Luke Haines is Alive and Well and Living in Buenos Aires / 4CD Solo Anthology

This September Cherry Red will issue a four-CD anthology that focuses on solo work of singer, songwriter and author Luke Haines, best known for his work with The Auteurs in the 1990s and Black Box Recorder.

Snappily titled, Luke Haines Is Alive And Well And Living In Buenos Aires (Heavy, Frenz – The Solo Anthology 2001-2017) this collection has the perhaps unenviable task of keeping up with the prolificacy of Haines over the last 16 years, while ensuring it doesn’t miss diversions into music written for films and side-projects.

Luke Haines is Alive… effectively cherry-picks highlights from 12 albums. Some were bona fide solo albums (such as The Oliver Twist Manifesto (2001), 2006’s Off My Rocker At The High School Bop, and 21st Century Man (2009)) while others are soundtracks (Christy Malry’s Own Double Entry (2001)) or collaborations (The North Sea Scrolls (2012)).

It’s debatable whether anyone needs (or wants) this much Haines in one sitting, but this set is a welcome reminder of some great and perhaps forgotten music and some of these albums are quite hard to find on CD these days (Off My Rocker… in particular).

As well as all the album tracks, it digs up the odd rarity (for example Fag Break from 21st Century Man limited bonus disc Aching Mutha). It also includes the three ‘new’ tracks (The Mitford Sisters, Bugger Bognor and Satan Wants Me) from the 2003 Das Capital album, which was primarily concerned with reinterpreting Auteurs tracks . Those songs also appeared on SDE’s favourite Haines compilation, 2005’s triple CD Luke Haines Is Dead (which this new set clearly references in its title). The good news is, there is very little overlap, since that Virgin-issued release focussed on The Auteurs and excellent terrorist side-project (an odd phrase) Baader Meinhof. Haines’ solo career was only in its infancy at that point.

CD four is the ‘rarities’ disc and is pithily titled The Boners Disc: Hard On For Haines. It features 21 tracks, with 13 of them previously unreleased. Luke Haines himself has contributed sleeve notes.

Presumably, licensing issues and label politics prevents a proper career-spanning Haines retrospective, one which would include The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, Black Box Recorder and the solo material here, so unless that ever gets resolved, these will be tackled largely separately. The good news is that Haines has promised a Black Box Recorder box set before the end of this year.

Luke Haines Is Alive And Well And Living In Buenos Aires (Heavy, Frenz – The Solo Anthology 2001-2017) is out on 29 September 2017. You can order signed copies from Cherry Red’s website (UK shipping is £4).

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Luke Haines

Is Alive And Well And Living In Buenos Aires: Heavy Frenz The Solo Anthology 2001-2017

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CD 1
1. DISCOMANIA
2. HOW TO HATE THE WORKING CLASSES
3. ENGLAND SCOTLAND AND WALES
4. THE OLIVER TWIST MANIFESTO
5. NEVER WORK
6. DEATH OF SARAH LUCAS
7. THE MITFORD SISTERS – Luke Haines & The Auteurs
8. SATAN WANTS ME – Luke Haines & The Auteurs
9. BUGGER BOGNOR – Luke Haines & The Auteurs
10. OFF MY ROCKER AT THE ART SCHOOL BOP (Album Version)
11. LEEDS UNITED
12. COUNTRY LIFE
13. BOVVER BOYS
14. QUEEN ELIZABETH I
15. ALL THE ENGLISH DEVILS
16. THE WALTON HOP
17. BAD REPUTATION (THE GLITTER BAND)
18. ENGLISH SOUTHERN MAN
19. 21ST CENTURY MAN

CD 2
1. SUBURBAN MOURNING
2. KLAUS KINSKI
3. PETER HAMMILL
4. RUSSIAN FUTURISTS BLACK OUT THE SUN
5. FAG BREAK
6. INSIDE THE RESTLESS MIND OF ROLLERBALL ROCCO
7. GORGEOUS GEORGE
8. SATURDAY AFTERNOON
9. BIG DADDY GOT A CASIO V L TONE
10. HAYSTACKS♠IN HEAVEN
11. I’M NOT THE MAN YOU THINK I AM KAREN, I’M THE ACTOR TONY ALLEN – North Sea Scrolls
12. THE MORRIS MAN COMETH – North Sea Scrolls
13. ENOCH POWELL – SPACE POET – North Sea Scrolls
14. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ANIMALS
15. MAGIC INTERLUDE 1
16. GENE VINCENT (ROCK N ROLL MUMS AND ROCK N ROLL DADS)
17. A BADGER CALLED NICK LOWE
18. ANGEL OF THE NORTH
19. FROM HERSHAM TO HEAVEN
20. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ANIMALS IN SPACE

CD 3
1. LOU REED LOU REED
2. ALAN VEGA SAYS
3. NY IN THE ’70S
4. BILL’S BUNKER
5. DOLLS FOREVER
6. CERNE ABBAS MAN
7. CARAVAN MAN
8. ADVENTURES IN DEMENTIA
9. BRITISH NUCLEAR BUNKERS
10. TEST CARD FOREVER
11. PUSSY WILLOW (KIDS♠SONG)
12. COLD FIELD MORNING UNDER BLISS
13. NEW PAGAN SUN
14. ULRIKE MEINHOF’S BRAIN IS MISSING
15. BOMBER JACKET
16. MARC BOLAN BLUES
17. THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND
18. SMASH THE SYSTEM
19. ARE YOU MAD?

CD 4

1. BLACK SUN (Early Band Demo) *
2. PROPERTY *
3. 1963 *
4. DANDIFICATION *
5. BOMBER HARRIS *
6. BUILDING FOR BRITAIN IN THE ’70S *
7. OFF MY ROCKER AT THE ART SCHOOL BOP (Richard X Single Mix)
8. I AM THE BEST ARTIST/ SKINNY WHITE GIRLS
9. SUBURBAN MOURNING * (BBC Session)
10. KLAUS KINSKI * (BBC Session)
11. 21ST CENTURY MAN * (BBC Session)
12. ME AND THE BIRDS
13. THIS IS OUTSIDER MUSIC *
14. NATURAL MYSTIC FURRY FREAKS
15. JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE
16. JEFF STARSHIP SUPERHERO
17. ELECTRONIC TONE POEM
18. HACK GREEN
19. CHRIS FROM THE STARS*
20. 68P IN MY POCKET*
21. RAVE *

* Previously Unissued