new Bauhaus album, March 4th 2008, "Going Away White" + the end

This should not happen.

I thought you didn't care about goths?

When did I ever say that? I love several Goth bands. I was simply taking exception to certain bands being mistakenly pigeon-holed as Goths when they're nothing of the fucking sort. In the same way I bristled when Anthony Miccio called Redd Kross a "hair metal band", I take elephantine exception to bands like Killing Joke and SWANS being called Goths.

Bauhaus are irrefutably Goths and were fucking brilliant, but I get the feeling that this album is going to go the way of the Clash's Cut the Crap.

I'm curious. I wouldn't have minded seeing them live again though.

Bauhaus are irrefutably Goths

Pete's denying everything:

You developed Gothic Rock with bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees, Sisters Of Mercy or Cure, representing the British scene of the Eighties. The same style was performed in the USA by acts like Christian Death: I think the two scenes had different connotations. Do you agree with me? If so, which are the differences, in your opinion?

Bauhaus did not develop anything other than Bauhaus. (remember Siouxsie developed in and from Punk, the Sisters of Mercy much later than the so called Post Punk stage. All very different bands. It’s not accurate to associate any bands of that time since also essentially, bands in general, have their own creative worlds . I would have thought that the ‘gothic’ music scene developed of its own accord much later in the nineties. This is also a comment on the nature of British bands and culture being fiercely individualistic.

Only as much depth and ability as The Mish, obviously.

live show I saw last year (er, two years ago) was excellent. don't know about a new album but would have to be better than peter murphy's last album.

I think Alex's Mish thing on the SY/Swans thread was actually saying they don't have the depth but he still likes them even with the trappings of goth and that certain other bands (KJ) do have that depth but shouldn't be labelled goth just because they succumb to some of the trappings of goth imagery.

Then again he called Strawberry Switchblade a goth band and put them in the same sentence as Sex Gang Children and London After Midnight so maybe he's just on crack.

xpost

That's what I mean, so Bauhaus by default don't have enough depth and/or ability for him to say they shouldn't be labelled goth. They then fall into the same nebulous area as The Mish.

Rule 1 of goth bands: deny you are a goth band

I don't think Strawberry Switchblade ever had to deny that one.

I would have thought that the ‘gothic’ music scene developed of its own accord much later in the nineties

You'd be laughably mistaken to the point where people should feel strongly obliged to point at you and openly guffaw, if not pelt you with rancid fruit.

Then again he called Strawberry Switchblade a goth band and put them in the same sentence as Sex Gang Children and London After Midnight so maybe he's just on crack.

Are you seriously suggesting that these bands are not bona fide goth bands?

That's what I mean, so Bauhaus by default don't have enough depth and/or ability for him to say they shouldn't be labelled goth. They then fall into the same nebulous area as The Mish.

Not quite. I'm not suggesting that Bauhaus were as shallow as the Mission (again, who I love), but rather that they were so crucial to the establishment of the Goth sensibility -- to say nothing of the sartorial/tonsorial trappings -- that would be ridiculously hard pressed to make the argument that they were <i>not</i>, in face, fully representative of "Goth." That said, I do think they had a great deal more depth than the Mish (not entirely a difficult feat, admittedly).

I'm suggesting that Strawberry Switchblade were not even remotely goth and do not belong in that company.

xpost

soundwise perhaps, but Rose McDowall is like Ms. July of the Universal Goth Pinup Calendar.

Are you seriously suggesting that these bands are not bona fide goth bands?

Maybe you should listen to a Strawberry Switchblade record instead of just looking at pictures.

they were so crucial to the establishment of the Goth sensibility -- to say nothing of the sartorial/tonsorial trappings -- that would be ridiculously hard pressed to make the argument that they were <i>not</i>, in face, fully representative of "Goth."

See also Joy Division, Killing Joke.

Yes a couple of members evolved from being punky to wearing heavy eyeliner and black and white polkadots. They also had some Cure assistance on their album iirc. That's as 'goth' as they got, i.e. not at all.

If Strawberry Switchblade are a goth band then Killing Joke are the Lords of Fucking Goth Darkness.

xpost again

Should we sensibly consider Boris a goth pre-Cure?

Also, let's not forget Strawberry Switchblade at one point included that ARCH GOTH FIEND Roddy Frame.

I would also like to put Alex and Pete Murphy in a room together, just to watch Alex guffaw and point and pelt him with rancid fruit.

I'm got a nagging feeling there was another Cure member involved somewhere, maybe Porl?

