Category: Bauhaus

So here’s the thing.

After more than 3,300 posts, a good number of which have been kindly submitted by guest contributors, it gets difficult to come up with something of interest that hasn’t been published before.

I was keen to write up something on Bauhaus, but checking through the index indicated I had done something along the lines I had been thinking back in February 2014.

And then I thought to myself.  There may well be some folk who drop by here on a regular basis who weren’t readers back in 2014, and who haven’t had the time or inclination to go through the archives, so what’s the harm in re-posting something?  Doing so allows me to be slightly lazy in that this is just a cut’n’paste job, but the mp3s are again available after many years’ absence, so please feel free to listen and enjoy  – and if it stimulates your brain to the extent that you would like some more, then make sure you either visit a record shop or make some sort of digital purchase.

“Bauhaus are one of the many bands of the early 80s era who could lay claim to having a say in the ‘invention’ of goth rock. It’s fair to say that most folk will recall the name of only one member of the four-piece, that of singer Peter Murphy. And yet, the fact is he only became part of the band when the others approached him, not because of his vocal talents, but simply because he had the right look.

There’s no disputing that Murphy was one of those blokes who it was impossible for even the most hetero and red-blooded male to deny was good-looking. Certainly, there were plenty of us who tried hard to capture the image, be it the impeccably prepared hair, the sharp-as-a-razor cheekbones, or the piercing eyes made all the more memorable by the clever application of make-up.

Bauhaus never quite made it the way that so many expected them to. I was surprised to find out that of the 11 singles and 4 EPs released at their peak between 1980 and 1983, only two of them actually cracked the Top 40, and one of these was a cover of Ziggy Stardust (indeed, this was their biggest success hitting #15 in 1982).

There are, in my opinion, two tracks that have more than stood the test of time, and I’ve dug the bits of vinyl out of the cupboard. Possibly the greatest nine-minute long single of all time:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Bela Legosi’s Dead

I don’t have the original 1979 release but one from a couple of years later that has this fascinating little number on the b-side:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Boys/Dark Entries (demo)

A close second in my personal Bauhaus chart is this:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Kick In The Eye

The song had in fact been issued as a single in 1981 but had stalled at #59. On the back of the Ziggy success, the record label gave it a re-release on the Searching for Satori EP, but still the public wouldn’t bite, and it only reached a disappointing #45. And yet…..I could have sworn it was a huge hit…it was one of those songs that inevitably filled the floor of any student disco I was at. Here’s yer other tracks, which by turn are surprising (i.e. not the sort of song you’d associate with miserable goths) and weird (i.e. unlistenable shite…..but feel free to differ)

mp3 : Bauhaus – Harry
mp3 : Bauhaus – Earwax

Oh, and I forgot…..I’m also quite fond of giving this a listen every now and again, but I’ve only got a copy via a CD compilation:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Lagartija Nick

Enjoy!!”

I really do hope you enjoy what’s on offer today, as there’s every chance I’ll be delving into the TVV archives in the coming weeks and months.  Nobody minds, do they? Oh, and if there’s anything in particular that any reader would like to see given a re-post, feel free to drop me an email : thevinylvillain@hotmail.co.uk

Oh, and it would be remiss of me not to also point you in the direction of ICA#223, submitted in August 2019, by Middle Aged Man.

JC

A DEBUT GUEST POSTING by MIDDLE AGED MAN

To me Bauhaus were the greatest live band of the early eighties, no other band managed to combine the aggression of punk with theatre. Peter Murphy was born to perform, never still for a second still, constantly twisting and pirouetting with a flexibility and physical shape that was awesome and even as a relatively fit eighteen year old I knew was beyond me. On the right hand side of the stage (from the audience view) was Daniel Ash, who yielded his guitar like a razor blade, sharp slashes, no gentleness and who would completely ignore the singer until he ventured into the guitarist’s territory and would then be physically pushed back to the centre. And on the left was the cool aloft David J who was economical to say the least, no wasted movement or facial expression.

