Last time we caught our anti-hero, Luke Haines was at a strange point where his prolific output drifted between celebrated (the compilation Luke Haines is Dead) and uncelebrated (the 3rd Black Box Recorder LP, the Xmas-single with Art Brut) - Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop sounded like a sequel to the previous Haines solo-work and certainly featured lyrics that affected a lapse into self-imitation.

Amusingly, Haines has emerged like an ESP-Kid in the Wreckage with a raised profile following the return of Black Box Recorder (gigs in London/no records) and his celebrated memoir Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part In Its Downfall - which is easily the best rock autobiography between Julian Cope's Head On and Dean Wareham's Black Postcards.

21st Century Man is the real deal here; with Achtung Mutha a limited edition bonus collection - both making me think of a bastard crossbreed of 70's Todd Rundgren and the forgotten joy that was Denim. The synth-emphasis of the last few albums appears to have been put to one side, no more evident than on the anthemic 'Peter Hammill' - an addictive highlight that I've often put on repeat since being sent this album.

Haines has always sung a mean biographical song, so 'Klaus Kinski' (no doubt informed by the hilarious bad taste classic Kinski Uncut and Herzog's My Best Fiend) joins previous classics centred on such figures as Baader-Meinhof, Gary Glitter, Jonathan King, Sarah Lucas, and Andrew Ridgley. It's sublime stuff and equal to prior key songs like 'Never Work' and 'What Happens When We Die' from his masterpiece The Oliver Twist Manifesto. And the reference to 'What Becomes of the Broken Hearted' is kind of genius if you think about it..

'Love Letter to London' and 'Suburban Mourning' seem less cynical than the last record, and remind me of Revolution # 9's unsung album You Might As Well Live from BBR-associate John Moore. If Black Box Recorder IV is as great as these...

'Wot a Rotter' meanwhile recalls the aforementioned Denim and various peaks of The Fall over the last decade or so - a killer glam racket with lyrics that nail this very shitty country. It's amusing that Haines' 1970's preoccupation since 1995 seems like soothsaying these days; the man for our times?

Achtung Mutha should be seen as the flipside and would probably not exist if we lived in a world where singles and b-sides existed.. 'Mother' sounds a lot like Dave Gilmour and precedes the hilarious 'The Great Brain Robbery Part 1', which sort of fuses Nathan Barley with something as amusing and gross as 'The Gift' by The Velvets. 'Playground Dread' is a weird dub-inflected song that sounds efficiently unfinished, while 'Greenwich Observatory' is another Haines classic you almost missed (with a natty reference to his baader meinhof masterpiece).

I'm not sure you'd call Haines 'a national treasure' and I'm sure he would be offended at such silliness. Nail a Blue Plaque to the fucker anyway- But another classic or two from Haines is just the norm - just play 'Peter Hammill' and bow down to the evident genius. Or...one of the followers may come round and insert a Van Der Graaf Generator box-set in you in the night.. Achtung Muthafucker!!!