If I remember I'll check the sleeve notes.

xpost re Boris

I've, not I'm

Anyway, I suspect Alex may be right in his first post here. It was great to see them tour but the thought of new material doesn't excite me in the least. I hope to be proved wrong.

Like being right ever counted for anything on ILX.

I would also like to put Alex and Pete Murphy in a room together, just to watch Alex guffaw and point and pelt him with rancid fruit.

it probably wouldn't be a first for Peter.

Should we sensibly consider Boris a goth pre-Cure?

He was also in the Thompson Twins prior to the Cure, no?

Okay. Here was go then:

Who here consider The Cure to be a goth band? A show of hands, please

I went to see Bauhaus a couple of years ago and it was great, they still seemed really into it and played great.

maybe this could be GOOD! woah.

Okay. Here was go then:

Who here consider The Cure to be a goth band? A show of hands, please

-- Alex in NYC, Wednesday, December 5, 2007 4:17 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

*raises hand*

no goth bands wanna be goth bands! like colonel poo said, that's classic you have to deny it.

i agree that joy division isn't goth but the cure and bauhaus are totes goth.

Okay, then. Who would consider the song "The Lovecats" to be a goth tune, then?

or, for that matter, The Mission's cover of "Mr.Pleasant" by the Kinks...

I consider the Cure to have been a Goth band right up until about 25 years ago, excluding the first album(s).

I guess the question I'm rather laboriously trying to raise is how does one pinpoint a band's ties to a genre when they clearly dare to stray from the parameters of said genre?

Are the Damned a punk band?

He was also in the Thompson Twins prior to the Cure, no?

And any Thompson Twins connection to goth is?

Goth bands don't have to always have goth songs, but they always maintain a core of gothness that they can't hide. it's black sabbath is a metal band, even though they have quiet pretty songs and stuff like that.

the essence of goth cannot be scrubbed clean!

Dudez whatever I only kind of like the Cure anyway, every kid that thought he/she was a goth loved the Cure and did their hair just like the Cure and wore Cure t-shirts.

Plus the fact that they deny it almost proves they were goth! It's not like people go around accusing everyone of being goth!

http://www.overtimecomedy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/up-they_might_be_giants_01.jpg

"While we have the utmost respect for our fans in the goth community, we've never really considered ourselves a goth band"

Hmm, for me the main elements of goth are the flamboyant theatrics. The Cure never really had that aspect, whereas the Banshees and Bauhaus hsure as hell did.

It's not like people go around accusing everyone of being goth!

I think if people are going to point the finger at Strawberry Switchblade then no-one is safe.

goth is like porn i know it when i see it

http://www.rshb.org.uk/dust/rosemcdowall.jpg

Hmm, for me the main elements of goth are the flamboyant theatrics. The Cure never really had that aspect

Ummmm. Maybe take a look at some of their videos, notably "The Hanging Garden."

If Jill Bryson and Alannah Currie had a competition to see who was the most goth, it would be won by Angela Lansbury.

...which, suffice to say, is as Goth as Fuck.

x-x-post

i just listened to strawberry switchblade (2 songs on their myspace)...it reminded me of like camera obscura or something like that.

VERDICT: Not Goth

on the subject of the new bauhaus record - the billboard article indicates it's more or less going to be a posthumous release, as the band have split over something contentious and are no longer touring, nor will they tour at all to support the new record. so at least it's not an overtly commercial move; it sounds more like they wanted to make a record cause they were enjoying touring and playing music in each other's company, in the first place, and then split regardless of not being able to tour behind the new record. which makes it not exactly a "comeback" album, but a "bowing out" album.

(or website not myspace actually)

Rose McDowall != Strawberry Switchblade

Catchy bubblegum pop by girls with eyeliner != goth

Next you'll be googling monochrome pictures of Shampoo.

Uh-oh. We're in trouble.

Actually that Rose McD single is even less goth than Strawberry Switchblade.

Blue Oyster Cult = Goff or not?

http://seidr.woods.ru/rosemcdowall.jpg

Why bother listening to records when you can make sweeping generalisations based on pictures?

Besides which I heard that Rose McDowall was once on the same bill as Right Said Fred and one of them gets his windows washed by a guy whose brother once got on the same bus as Sal Solo, so that definitely makes her a goth, right?

Err, she also used to be in Current 93 and Death In June...

I know, I was riffing on Alex's assertion the Thompson Twins were goths.