The following ICA is based upon standout live memories rather than their recorded versions (with the obvious exception)

Side 1

1: Boys (B side of the Bela single)

The first time I saw Bauhaus was in Derby at a seedy closed down cinema – the Ajanta Cinema, I was a student at Nottingham Trent Polytechnic, a member of the Alternative music society, through which was arranged the tickets and coach. A sharp guitar rhythm, no solos allowed, intermittent drums and bass and Peter Murphy’s vocals carry the tune. With lines like ‘ features so fine, rouge and eyeline’ it seems to predict the new romantic movement, but musically has far too much aggression.

2. Dark Entries (Single)

A live masterpiece, feedback intro of rising tension, raising the hairs on the back of neck before bursting into the fastest Bauhaus song, even as a 50 year old at a re-union gig I had to rush forward and throw myself into the melee

3. Terror Couple Kill Colonel (Single)

The good old days when bands would release singles and NOT put them on albums, a slightly slower song compared to earlier releases and what a title , how could you not listen and it all takes place ‘in his West German home ‘

4. Third Uncle (B-side)

Bauhaus went through a period of releasing covers as singles, probably in an attempt to get in the top 20 – Telegram Sam, Ziggy Stardust and this Brian Eno cover, The first 2 were songs I already knew and were delivered with more threat than the originals, but Third Uncle was new to me as I had never heard any Brian Eno solo stuff and to be honest could have been a Bauhaus original for all I cared. This always takes me take to a Rock City show this was the opening number, but Peter Murphy was at the side of stage playing keyboards, which was like playing Duncan Ferguson at right back for the first ten minutes, taking away the focal point of the team/band.

5. Hollow Hills (Album track)

All live shows/performances need a pause, a breather, a chance for both the band and the audience to recover from the adrenaline rush of the first few songs, for Bauhaus Hollow Hills worked perfectly a shimmering introduction, almost spoken vocals the song carried by the repetitive bass notes.

Side 2

6. Burning From the Inside (Album track)

During their 2006 re-union tour I saw Bauhaus in Birmingham to begin the show. Daniel Ash stands atop the speaker stack and starts playing this tune, it isn’t the fastest of intros/riffs, but the sheer confidence/arrogance of the man was spell binding, wearing what looked like a fur edged tank top with his hair in a top knot we all stood still in disbelief.

7. Kick In The Eye (Single)

‘Searching for Satori’, released twice as a single it was the lead off track from the second album and heralds a sequence of great singles from mixed albums . Fairly obviously the live performances would feature Mr Murphy showing off his high kicks.

8. Antonin Artaud (Album Track)

Pretentious or educational? From The Sky’s Gone Out album, having heard the song I had to go to the library ( pre internet days) to find out who Antonin was, has the final repeated line ‘Those Indians wank on his bones’,

9. Dancing (Album Track)

Back to the second album ‘Mask’ (worse album cover ever contender) and another great live track that brought out the best of Peter Murphy’s athleticism, I have always assumed it is about himself as it described his stage performance perfectly.

10. Crowds (B side)

Another song that seems to be about themselves ( and also the audience this time) the only Bauhaus track that I can remember that features a piano rather than guitar.

11. In The Flat Field (Album track)

A great live track with thunderous drums which describes the frustration/boredom of a teenager living in the sticks wanting excitement. The line ‘in the flat field I do get bored replace with Piccadilly whore’ sums up why anyone moves to a big city.

12 Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Single)

I just had to include it, a career defining track which sounds nothing like anything else they recorded.

Thanks

Middle Aged Man

 

I’ve long had the impression that Bauhaus had enjoyed decent enough chart success in the early 80s. I did know that their cover of Ziggy Stardust was by far and away their biggest hit and that their finest moment, Bela Lugosi’s Dead, hadn’t ever charted but has probably collectively sold enough copies over the years to be close to being their best-selling effort.

