williamson noted that Haines focused on the "banality of the Seventies", but felt that the tracks "lack[ed] wit and far from being subversive are simply arch". [25] David Sinclair of The Times said that Haines "complains in a querulous half-croak, half falsetto voice that he hates nostalgia, and then indulges in a succession of musty tales from a troubled past ... He should get out more". [30]

NME ranked the album at number 45 on their list of the best albums of 1999, [31] while Select placed it higher at 20. [32]

Track listing

All songs written by Luke Haines, except where noted. [3]

  1. "The Rubettes" (Haines, John Moore, Wayne Bickerton, Tony Waddington) – 3:27
  2. "1967" – 2:42
  3. "How I Learned to Love the Bootboys" – 3:05
  4. "Your Gang, Our Gang" – 1:46
  5. "Some Changes" – 3:19
  6. "School" – 2:58
  7. "Johnny and the Hurricanes" – 3:51
  8. "The South Will Rise Again" – 2:24
  9. "Asti Spumante" (Haines, Sie Medway-Smith) – 3:27
  10. "Sick of Hari Krisna" – 2:51
  11. "Lights Out" – 2:10
  12. "Future Generation" – 3:11

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Rubettes</span> English pop band

The Rubettes are an English pop/glam rock band put together in 1974 after the release of "Sugar Baby Love", a recording assembled of studio session musicians in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, the then head of A&R at Polydor Records, and his co-songwriter, Tony Waddington, after their doo-wop and 1950s American pop-influenced songs had been rejected by a number of existing acts. Waddington paired the group with manager John Morris, the husband of singer Clodagh Rodgers and under his guidance, the band duly emerged at the tail end of the glam rock movement, wearing trademark white suits and cloth caps on stage. Their first release, "Sugar Baby Love" was an instant hit remaining at number one in the United Kingdom for four weeks in May 1974, while reaching number 37 on the US chart that August, and remains their best-known record. Subsequent releases were to be less successful, but the band continued to tour well into the 2000s with two line-ups in existence.

The Auteurs were a British alternative rock band of the 1990s, and a vehicle for songwriter Luke Haines. Several bands influenced by the Auteurs have taken their names from the band's songs. The Polish band Lenny Valentino took its name from the Auteurs' song on their album Now I'm a Cowboy and the Minneapolis based band Valet took its name from the song "Valet Parking" from New Wave.

Black Box Recorder were an English indie rock band. They debuted in 1998 with England Made Me and followed this up with The Facts of Life, which gave them their first hit with the single of the same name in April 2000. Their third album, Passionoia, was released in 2003. There is also a compilation album, The Worst of Black Box Recorder, a collection of B-sides, cover versions and remixes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Haines</span> Musical artist

Luke Michael Haines is an English musician, songwriter and author. He has recorded music under various names and with various bands, including The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder.

VC Recordings trading as Hut Records was a British record label brand which was started in 1990 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Records. Despite being wholly owned by a major label, it was classed as an independent label for the purposes of the UK Indie Chart due to the independent distribution, which was used by Virgin as a means of gaining exposure for new acts.

<i>New Wave</i> (The Auteurs album) 1993 studio album by the Auteurs

New Wave is the 1993 debut album by British rock band the Auteurs. In 2014, British independent record label 3 Loop Music re-released the album on 180gsm Vinyl and as a 2CD Expanded Edition which included b-sides, rarities, radio session tracks and the original 4-track demos that led to the band's signing with Hut Records.

<i>Now Im a Cowboy</i> 1994 studio album by the Auteurs

Now I'm a Cowboy is the 1994 second album by British rock band the Auteurs. On 2 June 2014 Now I'm a Cowboy was reissued alongside After Murder Park and How I Learned to Love the Bootboys. The reissue features unreleased songs and liner notes written by Luke Haines. It was released through 3 Loop Music.

<i>After Murder Park</i> 1996 studio album by the Auteurs

After Murder Park is the third album by British rock band the Auteurs, released in March 1996. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and produced by Steve Albini. In 2014, British independent record label 3 Loop Music re-released the album as a 2CD Expanded Edition which included b-sides, alternate versions, radio session tracks and live recordings.

