This really is a quite remarkable 12″ single.
Bauhaus, consisting of Peter Murphy (vocals), Daniel Ash (guitar), David J (bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums) found themselves in an unremarkable studio in an unremarkable town in the middle of England in January 1979, less than two months after forming. The plan had been to come up with a demo that they might be able to hawk around some record labels. Six hours of work yielded five songs, one of which was more than nine minutes in length, and was more or less recorded live. No producer or engineer would be credited when said song emerged blinking into the daylight in August 1979 as their very first single, issued by Small Wonder Records, a label which operated out of a record shop in what was then a very unfashionable part of East London.
mp3 : Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead
There was no option other than to release this on 12″ as it wouldn’t have fitted on a 7″ single….and fair play to the record label as there might have been a temptation to * cut the song in two, fading it out on one side at an appropriate moment, and fading it back in again, calling it Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Parts 1 and 2). It would have made more commercial sense, and indeed might (but probably not) improved its chances of being played by radio stations, but it is clear from the outset that this needed to be heard in all its glory.
I don’t recall hearing it played on Radio 1 or by Radio Clyde…but Peel must have played it some point as someone brought it into school on a cassette, having taped it from the radio. I didn’t get a copy of the single for a couple of years, by which time I was quite familiar with it as it was one of the mainstays of the alt-disco at Strathclyde students union – the one held in the repurposed canteen as opposed to the main one at the top of the building on Level 8. Indeed, my copy came courtesy of a fellow student who, having seen Bauhaus enjoy a chart hit what he considered a dreadful cover of Ziggy Stardust, said he was willing to sell me Bela (as it will be referred to from here-on-in) as the band were now ‘meaningless’.
His loss and my gain.
Two songs are on the b-side.
mp3 : Bauhaus – Boys
mp3 : Bauhaus – Dark Entries (demo)
Boys had in fact been recorded in the same session as Bela in January 1979, but the version issued on the first single was recorded later in the year, again at Beck Studios in Wellingborough.
This version of Dark Entries is only 83 seconds long, and the voice of a producer/engineer can clearly be heard. But as I said, there are no credits for these positions given on the release, but this demo version wasn’t recorded in the January 78 session alongside Bela as that day’s work would eventually surface as The Bela Session EP much later on in 2018. The finished version of Dark Entries would prove to be the band’s second 45, released on 7″ vinyl by Axis Records (later to change its name to 4AD), in January 1980 and this time the sleeve informs us that it, and its b-side were ‘written and produced by Bauhaus’.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Bela Lugosi deserves the descriptor of classic. Apart from Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Vangelis, Tomita et al it’s likely one of the the longest songs I ever heard (I was no prog rock kid).
Bela Lugosi was/is a joy. It transports me to other places each and every time. Like JC I enjoyed a shoe-shuffle or two but not till the late 80s.
How any band could carry off three versions of favourite songs: Ziggy Stardust, Telegram Sam and Third Uncle is a mystery to me.
Flimflamfan
Never tiring or less exciting 4 decades later.
Always a delight to hear.
Undead Undead Undead Undead!
The period from 1975 to 1985 was the Cambrian Explosion of pop and rock music. Never before—or since—has popular music been so diverse and adventurous. This Bauhaus song is further proof.
One of the all time greats. And you’re right about her unremarkable town too. I work there
My first cat was named after (Pete) Murphy. Not because of Bauhaus, but because of those Maxell tape ads he did.
I did see Bauhaus once though, in August ’82. I wasn’t really into them but went with a friend. Chiefly memorable for the support act being the Southern Death Cult. We all thought they were shite, then they dropped the first two bits of the name and went on to global stardom. Doesn’t mean we weren’t right, but just as well I never tried to get into artist promotion.
Dunno, maybe just me, but I feel there’s a slight Goth tinge to this track. Darwin’s theory (comments above) that this was the most ‘diverse and adventurous’ era in British music is very persuasive. There was probably nothing else like this ‘dub from the crypt’ sound around.
A classic – still listen to it regularly after all these years!
Mark E. Smith, in a characteristically combative mood, had this to say about Bowie: “He put British music back five years, him and his stupid imitators. He’s third-rate and always has been. ha ha har.” At the time I think he was pointing at the likes of Bauhaus. Not sure — the ‘five years’ reference might have made the remark tongue in cheek. Sometimes I think the same about Bauhaus but I do love this track about the cinematic vampire.
Great record- goth dub. Invented an entirely new genre.
It’s a magnificent record, I still have the copy I purchased in 1979, though I’ve never owned anything else by the band.
I had the 12” then traded it off when the first CD single came out. I could have gotten three figures for that one now! Still, it’s a classic of Dark Dub. That bass line, so doom-laden! Less is often more!
Still a great record that started the dark wave and gothic.
Happy memories! What a record, like nothing I’d heard before at the time. Think Peel must have played it as you thought, or I don’t know how I would have become qyuite so aware of it.
I was in my back garden last weekend when I heard some music playing from about 4 doors down – it’s unusual, as we live in a terrace of tiny old cottages backing onto fields and there’s no room in them for families or parties so it’s not a common occurrence. But I could hear this bassline drifting through the breeze over the gardens and it sounded so familiar, yet really unexpected. Yes – it was Bela Lugosi’s Dead!