- Audio CD (15 Mar 2010)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Republic of Music
- ASIN: B0038ASEBG
- Other Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 158,232 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Product details |
Product Description
Review
Luke Haines is not on Facebook. Luke Haines does not Tweet. Social networking is not a concern on Klaus Kinski, the strummed third track of Haines’ fifteenth album as principal songwriter. “Who needs people? Who needs friends? They only drive you round the f****** bend,” he spits, with a voice like toxic drizzle. The song references Kinski’s disastrous 1971 monologue at Berlin’s Deutschlandhalle in which the wild-eyed actor was ridiculed for his portrayal of Jesus Christ as a radical revolutionary.
21st Century Man pulses with such exiles, refugees and ambiguous misfits, of which Luke Haines is certainly one. It was largely written amid the reception to Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in its Downfall, Haines’ chokingly hilarious 1990s-set memoir that novelist David Peace described as “part Oswald Spengler, part Spike Milligan”. If Haines is at home anywhere it’s in such questionable, contradictory company. While 21st Century Man is part celebration of the outcast – see the aggressive glam of Peter Hammill, a track which features one of the best lyrical couplets of Haines’ career, or the nihilistic gloom of Russian Futurists Black Out the Sun – it also finds solace in the arms of London’s commuter belt, a place depicted by name-checked artist Stanley Spencer as holy, and one mythologized in English Southern Man, a compulsive motorik rumble surely made to soundtrack a leisurely drive through Home Counties villages.
While more consistent than 2006’s intermittently excellent Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop – an album, like much of Peace’s work, which drew parallels between 1970s kitsch, Leeds United and the Yorkshire Ripper – 21st Century Man is not without its misfires, the unremarkable White Honky Afro undeserving of its place between the aforementioned English Southern Man and the album’s title and closing track, a heart-bruising, seven-minute elegy for the 1900s that seamlessly weaves politics, pop culture and personal history to intoxicating effect.
Unapologetic, caustic but somehow loveable, Haines is something of a pop Jonathan Meades; you know he’d wince at the suggestion, but the world is better off with such a wilful refusenik. The day he gets a Twitter account, we will wear black. --Nadine McBay
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Haines does it again.
More instant classics from the country's finest songwriter.
Try to catch him live this November.
Be warned that the "Bonus" CD, Achtung Mutha is weird to say the least (think Velvet Underground's "The Gift" meets the UK art scene)
More instant classics from the country's finest songwriter.
Try to catch him live this November.
Be warned that the "Bonus" CD, Achtung Mutha is weird to say the least (think Velvet Underground's "The Gift" meets the UK art scene)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Deep,dark, and weirdly life affirming -check the opener 'Suburban Mourning,' where the twist is that there is no twist. The title track, 'Klaus Kinski' and 'Love letter to London' are instant classics. In short, Haines best work since the late '90's.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I very nearly got put off by some of the reviews and that I wasn't overly impressed with previous LP Off my Rocker but took a risk as a present for the missus...and I'm glad I did.
More true to form stuff with brilliant lyrics and very glam rock riffs.
Some people felt that the experimental stuff on the bonus CD was boring or too weird for their tiny ears but they are good if a little different than 'normal' songs.
So what??
Expand your ears and your mind.
It's good stuff to my ears
More true to form stuff with brilliant lyrics and very glam rock riffs.
Some people felt that the experimental stuff on the bonus CD was boring or too weird for their tiny ears but they are good if a little different than 'normal' songs.
So what??
Expand your ears and your mind.
It's good stuff to my ears
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Much better than I first thought
I bought this at the time of release, but found it underwhelming and didn't really give it a chance. It sounded like an uninspired retread of 'Off My Rocker ... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Against the 80s
Born in the 60's stuck in the 70's and 80's.
21st Century Man is musically outstanding; its just so lyrically depressing as it feels like another concept album; but this time about not fitting in with the world. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2010 by Chris Hoare
SOLID
Good stuff from Mr. Haines, as usual. The only problem is that as he states so eloquently in the wonderful title track, his masterpieces were in the 90s. Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2009 by dirtypearl
If the bonus is limited, get in now
Like everyone else who reviewed this I'm a Luke Haines freak and completist since forever. Unlike - I think - the others I'm not from England, which made Off My Rocker... Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2009 by Erling Hansen
Still growing
Buy Haines always on day of release. Was at first underwhelmed. We expect a lot from him, and he used to deliver innovation where perhaps now there is more of the same. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2009 by Jem Truth
Underwhelming
I agree with the 'Middling' review. I've only fairly recently gotten into Luke Haines - I checked out 'After Murder Park' because of David Peace's recommendation in an interview... Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2009 by Dean Lockwood
Middling
I love Luke Haines. I own practically everything he has. And I was terribly disappointed with this. I found it boring, and, just not very good. Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2009 by markw999
Too clever for his own damn good
People who write music and lyrics this good should have a special place in your life. This album has the kit and the kaboodle, songs to make you laugh and cry sometimes with... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2009 by jwmuk
Still Wonderful
There's only one artist whose recordings I have to have on day of release - and that is Mr Haines.
This is another great recording, following on from 2006's 'Off my... Read more
This is another great recording, following on from 2006's 'Off my... Read more
Published on 2 Nov 2009 by simonpeggfan
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