<i>Baader Meinhof</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Baader Meinhof

Baader Meinhof is a 1996 album by Luke Haines, under the pseudonym Baader Meinhof. The name is taken from two of the main members of the Red Army Faction, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, and the album, composed of 10 tracks, tells the history of group, since the ideas that might have inspired the group, their first actions, their travel to Jordan, their capture, the hijacking of a Lufthansa airplane by the members of the "second generation" of the RAF, in 1977 ("Mogadishu").

<i>England Made Me</i> (Black Box Recorder album) 1998 studio album by Black Box Recorder

England Made Me, the debut studio album of English rock band Black Box Recorder, was released through Chrysalis Records on 20 July 1998. After releasing albums with the Auteurs and as Baader Meinhof, in early 1997, musician Luke Haines formed Black Box Recorder with John Moore and Sarah Nixey. Through most of 1997, the band recorded their debut album with Auteurs collaborator-and-producer Phil Vinall in several London studios, including Milo and The Drugstore. The country folk, easy listening and pop album is named for Graham Greene's 1935 novel eponymous novel, and has been compared to the work of Portishead and Young Marble Giants. Bontempi drums and a radio scanner, and samples are used on several tracks. The songs' lyrics criticize the mundane experience of living and growing up in post-Restoration England, and explore the themes of single mothers and teenage sex.

<i>The Facts of Life</i> (album) 2000 studio album by Black Box Recorder

The Facts of Life is the second studio album by English rock band Black Box Recorder, released on 1 May 2000 through Nude Records. Following the release of their debut album England Made Me (1998), the band did not tour to promote it. By early 1999, they were playing two new songs at shows; by June 1999, they were working on a new album. Recording sessions were produced between the band members and Pete Hoffman, continuing through to the end of the year while Luke Haines was occupied with his other act the Auteurs. The Facts of Life is a new wave, synth-pop and psychedelic-lounge rock album that took elements from the works of elements from the works of Momus, Pet Shop Boys and Saint Etienne. Alongside this, the Saint Etienne comparison extended to the lyrical style and frontwoman Sarah Nixey being seen as a counterpoint to that band's Sarah Cracknell.

<i>Passionoia</i> 2003 studio album by Black Box Recorder

Passionoia is the third and final studio album by British rock band Black Box Recorder, released on 3 March 2003 through One Little Indian. Following the promotional cycles for the band's The Facts of Life (2000) and musician Luke Haines' The Oliver Twist Manifesto (2001), they started working on their next album. The band and Pete Hofmann produced the recording sessions; in the midst of this, their label Nude Records went bankrupt. Passionoia is a dance-pop album that was compared to the works of Pet Shop Boys and Saint Etienne, building on the lyrical theme of Britishness that they first explored on their debut album England Made Me (1998).

<i>The Worst of Black Box Recorder</i> 2001 compilation album by Black Box Recorder

The Worst of Black Box Recorder is a 2001 album by Black Box Recorder, whose members include Luke Haines, Sarah Nixey and John Moore. It is a compilation of B-sides from the singles of England Made Me and The Facts Of Life.

<i>Das Capital</i> (album) 2003 studio album by Luke Haines

Das Capital is a 2003 album released by British singer/songwriter Luke Haines. The album features orchestral re-recordings of some of his older songs from The Auteurs and Baader Meinhof periods, along with some new tracks.

<i>Luke Haines Is Dead</i> 2005 compilation album by Luke Haines

Luke Haines is Dead is a three-disc boxed set containing various rarities, remixes, b-sides, unreleased material and classic tracks from The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Haines' solo work.

Sarah Anne Nixey is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the vocalist in Black Box Recorder. Her debut solo album, Sing, Memory, was released on 19 February 2007, followed by Brave Tin Soldiers, released on 9 May 2011. Her latest album, Night Walks, was released on 5 October 2018. Nixey currently lives in London with her husband, music producer Jimmy Hogarth, whom she married in late 2010 and has one son, Reuben and a daughter, Lola. Nixey has a daughter, Ava from her previous marriage with John Moore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar Baby Love</span>

"Sugar Baby Love", recorded in autumn 1973 and released in January 1974, is a bubblegum pop song, and the debut single of The Rubettes. Written by Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington and produced by Bickerton, engineered by John Mackswith at Lansdowne Recording Studios, and with lead vocals by Paul Da Vinci, "Sugar Baby Love" was the band's one and only number one single in the UK Singles Chart, spending four weeks at the top of the chart in May 1974.

