Luke Haines - New York In The '70's

Unter einem Konzeptalbum macht es Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, Black Box Recorder) wohl nicht mehr! 

Nach einem Album über britische Wrestler ("Nine And A Half Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling Of The 1970s And Early ’80s") aus dem Jahre 2011 und dem letztjährigen "Rock And Roll Animals", das die Erlebnisse dreier Musiker (Jimmy Pursey (Sham 69), Songwriter Nick Lowe und Rock 'n' Roll-Legende Gene Vincent) in Gestalt niedlicher Tiere erzählte, folgt nun, der Plattentitel lässt es erneut erahnen, ein Album zum Thema New York in den 70ern.

Die New Yorker Rock 'n' Roll Szene der Jahre 1972 bis 1979 füllt Haines mit Figuren wie Alan Vega von Suizide, Morrisseys Lieblingen, den New York Dolls, und natürlich Lou Reed. Die kuriosen Geschichten zwischen Chelsea Hotel, Punk und Drogen entspringen dem Kopf Haines, der sich in den Texten auch über sich selbst lustig macht (“I’m too lazy to write my own melodies/here’s a tune I borrowed from the TVPs”), jedoch zu häufig das Stilmittel der Repetition einsetzt. So beantwortet er zumindest die Frage, wie oft man den Namen Lou Reed in rund zwei Minuten singen kann, nämlich über siebzig Mal - auch wenn es recht schnell nervt. 

Die 12 Titel (in rund 34 Minuten) verlassen die folkig, akustischen Pfade des letzten Albums und werden durch häufig unterkühlte, synthetische Klänge geprägt. Obwohl “New York In The '70's” nicht das beste Album von Luke Haines ist, sind “Alan Vega Says”, “Jim Carroll”, “Cerne Abbas Man” und “NY Stars” auf jeden Fall auf der Habenseite zu verbuchen. Und “Lou Reed” wird man (so oder so) auch nicht so schnell vergessen!

Die Kritiken sind gewohnt gut (73/100 bei Metacritic). Exemplarisch seien hier zunächst The Line Of Best Fit (8,5/10), der NME (7/10) und PopMatters (7/10) zitiert:

His concerns are consistent and consistently bizarre, his delivery as unsettling as ever, the atmosphere he creates both bleak and battered--yet he’s still a man armed with tunes as well as wit, brilliance to match the bitterness; a new album that digs into the past, chokes it down and regurgitates it with a sly smile. (…)
Luke Haines has made another in a long line of remarkably interesting, unique records. His concerns are consistent and consistently bizarre, his delivery as unsettling as ever, the atmosphere he creates both bleak and battered – yet he’s still a man armed with tunes as well as wit, brilliance to match the bitterness; a new album that digs into the past, chokes it down and regurgitates it with a sly smile. (The Line Of Best Fit)

Its portraits of downtown legends like Lou Reed and Alan Vega are far more affectionate than much of his scabrous output, with music that flits between dreamy Velvets simplicity and the synthetic throb of Suicide. Haines’ genius breaks through in the Blakean visions of ‘Cerne Abbas Man’ and ‘NY Stars’, which marry America’s “mythic muthafuckin’ rock’n’roll” to England’s past via his own career as mischievous pop irritant. (NME)

The proliferation of synthesizers on New York in the ‘70s may make some fans yearn for Haines in his more baroque phases, but through such blatant Suicide tributes as “Drone City”, the instrument is justified. The shift that Haines’ output has taken in more recent years has pointed to an artist totally in control of his own direction. Acerbic and oblique tales of life’s darknesses have been replaced by songs singular in concept, accompanied by a more stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach, with Haines remaining steadfast in his outsider stance. The nearly self-deprecating statement of Haines’ heritage in the press release (“A mythical re-imagining of a long gone age, by a man who hails from Surrey, Southern UK“) seems to celebrate how the New York of the titular era looked to anyone who considered themselves a misfit or intrigued by excess. It may not be the final word in this specific chapter of rock ‘n’ roll history, but it certainly is one of the most colorful ones. (PopMatters)