You misread that. I never suggested that.

So, you know, go put on a black waistcoat, paint some cobwebs on your pale, puffy pate, do a wavey arm dance and go blow yourself.

^ great Edward Ka-Spiel lyrics

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c179/laurenless/random%20pictures%20i%20like/dances.jpg

http://www.thebeatsurrender.co.uk/images/uploads/large/killing-joke.jpg

Alex, yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQArLLWd9P0

http://www.thebeatsurrender.co.uk/images/uploads/large/killing-joke.jpg even

^painted pale face wavey arm dance dude, waistcoat possibly concealed.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/e3929889/SistersMercy.jpghttp://www.music-lyrics-chord.com/cover/Vanilla_Ice_Cool_as_Ice.jpg

GothicMatch- Great Gothic Dating!

To your own point, Onimo, you're just going by a picture.

xxpost

I know.

I've kind of lost what point you were trying to make with your questions re the Cure/Lovecats/Mr Pleasant.

Are you saying
a) The Cure should always be considered a Goth band because they recorded Pornography
b) The Cure should not be considered a Goth band because they haven't made a Goth record for 25 years (Disintegration was only playing at it)
c) The Cure should be considered a band who once made some sort of Goth type records and like black clothes and still have a substantial black clad following
d) Goth doesn't actually exist
?

Because I get the feeling you think a) applies to the Cure yet b) or maybe c) applies to KJ.

Your invoking of Strawberry Switchblade on the SY thread implies that you think "if it looks like a Goth it's a Goth" in which case I refer to to 1000 Jaz 'Not A Goth' Coleman pictures.

I know you get annoyed at KJ being lumped in with all the other "Goth" pioneers on compilations, but their inclusion is surely as valid as the band who recorded Lovecats and Just Like Heaven and Catch and hundreds of other songs that aren't even close to Goth no matter how bad Fat Bob's make-up is.

(FWIW I'd have Cure at b) and KJ at c) but the critical thing for anyone trying to sell a goth box set is what the audience looks like, not what genre the band might think they do or don't belong to)

why does anyone care this much about whether something is goth?

Slow Wednesday?

goth beef is fun!

You misread that. I never suggested that.

-- Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:57 (34 minutes ago)

Would you care to explain what you actually meant when you said

He was also in the Thompson Twins prior to the Cure, no?

-- Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 16:16

in direct response to my Should we sensibly consider Boris a goth pre-Cure? then?

If the Cure record a goth album in a forest, but nobody hears it play, are they still a goth band?

What is the sound of one goth LARPing?

Goths or not, I'm interested to hear the new stuff, and I think they might just be capable of pulling off a comeback.

Alex's goth/not goth distinction is so LOL at this point it could have the surname Tolhurst.

That might make it more goth or not.

Lol = was forced to dress like Robert Smith in the early days, and looked pudgy and pasty and uncomfortable about it, like you just grabbed a mechanic from the pub and smeared makeup on him and he felt incredibly silly and grossed-out about it ...

= REAL GOTH

My main concern about the new release - if we can talk about that - would be the possible results of Bauhaus writing new material in a deliberate reaction against the Goth label.

I wouldn't particularly worry about that, mostly because they've worked on stuff steadily enough since Bauhaus that their sensibilities seem more engaged with today than with the issues of the late 70s or early 80s. If they were, it'd only be to their benefit -- all the goth talk and glam covers tend to overshadow the fact that they were exactly the kind of dubby, slashy post-punk band people revere these days! Only with better guitar tech! "She's in Parties" -- dub, not goth! "Third Uncle" cover -- better than Joy Division, and with claws instead of potato faces! Etc.!

Yeah, I think you're right. Certainly hope so. And absolutely OTM about the post-Punk with better guitars bit.

My question about Boris being in the Thompson Twins was just that -- a question. I recall seeing him on a pre-Sidekicks album cover of theirs, but am not sure. The `Twins being a Goth band or not a Goth band doesn't enter into it. They're not, incidentally. Oh, and go felch yourself.

In terms of the `Switchblade allusion, you said that their music wasn't at all Goth. By the same token, I wouldn't call "Lovecats" or "Mr.Pleasant" goth tunes either, but that doesn't make the Mission any less of a Goth band. The Cure is a bit more a grey area.

In terms of Bauhaus attempting to shed their ties with Goth via this final album, well -- consider the album's title.

Killing Joke aren't Goths. Assuredly, there are elements about their music and their visual presentation over the years which certainly share some of the trappings of what is conventionally regarded as Goth, but they're just not. Same with Joy Division. Blah blah blah blah Goth not GOth.

