The Auteurs

The Auteurs became a footnote in the history of Britpop -- a title they were never entirely comfortable with -- but they helped lay its very foundation, and this album was one of the first bricks. Like Suede, the Auteurs took a more glam-rock approach, while avoiding outright Bowie-isms. Though too grounded and world-aware to be an outright fop (or a rock star), singer-guitarist Luke Haines is a melodious guide through a gritty yet mystical guitar-pop world. "Show Girl" and "Valet Parking" are like looking through a spyglass into his magical realism.

Deeply cynical, deeply tuneful, lead everything Luke Haines reconceives the Pet Shop Boys as a guitar band, writing about what he knows--the bedsit-bohemian fringe. He housesits, he parks cars, he goes to the library, he disses astrology and thrift shops and his low-rent showbiz family. All that's missing is a temp job in word processing. He ain't heavy, he's your brother. (Grade: A-)