Product Description
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It is virtually impossible to imagine the last 30 years
of rock music without the influence of Bauhaus. They have
inspired countless bands and have mesmerized the masses with
their ability to be simultaneously sparse, dark, anthemic, and
glam. With their new album, entitled Go Away White, Peter Murphy
Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins have created an album as
exciting and relevant as their earlier work. Echoes of Bauhaus
have been heard in the work of their heirs and imitators for the
past few decades and 25 years after their last studio release the
band have returned with yet another undiluted glimpse into their
world.
Review
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Recorded in 18 days, some tracks in one take, Bauhaus'
fifth studio album proves that even a quarter-century's hiatus
can't kill a great band, especially if it was undead to begin
with. There's no trickery here apart from the sinister seduction
of Peter Murphy's ever-deepening Transylvanian croon and the
bare, live style makes the band's heirs even more apparent.
There's PJ Harvey in David J's swamp-blues bass; Nirvana in the
shrieking, submerged guitar of Daniel Ash. But the quartet
doesn't compose or perform like elder statesmen: ''International
Bullet Proof Talent'' and ''Endless Summer of the Damned'' are as
spry and visceral as its first material. If the band had released
a bunch of meandering albums during the past 25 years, you might
call ''Go Away White'' a return to form. Instead, it picks up
right where Bauhaus left off: a wet dream for original fans and a
blast of re for the newly eye-lined. --Billboard
Don't freak, but the first thing that comes slithering out of the
new Bauhaus record aren't ghoulish echoes from these goth
godher's past. Instead, on the album opener Too Much 21st
Century, a ''Taxman''-like bassline shepherds a procession of T.
Rex guitars and lush Love & Rockets styled backing vocals. And
herein suggests some of the challenges faced when a band with
such a singular voice like Bauhaus takes 25 years to write its
fifth studio album. Especially considering the many career
re-defining moments between the final chapter-- when in 1983
these legendary post-punks threw in the towel (the first time)
and eventually formed the two less-goth and more commercially
successful acts, Love & Rockets, and frontman Peter Murphy's solo
work. A more recent epilogue-- a series of reunion tours--
eventually birthed this impressive and surprisingly true-to-form
swan song.
Yes, sadly, this is the final (!) slab from these insanely
influential art rockers, who managed to wield epic, moody
masterpieces from such unlikely materials as glam, dub, punk, and
funk. After more than two decades painting (primarily) pop songs
with a different pallet, when they reconvene as Bauhaus they
can't seem to shake the shapes and sounds they developed decades
ago-- even if they're still filtered through the work of Love &
Rockets and Murphy solo. Tracks like the aforementioned opener,
plus rockers Adrenalin and International Bulletproof Talentsound
like the glam-side of Bauhaus-- complete with Murphy's
Transylvanian Bowie vocals-- but re-worked with the Rockets'
detached and breezy sensibility. Then there are tunes like Saved
& Zikir, and Undone that feature a pronounced Murphy influence:
synth-heavy Middle-Eastern flirting drones and/or 80s-esque
alterna-pop. Elsewhere, authentically retro numbers like Endless
Summer of the Damned (an obvious shout out to goth nation) and
Mirror Remains would've fit nicely either on The Sky's Gone Out
or Burning From the Inside.
The real gems here, however, are the tunes that point to what
Bauhaus could've become had they continued this comeback for
another album or two. Both Black Stone Heart and The Dog's a
Vapour -- the latter was actually recorded back in 1998 during
their initial reunion shows and previously featured on the
soundtrack for the animated film sequel Heavy Metal 2000-- wheeze
with brooding atmospherics and shine with a playful sense of
experimentation. Black Stone melds dark and dancey rhythms and
Murphy's novel multi-personality melodramatics with hand claps,
whistling, and stilted piano while Vapour creeps around in the
fog slowly building into ominous guitar sirens. Bauhaus can hold
their head high, mission accomplished; but with no victory-lap
tour, no more studio albums, and several awesome new tunes
pointing at an un-actualized future, it all feels rather
anti-climatic and lacking closure. One more time: Bauhaus are
dead. Undead, undead, undead. --Pitchfork