Bauhaus, like it or not, will NEVER shed their ties to Goth. Nor will the Sisters.

Nabisco unsurprisingly OTM and there ya go.

we need trayce's opinion on this.

Anybody know what "the incident" is that made Bauhaus not want to continue anymore? (isn't explained in that Billboard article - and wikipedia just got it from Billboard too)

Come on, Goth gossip! (Gothip?)

i love everything bauhaus ever did. i have no desire to hear a new bauhaus album. "no new tale to tell" might have been the last great thing that any member of bauhaus ever did and that was four zillion years ago.

i love everything bauhaus ever did. i have no desire to hear a new bauhaus album.

Honestly this is kinda my feeling at base. I've enjoyed all the reunion shows, at least...

"no new tale to tell" might have been the last great thing that any member of bauhaus ever did

David J's adult contemporary phase was pretty fun

(Gothip?)

Bahahahaha

xpost: "In terms of Bauhaus attempting to shed their ties with Goth via this final album, well -- consider the album's title."

I am troubled by the image of them coming on in white overalls with glowsticks and playing happy hardcore techno.

Have you seen the Sisters recently?

If the Thompson Twins are irrelevant I'm wondering why Alex brought them into the coversation regarding Gothness.

I love how Alex hasn't still actually listened to Strawberry Switchblade either. I also love his assertion that because I disagree with him I am a goth, which the people on this thread can attest I am not (although does that mean I am?).

There's an implicit IRL in that sentence, obviously.

i expect chaki to throw down the gossip on "the incident" to which Haskins is referring within today.

(Well, if not, good for Bauhaus. Thanks for the two reunion shows, dudes. Hope no one in the band became terminally ill or anything. "Undead Undead", "This is not only the last show of the TOUR," jokes go here)

I'll be surprised if it isn't about Pete Murphy.

NOT GOTH: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pjLjDLto_Eo

ALSO NOT GOTH: aldo

If the Thompson Twins are irrelevant I'm wondering why Alex brought them into the coversation regarding Gothness.

I love how Alex hasn't still actually listened to Strawberry Switchblade either. I also love his assertion that because I disagree with him I am a goth, which the people on this thread can attest I am not (although does that mean I am?).

(a) you're a dick.
(b) I brought the Thompson Twins into the conversation merely to verify that Boris DID, in fact, log some time in their ranks prior to joining the Cure. Why you choose to read more into that than is there is your problem, not mine.
(c) you're a dick
(d) I've listened to Strawberry Switchblad -- theyr'e shit. Regardless, to pshaw their ties to Goth is to demonstrate your own lack of insight.
(e) I never suggested you were a Goth. You're certainly a dick, but I can't say whether or not you're a Goth.
(f) You're a dick

I brought the Thompson Twins into the conversation merely to verify that Boris DID, in fact, log some time in their ranks prior to joining the Cure.

A verification nobody was asking you to provide? You're the only person that brought it up.

Regardless, to pshaw their ties to Goth is to demonstrate your own lack of insight.

Insisting there are any ties to goth (I mean, which of the two of us was growing up in the UK when they were popular?) demonstrates your own ability to place image above everything else. The very same thing you're decrying elsewhere.

I never suggested you were a Goth.

No, that's right, you just said "So, you know, go put on a black waistcoat, paint some cobwebs on your pale, puffy pate, do a wavey arm dance and go blow yourself.". Which normal people (and Jaz Coleman) do all the time.

Your repetition is troubling there. Perhaps you should try and find an editor, he could improve your writing.

Guyz, can we chill just a little, please?

No - don't chill. This is fun!

I often wonder about Lol Tolhurst. Whether he regrets his name, which has only becoem silly since about 1995. He seems to have had misfortune after misfortune stacked upon him. Still, he's very rich, so life can't be too bad.

we need trayce's opinion on this.

Hahah - thank yew chaki.

Look, I would be fine with Strawberry Switchblade being called goth, or the phrase I like to use is "goth-friendly". Plenty of goths I know love Kate Bush and Massive Attack and any number of bands that arent goth in of themselves but have that asthetic, you know?

Also, Rose McDowall looked awesome. The end.

I often wonder about Lol Tolhurst.

He lives in the same village in Devon as my mate Dave's mum. Apparently he still likes a drink, although it's Real Ale these days. He goes round theirs for barbecues in the summer.