<i>Sing, Memory</i> 2007 studio album by Sarah Nixey

Sing, Memory is the debut album from British Black Box Recorder vocalist, Sarah Nixey. Recorded in London, and produced by James Banbury, the album is split into two halves, Sing and Memory. The title is probably a reference to Vladimir Nabokov's autobiography, Speak, Memory. It was released in the UK on 19 February 2007.

John Moore is a British musician, best known for his work as the drummer in the Jesus and Mary Chain and as a member of Black Box Recorder.

The Baader-Meinhof Group, also known as Red Army Faction, was a left-wing militant group active in West Germany from 1970 to 1998.

References

Citations

  1. Kellman, Andy. "After Murder Park - The Auteurs / Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Auteurs (2014). How I Learned to Love the Bootboys (booklet). 3 Loop Music. 3RANGE-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 The Auteurs (1999). How I Learned to Love the Bootboys (booklet). Hut/Virgin Records. CDHUT53/7243 8 47577 2 4.
  4. Pearis, Bill (17 April 2014). "Luke Haines talks new solo LP, Auteurs reissues, the rock mythology of NYC and more in BV interview". BrooklynVegan . Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  5. Cox, Tom (23 July 1999). "Square to be hip". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Grundy 1999, p. 91
  7. 1 2 3 Hubbard, Michael (5 July 1999). "The Auteurs – How I Learned To Love The Bootboys". musicOMH . Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Tudor, Alexander (14 January 2009). "The Auteurs and their part in Britpop's downfall". Drowned in Sound . Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Cooper 1999, p. 8
  10. 1 2 Tsui 1999, p. 6
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Kellman, Andy. "How I Learned to Love the Bootboys - The Auteurs / Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 4 December 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  12. 1 2 "LA Haines". NME . 6 March 1999. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  13. "Black Box Recorder". Designer Magazine. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Chaligne, Craig (20 July 2014). "The Auteurs: How I Learned To Love The Bootboys, Expanded Edition – album review". Louder Than War . Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  15. "Bootboys and Girls". NME. 7 May 1999. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  16. 1 2 Cummings, Bill (17 April 2014). "The Auteurs albums 'Now I'm A Cowboy, After Murder Park & How I Learned To Love The Bootboys re-masters out June". God Is in the TV . Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  17. "Luke Here". NME. 24 September 1999. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  18. The Auteurs (1999). "Some Changes" (sleeve). Hut Records. HUTCDP 124.
  19. Luke Haines (2003). Das Capital (booklet). Hut/Virgin Records. CDHUT81/724359051727.
  20. Luke Haines, Baader Meinhof and the Auteurs (2005). Luke Haines Is Dead (sleeve). Hut Records/EMI. HAINES 1/0946 331524 2 7.
  21. The Auteurs (2014). How I Learned to Love the Bootboys (sleeve). 3 Loop Music. 3RANGE-30LP.
  22. The Auteurs (2023). People 'Round Here Don't Like to Talk About It – The Complete EMI Recordings (sleeve). Cherry Red Records. CRCDBOX141.
  23. 1 2 Thompson 2000, p. 163
  24. Bailie, Stuart. "The Auteurs How I Learned To Love The Bootboys". NME. Archived from the original on 18 June 2000. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  25. 1 2 Williamson, Nigel (3 July 1999). "New album releases". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460.
  26. Sweeney, Eamon (31 March 2001). "How I Learned To Love The Bootboys". Hot Press . Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  27. Courtney, Kevin (20 October 1999). "The Auteurs". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  28. "The Auteurs - How I Learned To Love The Bootboys". Entertainment.ie . 10 August 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  29. Simpson 1999, p. 19
  30. Sinclair, David (2 July 1999). "Latin only slightly dead". The Times. ISSN   0140-0460.
  31. "NME's best albums and tracks of 1999". NME. 10 October 2016. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  32. "Albums of the year". Select (115): 79. January 2000. ISSN   0959-8367.

Sources