How I Learned to Love the Bootboys

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.[3] 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.[2] 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]

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] Haines referred to it as an anti-nostalgia album that focused on the darker aspects of life in the 1970s.[6] He explained it was split into two parts, an experimental side and a pop-sounding one. He 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.[3] 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.[9]

The album's opening track "The Rubettes" is a Brill Building tribute to the band of the same name, with a chorus that recalls their song "Sugar Baby Love" (1974).[9][10] Haines wrote it on a glockenspiel during the period he injured his wrist, to which Moore wrote the second verse lyrics.[3] Nixey and Moore sing backing vocals on the song; Chris Wyle played drums on it and the following song "1967", which is named after the year Haines was born in.[2][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".[11] "How I Learned to Love the Bootboys" is a quiet track, with hushed vocals from Haines, that is joined by the sound of sirens, dub bassline and electro noises. "Your Gang, Our Gang" sees gangs from movies such as Grease (1978) and West Side Story (1961) fight in London streets.[9] 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.[11][8] "Jonny and the Hurricanes" is a leftover from the ESP Kids project.[11] "Asti Spumante" and "Sick of Hari Krisna" are two mood pieces.[11] The album concludes with another ESP Kids' holdover, "Future Generation", which sees Haines ponder if the band would be remembered in years to come.[3][6]

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".[10] 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.[12] 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.[13][14] "Some Changes" was released as the album's second single on 18 October 1999.[15]

Haines re-recorded "Future Generation" and "The Rubettes" (the latter as part of a pregap medley) in an orchestral style for Das Capital (2003).[16] 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.[17] 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.[3][13] That same year, the standard version of the album was re-pressed on vinyl.[18]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Drowned in Sound	7/10[8]
NME	7/10[19]
Select	4/5[6]

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".[9] 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]

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".[20] Eamon Sweeney of Hot Press saw it as an "almost faultless collection of songs".[21] The Irish Times writer Kevin Courtney said it was a "tightly-coiled and sharply-crafted set of songs from the acerbic pen of Haines".[22]

NME ranked the album at number 45 on their list of the best albums of 1999, while Select placed it higher at 20.[23][24]

All songs written by Luke Haines, except where noted.[2]

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 per booklet.[2]

Citations

Sources

• How I Learned to Love the Bootboys at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)