Wasn't there something on here in the dim and distant about b3cky luc4s discussing Lol's knob with him on his web forum? Or did I make that up?

Have you seen the Sisters recently?
The recent gold string vest and adidas training top developments are a worry. There's throwing off your goth shackles and there's looking like a washed up old raver.

"Have you seen the Sisters recently?"

No, but even the still pictures were painful. Bauhaus, please, just . . don't. Goth shackles would be just fine.

A verification nobody was asking you to provide? You're the only person that brought it up.

I wasn't providing it -- I was asking for one, thinking that someone here might know for certain. I just thought it was simply an interesting factoid that might broaden the discussion. Whatever, it's simply trivia either way.

I composed that last post after several beers. The tone of this thread has changed from a (relatively) light hearted discussion into a series of heated exchanges. I'm entirely complicit in that, so I apologize for my part in it. In any case, I'm not really interested in perpetuating it any further. If you want to think that Killing Joke and Swans are goths -- so be it. And if I want to labor on believing that Strawberry Switchblade were a folk-skiffle band, then so it shall be.

Honour The Fire!

Subject: Telegram: 'Go Away White', the new Bauhaus album
From: Telegram Sam <telegram-sam @ bauhausmusik.com>

BAUHAUS - 'GO AWAY WHITE'

'I come with this darkness and go away white.'

Bauhaus slid fully formed from punk rock's womb in late 1978. Over the
course of four hot years, they unintentionally birthed a genre (Goth),
moved on, moved forward, and surged mercurial through the post-punk music
scene, tearing into tense, stark, dub bass-driven new-wave, T-Rex-esque
glam, and swirling, clattering, orchestral atmospherics, whilst churning
it all into a grand velvet, Rimbaudian hallucination. It was a wild,
inspired, enthralling sound. And it still is. Now there is a new record.

'Go Away White' was recorded in 18 days at Zircon Skye in Ojai, with
singer Peter Murphy, bassist David J, guitarist Daniel Ash, and drummer
Kevin Haskins playing together as a band in one room, taking first takes
as final cuts. So, a new record but apparently a final one, the band
having decided to release it as a posthumous swan song.

'Go Away White' is everything you would hope Bauhaus would deliver as
their final statement. Fronted by a cover photo of Bethesda, the angel of
the healing waters in New York's Central Park, the music inside is pure
cathartic renovation, a psychedelic glimpse into an enchanted moment.
Aided in part by guitarist Daniel Ash's inspired use of Jimi Hendrix's own
personal Vox wah wah pedal, gifted to him by Peter Murphy at the start of
the sessions, it is pop as much as it is experimental.

The 10 songs on 'Go Away White' channel the kind of magic timelessness you
could imagine on a mighty bill with Joy Division, Bowie, Devo, the
Creatures, Antony, My Bloody Valentine, and Kraftwerk--with Oscar Wilde
playing master of ceremonies.

As the NME once said, "Bauhaus are to Goth, what Radiohead are to Prog."
It's all building blocks. Give 'Go Away White' an honest minute and you'll
realize that The Klaxons, The Killers, The Rapture and Foals all got their
beats from Bauhaus, and how--without them--there would be no Nine Inch
Nails or Jane's Addiction or Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, AFI, TV on the
Radio, Interpol, Hot Hot Heat or LCD Sound System.

The accomplishments of the band are too many to list here but to touch
lightly, there are the four studio albums: 'In the Flat Field' (1980),
'Mask' (1981), 'The Sky's Gone Out' (1982), and 'Burning from the Inside'
(1983). There is the riveting appearance with David Bowie in the
movie,'The Hunger'. There are the classic Peel sessions and the
hits--seismic rumbles such as 'She's in Parties', 'Kick in the
Eye','Stigmata Martyr', and the great, epic, pillar of ether and brooding,
psychedelia, that is 'Bela Lugosi's Dead.'

So, an end but an end with one final sonorous statement. Behold 'Go Away
White'.

Watch as night comes, as day breaks and the light . . . pours . . . in.

--Adam Gnade

Released on March 4th, 2008 worldwide. Distributed by Red Eye in North
America, Cooking Vinyl for the rest of the world. It will also be
available as digital download on iTunes (only in North America).

The 10 songs on 'Go Away White' channel the kind of magic timelessness you could imagine on a mighty bill with Joy Division, Bowie, Devo, the Creatures, Antony, My Bloody Valentine, and Kraftwerk--with Oscar Wilde playing master of ceremonies.

o_O

As the NME once said, "Bauhaus are to Goth, what Radiohead are to Prog."

o_O x 10,000,000,000,000

Quite a review.

