The Twentieth Century had only begun

I meant to post this a while back.

Around the time that JC wrote a rather favourable review of Luke Haines’ book, ‘Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall’.

Unlike certain people, I’m not going to lie and say that I’ve read a book when I haven’t. However a series of good reviews and an interest in Luke Haines that goes back to The Auteurs’ debut album, make it a book I’ve added to my ever growing list of books I need to find the time to read. I’ve written about the band several times here before so I’m not going to repeat myself writing the same old thing about how underrated and misunderstood the band were. Suffice to say they were and that any of their albums are well worth adding to your collection if you haven’t.

What I’d forgotten, and indeed what reminded me to post this, was what great songs they put on their b-sides. Listening to them over the weekend, it struck me that if I ever found and listened to the b-sides and rarities collection, it would be up there with their best work. It would almost certainly be better than ‘Now I’m A Cowboy’, my least favourite of their records. One of varying rewards. When it’s bad, it’s well below par and there’s at least a couple of skippable tracks. But when it’s good, it’s up there with their best work. Of which ‘Lenny Valentino’ is definitely one. How it wasn’t a massive hit is frankly beyond me.

The Auteurs - lenny valentino (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'Now I'm A Cowboy'

mp3 / music / the auteurs