Truth and Lies in Murder Park: A Book About Mr Luke Haines [Paperback]

 

 

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"Mr Haines is a man whose music is the essence of pop, spiced with misanthropy and fermented in radical fervour...a writer who is stock of Ray Davies, Rotten and Morrissey. An Auteur, a politico-historical analyst, a wit and iconoclast - a Wilde, Whistler and Wyndham Lewis for the post-modern generation." - Tim Mitchell, (P56) 'Truth & Lies In Murder Park"


Tim Mitchell's "Truth And Lies In Murder Park" (Benben Press) journey's into the mythology of the British singer-songwriter Luke Haines to conjure a fictional narrative with fragments of biography. As the title acknowledges this is not faction as such, rather an impressive and heart-felt testament to the imagination of the the so-called 'Godfather of Britpop'. Luke Haines may now have been cast into a minor supporting role in the history of British music, albeit with a rabid cult following, yet as Mitchell's book testifies his artistic legacy is far greater and richer than that of any of his contemporaries. Which other songwriter in recent history would facilitate such a feat of imagination as Mitchell lays before the reader here? For a comparative mythology one would have to look to rock icons such as Bob Dylan or Tom Waits to locate such a lineage. Indeed, Mitchell's book weaves in the vast array of Haines's obsessions and characters into a hallucinogenic narrative that evokes the surrealism of Powell & Pressburger's "A Matter Of Life And Death", a film that has registered upon Haines's own radar.

Indeed, for Haines's aficionados, 'Truth And Lies...' greatest strength is the way it sheds new autobiographical light upon Haines's work. Coming shortly after Luke Haines's own incorrigible autobiography, itself a scorched earth policy on the Brit Pop years, this is no minor accomplishment. Certainly, the appendix credits Luke Haines for his involvement in the book, but it is the readings of Haines's songs that Mitchell so excels at. He extracts the big themes of those early Haines albums with The Auteurs and showcases them anew, and in doing so exposes the profundity that distinguishes the music to this day. Regarding the The Auteur's 'After Murder Park' - from which this novel appropriates its name - Mitchell is especially strong. He reveals the haunting back story to 'Unsolved Child Murder', the autobiographical origins of The Auteur's most poignant song. "When I was five, he (Haines) said, the kid at the end of the road disappeared and was found - murdered. His Father was a doctor. Up until that point I had believed - naively - that the healing powers of doctors made them untouchable by tragedy."

Elsewhere, Mitchell plunders the material that inspires and increasingly defines Haines's extraordinary lyrics and embraces it as fuel for his own story - the Dadaists, Marinetti and the Futurists, Debord and the Sitautionists, the jaded glamour of the Warhol scene and its murderous streak (Valerie Solanas), ESP and seances, the narcissism of terrorists (Meinhof, Baader, Carlos The Jackal, SNL) and their victims (Patty Hearst), life's victims (the Deverell Twins), UK history both officiated (Churchill, Beaverbrook) and secret (Helen Duncan, Walton-On-Thames ) and, most pressingly here, cult British Cinema, in particular Bryan Forbes's 'Seance On A Thursday Afternoon', a dark, eerie film about child abduction set in London suburbia. As Haines explains, "The entrapment of the couple (in Seance...) seemed to echo what I was going through at the time. The album (After Murder Park) is really about claustrophobia and about how ordinary people overcome - or do not - all that is thrown at them." Indeed, Haines's cinematic obsession ultimately characterises 'Truth and Lies...' own narrative and in doing so Mitchell conjures the essence of Luke Haines's greatness, whilst confirming his own merits as a provocative and experimental writer in his own right.

A writer is invited to the rural retreat of `Britpop godfather' Luke Haines. But the invitation is not what it seems. Instead of getting an opportunity to study his subject, he finds himself trapped, teased and tormented like a `spider underneath the glass'.

What at first seems to quite innocent turns out to be a bizarre and sometimes cruel experiment on the writer. Author, Tim Mitchell gives both the writer's account of the story and a commentary by his rather scathing editor, whose relationship to the events of the plot becomes clearer as the book goes on.

Mitchell ties together the biographical details of Luke Haines' life with a social commentary on British life in the twentieth century. And it can be no accident that the bizarre events and surreal quality to the writing make the book reminiscent of magical realism - one of the great literary movements of that century.

The book explores the relationship between politics and art, cleverly entwining cultural references with images of some of the darkest moments of twentieth century history.

This is a witty story of intrigue that will appeal both to those who follow music culture and those with an interest in social and political history.

Reading 'Truth and Lies in Murder Park' is a somewhat trippy and mind-bending experience. Imagine being trapped in a massive Luke Haines-themed fun fair, replete with life-size (and some larger-than-life) recreations of his songs. Like the Devil's Disneyland in a secluded English estate (and I don't mean a council one!). This is someone's dream, or nightmare, come true. (Personally, I fancy nightmares.)

What manner of evil genius could conceive of such things?

Not only does it demonstrate an intimate knowledge of his musical output, but the style in which it is written is somewhat reminiscent of 'Bad Vibes', Mr. Haines' brilliant literary debut. Makes me wonder if it was secretly written by the man himself under a pseudonym. Hmm...

Regardless, 'Truth and Lies' is a Haines' fan's wet dream, or dry dream, in which nothing is as it seems. Or is it?

Although a knowledge of Mr. Haines' work is presumed, as is a familiarity of British history and culture, a few things are explained along the way. As a reader, I barely met the minimum requirements (that's actually saying a lot for a Yank!).

NB: If you've not seen the film 'Seance on a Wet Afternoon', you might want to give it a spin before reading this. May as well put on 'Brighton Rock' and '10 Rillington Place' while you're at it and enjoy a Richard Attenborough hat trick.


Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall
Seance On A Wet Afternoon [1964] [DVD]

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1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful fan lit

Truly awful.

The book is 90% Mitchell writing a fictional account of a visit to Haines mansion. Read more

Published 6 months ago by John Bold

5.0 out of 5 stars Now that's what I call wit ...
Having read Mr Haines superb caustic comedial autobiography, I did not think that a fusion biography/fiction novel could, ahem, be so novel. Read more

Published on 8 Jun 2009 by Marko Stamenkovic

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