'Go Away White' was recorded in 18 days at Zircon Skye in Ojai

Okay if you had EVER told me a Bauhaus album was going to be recorded in frickin' OJAI...

Although now I get an image of Bauhaus hanging around Solvang enjoying Danish treats and dealing with the ostriches.

Pretty nifty, how he mentions Foals in passing, just in case they make it big next year and forget they owe it all to the 'haus.

Doesn't sound too much like the embarrassing techno album I was worried about.

Although now I get an image of Bauhaus hanging around Solvang enjoying Danish treats and dealing with the ostriches.

Ok first track on the new album: "In the Courtyard of the Neverland (Sweet Brysslkex at Dawn)"

Sounds pretty fucking essential, from that review.

tell curtis happy birthday for me.

Uh, guys, about that 'review' -- reads way more like typical PR guff to me.

well sure - but isn't that the point of PR, to make everything sound better than it really is?

well duh:

From: Telegram Sam <telegram-sam @ bauhausmusik.com>

the promo quotes around Mogwai - Mr Beast, "as good as, if not better than, Loveless" come immediately to mind. was it true? no way. did i enjoy the PR and want to believe it could be *that good*? well for fuck's sake, why not! did i still enjoy the album? of course!

i wanted to move to ojai years ago.

x-post -- Okay, but you're the one who said 'review' and I'm all "WHAT review?"

awful word choice, in retrospect ;-)

tell curtis happy birthday for me.

-- andi, Saturday, December 15, 2007 12:40 AM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

^^^

not in his b-day thread yet. errrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

haha. Thanks, andi!

If the PR statement indicates what the band were aiming for, I'm even more up for it.

My mind is still boggling over this: 'As the NME once said, "Bauhaus are to Goth, what Radiohead are to Prog."' Either way you read this, the NME must have been having a particularly good day: Bauhaus were influenced by the Goth bands that came after them, OR Radiohead influenced the prog bands that predated them by thirty years. Woooah!

Yeah, I couldn't quite get my head around that one either, but y'know --- fuck the NME.

WORST MISQUOTE EVER!!!

I found the original quote online: http://www.nme.com/reviews/bauhaus/403

It says:

Bauhaus are only 'goth' like RADIOHEAD are 'prog'.

PR mail intentionally misquotes magazine! News at 11!

Makes a tad more sense, but I still beg to differ.

Actually, I prefer the misquote.

I'm really salivating over this album. Gimme now!

so i'm listening to this now. it actually does sound like them, not sure if i will really play this often though.

Curious.

Should be getting this in the mail shortly, will give thoughts when I do.

Seems it has leaked. Can anyone elaborate on how it sounds?

I have a promo copy for review, not really loving it. Sounds like they've really gone with the "white" thing, and gotten rid of all the intensity that characterized all their songs that I loved. Need to listen to it more, though.

3 songs in and I'm really liking this so far. Very much Bauhaus.

Yeah, it's very Bauhaus in tone and delivery...except there's just something missing. Urgency? Sinisterness? Not sure.

you

I think I might have been a bit hasty in panning this album, on second listen I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood the first time. "And List Some Are of the Damned" is strangely hypnotic, and the first two tracks provide the catchy. Some of it is a bit era taping, but overall I think this is solid. I don't like the remix of "The Dogs of Vapor" as much as the version on the Heavy Metal 2000 soundtrack, though.

Era taping or era tapping?

My voice recognition and I need to have words... that's supposed to be "irritating." Which some of it is, but not as much so as I originally thought. Anyway, surprisingly good considering it's been 25 years since their last album.

25 year hiatus + Hello, this is BAUHAUS = no one's gonna get an idea of what the hell this album is like from reader comments until one actually hears it.

Neoskaffle and country'n'washburn

I don't know, sounds like Bauhaus but slightly perkier? Peter Murphy does a little more with his vocals, what with all the years of practice from his solo career, they have the metronome drumming, and the scratchy guitars. Some of the songs are catchy, some are hypnotic (that should be "Endless Summer of the Damned" above). Some are kind of danceable. It's good stuff.

if these are the song titles though, haha.

Cleopatra: "GOD ALL WE WANTED WAS TO RELEASE THIS AND NOW WE HAVE TO PUNISH THE WORLD WITH OUR SHITTY KRAUTROCK VINYL REISSUES.. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

...AAAAAAAaaaaaaooooth.