It was something of a surprise to look things up and discover that only two of their singles ever crackled the Top 40 meaning there was just one other hit beyond the cover. If I hadn’t already seen the answer, guess #1 would have been Kick In the Eye and guess #2 would have been Lagartija Nick, but both of these stalled in the 40s. Turns out it was their farewell single, one that was released in April 1983 and which climbed to #26:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – She’s In Parties (12″version)

Things had gone a bit sour for the band shortly after them enjoying the chart success with Ziggy Stardust. It had helped bring about a growth in audiences and as did the appearance of the band in the horror movie The Hunger, in which the afore-mentioned Bela Lugosi’s Dead featured prominently at the beginning. Oh, and not forgetting that frontman Peter Murphy had also been the face of a rather eye-catching and distinctive advertising campaign for cassette tapes in which his face appeared on billboards all across the UK as well as within a TV ad that sort of paid homage to music videos.

As with any bands, the frontman is crucial to the media focus but just as the attention was focussing on Bauhaus, their singer fell ill and indeed work on what was going to be their fourth album was initially delayed and then embarked upon without him being around much in the studio. What became Burning On The Outside was eventually released in the summer of 1983 by which time the band had more or less called it a day – there certainly wasn’t much done in the way of promotion and yet it still went Top 20 and sold enough copies to qualify for a silver disc (at least 60,000).

She’s In Parties, with its mix of goth, late-70s Bowie, pop and hints of dub, was an excellent choice as lead-off single for the album – as it turned out, given that there were so many underlying problems in 1983, it was the only single. Turns out, it was actually an older number, rescued somewhat from the vaults as they were struggling in the absence of Murphy to deliver enough material for a full record.

Here’s the b-sides from the 12”:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Here’s The Dub (Special Effects by ‘Loonatik & Drinks)
mp3 : Bauhaus – Departure

The former is a remix of the a-side while the latter, which was also on the 7”, was from a John Peel session that had been broadcast the previous year

Worth mentioning that while She’s In Parties was the last commercial single the band would release, the end of the year would see a fan-club only single issued as a thank you to those who had paid a subscription for material only to have been let down by the break-up of the band. It’s a ridiculously rare piece of vinyl with seemingly less than 300 copies known to be in circulation, and as such fetches many hundreds of pounds as and when anyone offers a second-hand sale; but the track was made available as long ago as 1988 when Burning On The Outside was issued as a CD with some bonus tracks and has also appeared on some ‘best of’ or compilation albums:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – The Sanity Assassin

The b-side of the fan club single?? It’s another cover….and one which would be taken to the #1 spot in the UK just a couple of years later by Doctor and The Medics:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Spirit In The Sky

It took until 2013 before this became available, thanks to its inclusion on a 5xCD box set…..and is perhaps evidence that some things are best kept in the vaults!

JC

ON REFLECTION…A RATHER UNUSUAL RELEASE
(Originally posted on 23 February 2013)

1982.

Bauhaus had been kicking around for a few years without ever troubling the chart-compilers. The record label then hit on the wheeze of releasing, as their eighth single, a cover version of one of the most famous songs written and recorded by David Bowie. This was at a time when Bowie was being accused on selling out, what with hitting the charts with duets with firstly Queen and then Bing Crosby (!!) and rumours flying around the music industry that his next LP was going to be a real crossover pop/dance effort.

So in a sense, this very faithful interpretation of Ziggy Stardust was a reminder to us kids that Bowie had made some great music a decade or so earlier and why he was regarded as such a huge influence to many:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Ziggy Stardust

All the label on the 12″ single says is ‘released by arrangement with BBC Records’. It was years later, thanks to a CD compilation of all their BBC sessions, that it could be revealed it dated from a July 1982 session recorded for the David ‘Kid’ Jensen Show on Radio 1.

The track got to #15 in the UK charts and proved to be the band’s only Top 20 hit.

