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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
A side project conceived by The Auteurs' Luke Haines and John Moore, formerly of The Jesus & Mary Chain, England Made Me is an evil pleasure indeed. Vocalist Sarah Nixey sounds like a head girl captured and brainwashed by the malevolent male duo, made to intone their deadpan, amoral lyrics ("I trapped a spider underneath the glass/I kept it for a week to see how long it would last") over creeping, spidery guitars and the odd, sinister overdub. England Made Me is more darkly comic than chilling in its nihilism ("Life is unfair/Kill yourself or get used to it," sings Nixey on "Child Psychology") while their bleak take on "Uptown Top Ranking" by one hit wonders Althea & Donna is like a photographic negative of the original. It reflects Haines' perverse obession with 1970s kitsch as does the album cover, a shot of glam-wrestler Adrian Street posing incongruously with his coal miner father. Exposure to that bizarre decade in English culture, he implies, made of him the deformedly ironic creature he is today. --David Stubbs
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I first heard Black Box Recorder on a pre-release sampler for 'England Made Me'. My friend was a journalist, and used to get advance copies of stuff he liked. We were both huge Auteurs fans, so the prospect of a new project by La Haine had him putting in a request for a tape at the first opportunity. The tape featured about six songs, and by the time we'd got to 'Uptown Top Ranking', the fourth or so on the tape, we were weeping with laughter. Don't let anyone tell you that Haines has no sense of humour, as this album has it in spades. The music is claustrophobic and airless, but Sarah Nixey comes across as a petulant drama-school teenager delivering Morrissey lyrics. I still giggle even now when I hear the line from 'Child Psychology' about the "plastic Christmas tree that played 'Silent Night' over and over again". The whole record just drips with loathing and sarcasm, like a stalker sing-talking the back catalogue of Saint Etienne.
Special mentions too for the crisp, beautiful 'Swinging' and 'It's Only The End Of The World', which are amongst the best songs that Haines has ever written.
Cold genius, delivered deadpan.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I first heard the song 'Child Psychology' at my 'cool' friends flat and was hooked. This was about 2 years ago and it was an arse to actually locate the album in a record shop! Since then it has become my favourite album and continues to improve with each listen. The lyrics are superb - especially 'It's only the end of the world' with it's superb heart beat drums, and although it is a very dark album it does leave you feeling oddly satisfied at the end. The spikey lyrics delivered in Sarah Nixey's flat monotone are intelligent and sarcastic. I'd love to see this band live - could they maintain their ennui on stage but they are ridiculously difficult to get information on?!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Black Box Recorder are half the Jesus & Mary Chain and half the Auteurs.Not that that's any recommendation but using a girl singer (Sarah Nixey) makes all the difference.
This particular sleeve is so hideous that I changed it for a photo of Edwardian actress Gabrielle Ray which just happens to have the right shades
Gabrielle spent the last 30 years of her life-which ended at over 90-in a mental home driven mad by her husband.Somehow in keeping with the madness of these songs
This particular sleeve is so hideous that I changed it for a photo of Edwardian actress Gabrielle Ray which just happens to have the right shades
Gabrielle spent the last 30 years of her life-which ended at over 90-in a mental home driven mad by her husband.Somehow in keeping with the madness of these songs
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Third and final instalment of Luke Haines' dark-pop trilogy.
England Made Me was the first album released by Black Box Recorder, an indie-pop super group comprising of the former Auteurs' chief-in-residence Luke Haines, ex-Jesus and... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2006 by Jonathan James Romley
Very quirky, very English, not very good
Luke Haines and John Moore should be respected for eschewing normal conventions of production and song construction. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2003
Difficult but Rewarding Listening
There is no joy in this album, but if melancholic songs with poignant, meaningful lyrics are your thing, then this album is certainly worth a try. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2000
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