"The Dog's a Vapour." Dammit. Does anyone have any idea what that means, by the way? And a lot of the song titles look like Sisters of Mercy titles, yeah. "Too Much 21st Century," "Adrenalin," "Undone," "International Bulletproof Talent," "Saved," "Mirror Remains," and the gothiest title of the year, "Black Stone Heart."

ACtually, my enthusiasm has already kinda waned.

why doesnt some new people start bands?

Livejournals everywhere are weilding wooden stakes as we discuss!

even when the reunion album is good it bums me out when bands who went out on a high note refuse to leave well enough alone

it's mostly just a way to make money

high note is subjective though. Bauhaus originally ended in a bit of acrimony. The other guys reapproached Peter in '84 about Bauhaus, and Peter said hells no, then it really ended (as far as I know?)

well, "really ended" until the late 90s.

I quite like it so far.

i don't think 'burning from the inside' was a high note to end on

Worth it if only for "Antonin Artaud".

Scratch pictures on asylum walls
Broken nails and matchsticks
hypodermic hypodermic hypodermic
RED FIX

Somehow I never got around to saying so on this thread, though I first heard it a week ago, but I quite liked it overall. "Mirror Remains" is positively blood curdling! My only complaint was that on two songs towards the beginning they were using really common stereotypical rock riffs that rather dimished their uniqueness. But from what I recall, the lyrics helped. Other than that, yeah, I quite liked it overall. I'll have to give it a second listen soon.

"positively blood curdling" is good.

Endless Summer of the Damned is kicking my head in.

There's a great moment -- and I think it's in "Mirror Remains," wherein Murphy is improvising a middle-eight of sorts, while Ash scrapes little staccato figures on his guitar. "Here's where a solo should go," says Pete. "This is the solo," asserts Daniel.

Oh you're right! They really do say that! I thought you meant they just seemed to say that but they really do speak it! Oh my god, that is just such a classic moment I don't know where to begin. And when someone coughs later. Jesus. I wish the whole album was as good as "Mirror Remains", though they come close at times. Who the hell thought they could still do something that cool after all these years? I'm not sure things really get off the ground with this album until "Endless Summer Of The Damned". "Saved" is pretty damn bewitching as well.

God, listen to the drums come in on The Dog's a Vapour. I feel like Peter Murphy is about to turn into a wolf. Good old fashioned scary goth shit! I LOVE IT.

Just bought the CD. Talk about minimalistic design. Bastards

This is really good! A pleasant surprise.

Pint glass!

Hello loyal readers,

The new, long-awaited Bauhaus album, 'Go Away White' is now out!

If you haven't ordered it yet, here's where you can go to purchase it (or
just visit the news page at http://www.bauhausmusik.com/news )

US: Amazon and Newbury Comics (with every Bauhaus cd purchase at Newbury
Comics, you can get a free Bauhaus pint glass until supplies run out)

Europe and UK: Cooking Vinyl and Amazon UK

You can also purchase it on iTunes. If you download the full album, you
also get two bonus video downloads from the Coachella 2005 appearance.
Please note that the videos are only available in countries where iTunes
sell music downloads.

Telegram Sam
Official Bauhaus website
http://www.bauhausmusik.com/

Fuck, I want one of those pint glasses. Only gonna look right with Guinness, though.

http://www.newburycomics.com/stores/newburycomics/user-images/preorder_bauhaus_glasses.jpg

O_o

ebay millions have been made for far less.

Pint Glasses seem more like the type of swag Iron Maiden would sell (nothing wrong with that, mind you). It just seems like Bauhaus would sooner produce a line of wine glasses or decanters from which to sup Absynthe, no?

I'm surprised La Fee absinthe weren't on the case. Then again, Murphy won't be filling his glass with anything stronger than milk. (Which would fit with the CD design.)

Pint glasses are sold out; I want one :(

This is really good! A pleasant surprise.

Yeah, I was really blindsided by just how good this turned out to be.

Alex OTM re: puzzlement of beer glasses vs. more appropriate wine & absinthe.

Finally got my copy yesterday (No beer glass!) Sounding great. They really have pulled this off with style. It's like picking up with an old friend.

Yeah, what's amazing about this album is that it sounds like it could have been recorded 25 years ago. But it doesn't sound dated, it sounds completely fresh and new and different and interesting.