I came across it while cleaning out the record cupboard the other week having long forgotten that I owned a copy. Gave the b-sides a spin for the first time in decades – found them to be a a right strange bag:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Party of the First Part
mp3 : Bauhaus – Third Uncle
mp3 : Bauhaus – Waiting For The Man

The first of these was turns out to be from a John Peel Session in March 1982. This must have bemused long-time fans of the band. It’s a sort of lounge-jazz piece of music with sampled dialogue from what sounds like some sort of horror movie. Turns out that the band are really having a laugh at their own alleged demonic/goth roots as the sample is from The Devil and Daniel Mouse – a 1978 cartoon with this plot line:-

Finding their audience drying up in favour of rock music, two young mouse folk singers find themselves with a bleak future. Desperate for a better career and life, the female vows that she would do anything to become a rock star. Instantly, the Devil arises to take advantage of that and offers to make her a star in exchange for her soul. She agrees and she quickly becomes the star she’s dreamed of while her boyfriend, Daniel Mouse, is left behind. On the night of her greatest triumph, the devil comes to collect on her soul. In desperation, she turns to Daniel who must attempt the impossible task of trying to find an escape loophole for his girl’s release.

I’m guessing being a family cartoon young Daniel finds a way…..but I’m still quite tickled at the band showing such a cracking sense of humour.

Over on the flip-side the track Third Uncle is also taken from the same Jensen session as Ziggy. It’s a cover of a Brian Eno composition, originally released in 1974. I’ve never heard the original, but I’m happy to make a blind bet that the Bauhaus version is wildly different. Oh and I’m happy that having just played it for the first time in nearly 30 years, it has been added to the i-pod list cos I like it….

The final track was much anticipated. Recorded live at Fagins in Manchester and featuring Nico from The Velvet Underground on co-vocals, this very disappointingly sounds like two drunk patrons being backed by a wedding band. Total letdown.

JC

Bauhaus are one of the many bands of the early 80s era who could lay claim to having a say in the ‘invention’ of goth rock. It’s fair to say that most folk will recall the name of only one member of the four-piece, that of singer Peter Murphy. And yet, the fact is he only became part of the band when the others approached him, not because of his vocal talents, but simply because he had the right look.

There’s no disputing that Murphy was one of those blokes who it was impossible for even the most hetro and red-blooded male to deny was good-looking. Certainly, there were plenty of us who tried hard to capture the image, be it the impeccably prepared hair, the sharp as a razor cheekbones, or the piercing eyes made all the more memorable by the clever application of make-up.

Bauhaus never quite made it the way so many expected them to. I was surprised to find out that of the 11 singles and 4 EPs released at their peak between 1980 and 1983, only two of them actually cracked the Top 40, and one of these was a cover of Ziggy Stardust (indeed, this was their biggest success hitting #15 in 1982).

There are, in my opinion, two tracks that have more than stood the test of time and I’ve dug the bits of vinyl out of the cupboard.  Possibly the greatest nine-minute long single of all time:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Bela Legosi’s Dead

I don’t have the original 1979 release but one from a couple of year later that has this fascinating little number on the b-side:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Boys/Dark Entries (demo)

A close second in my personal Bauhaus chart is this:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Kick In The Eye

The song had in fact been issued as a single in 1981 but had stalled at #59. On the back of the Ziggy success, the record label gave it a re-release on the Searching for Satori EP, but still public wouldn’t bite and it only reached a disappointing #45. And yet…..I could have sworn it was a huge hit…it was one of those songs that inevitably filled the floor of any student disco I was at. Here’s yer other tracks which by turn are surprising (ie not the sort of song you’d associate with miserable goths) and weird (ie unlistenable shite…..but feel free to differ)

mp3 : Bauhaus – Harry
mp3 : Bauhaus – Earwax

Oh and I forgot…..I’m also quite fond of giving this a listen every now and again, but I’ve only got a copy via a CD compilation:-

mp3 : Bauhaus – Lagartija Nick

Enjoy!!