I like it. Smells heavily of Iggy and Bowie moreso than ever before but not as nervous as the older albums. Then again, 25 years later, I'm not expecting a completely reanimated In The Flat Field era Bauhaus, anyway.

Meantime, David J's best of LA

"Good clean Guinness to wash down the footy on the telly." - so that's what the promo beerglasses were for!

"Wash down the footy"?!!?!??!

Oh, David, you have just betrayed years and years of adoration. ::sniff::

That said, I suppose it was Daniel who had the best quote on the rubbishness of football.

What does everyone think of this album approx. 3 months later?

listened to it twice, haven't revisted it. kind of forgot it existed actually

Yeah I forgot about it, but...man that one song...

Which?

listening to this album at all would have been like saying "I give up" for me & I ain't goin out like that

x-post -- "Endless Summer of the Damned," maybe? (It's my highlight at least.)

J0hn - you just gotta think of it like a P.Murphy solo record with a buncha guest appearances. don't compare it to the old stuff, obviously it's no Flat Field but it's not half bad.

I don't want an album that's "not half bad" from the band that made In the Flat Field

Yeah I forgot about it, but...man that one song...

-- Bimble, Tuesday, June 17, 2008 2:22 AM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Which?

-- stephen, Tuesday, June 17, 2008 2:27 AM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

"Mirror Remains" man, that fucking wipes the floor with the rest of the album. It's not their fault, you know, but it really does wipe the floor. Listen to the fucking guitar solo for god's sake.

It's a good album IMHO, and stands with the rest of their studio output. It always was about the individual members pushing in different directions, with unpredictable results. But still, that sound - so good to hear it again.

I don't want an album that's "not half bad" from the band that made ________________

there ya go J0hn, i modified yr complaint so you can fill in the blank with yr favorite album by any band & never enjoy new music again if it doesn't reach the absolute peak of that band's achievements.

oh snap

ps I never listen to this album mostly because I never listen to anything obsessively anymore if it isn't The Cure, Radiohead, MIA or Portishead.

cool thanks Stephen I don't know though I been thinking, maybe I should lower my standards a little and then when a once-great band makes something that's "not half bad" I should just say "hey, at least it's not garbage" and be real happy, the more so if it's a band from my youth 'cause what could be better than having once been young rite?

just so sick of bands that don't really have any reason to reunite except "weren't those great times!" - kill all nostalgia plz, it's useless

haha post w/my Cure-lovin' friend

Isn't it an even more extreme form of nostalgia to dismiss new material by old favorites because it can never be quite the same?

Yeah I suppose, and that's a fair question - doesn't it encourage nostalgia to "preserve the legacy," etc? I mean - the Mission of Burma reunion strikes me as a great way to do things. But I was never as into Burma as much as I was Bauhaus, so their reformation doesn't feel like The Things Of Youth Which Ought To Stay Dead rising from the grave. You know?

I don't know, to my mind Burning From the Inside was a great way to go out on a high note - I loved that. Likelihood of the eventual actual-final-Bauhaus-album providing a similarly satisfying narrative seems low. I mean - if word was "Bauhaus have made a new album and holy fuck who could imagine they'd be this innovative and amazing for a bunch of old dudes," you wouldn't hear a peep outta me. When I hear "it's got one really good song," that's just a little depressing, is all.

It sounds like you're setting yourself up for a disappointment, so perhaps you'd better let it alone. "One good song" is way off the mark, though.

By coincidence, I was listening to "Burning From the Inside" this afternoon, and, knowing where the band were at that point, I could hear how it barely hangs together. It does though, and so does the new one.

Isn't it an even more extreme form of nostalgia to dismiss new material by old favorites because it can never be quite the same?

the Burma reunion is indeed great, live show kills. Bauhaus less so, the album does have 3 or 4 pretty great songs though. J0hn, what's yr take on the MBV reunion?

The Throbbing Gristle reunion is another one that has produced an unexpected reaction - I haven't heard any real criticism at all. You could argue that, even more so than the Sex Pistols, they were of their time, and couldn't ever mean as much today as they did then.

J0hn, what's yr take on the MBV reunion?

if they're not playing new material I couldn't care any less about it, is my take. I don't want to see bands revisit the goddamn glory days, or offer new takes on same, etc etc., I don't say nobody should throw an old jam or two into their set but I sure as hell don't have any interest in seeing a band play a bunch of 20-year-old songs

and yeah, TG was on fucking point as to how to do it: "hi, we have a few new ideas, here they are" - didn't they play zero old songs in their ICA show? solid.