Bauhaus - The Essential Mixtape

THE ESSENTIAL BAUHAUS MIXTAPE


BELA LUGOSI’S DEAD (1979)
Nine minute goth opera featuring bossa nova drums, an eerie take on an old Glitter Band riff, pointed bass and a vocal lamenting the passing of Bela Lugosi. Although it helped create the daftness of goth, subsequently doing the band few favours, it remains an unlikely and unthinkable classic.

ZIGGY STARDUST (1982)
Not strictly a Bauhaus song, this Bowie cover got the group mainstream success and an element of notoriety (it played into the hands of sniping critics who dismissed the band as glam copycats.) That said, it remains one of the very few covers that urinate upon the original from a great height – and I write that as a Bowie fan.

DANCING (1981)
Throbbing post-punk with one of the greatest basslines of the era, some suitably dancey drumming and classic Banshees-esque guitar from Daniel Ash.

ENDLESS SUMMER OF THE DAMNED (2008)
Singled out in the VPT review of recent album “Go Away White”, this song is notable for essentially taking the template of genial early goth-pop numbers such as “Terror Couple Kill Colonel” and turning it into something far more sinister and sexual.

LAGARTIJA NICK (1983)
Apparently forgotten non-album single which saw the band’s second TOTP performance – although the song wasn’t a hit. A tragedy considering the new wave thunder of the rhythm section and some nice S & M-inspired lyrics.

HONEYMOON CROON (1983)
Psychedlic stomper from fourth album, “Burning From The Inside”, an album which readily embraced the psychedelic tones that would colour much of the output from Love & Rockets. Here, the urgency and sense of desperation is provided by a brilliant vocal from Murphy.

IN THE NIGHT (1982)
One of the most remarkable songs in the group’s cannon is a sprawling punk rock masterpiece spread out into three schizophrenic sections. Guitars slash, drums cascade and Murphy delivers one of the most theatrical vocal parts of his career.

DEPARTURE (1983)
Bauhaus were known for issuing extremely experimental B-sides and unsurprisingly, considering how experimental their singles and albums often were, these were mainly unlistenable. Not “Departure”, however – a descending bassline and various atmospheric effects provide a background to a nightmarish and compelling spoken word vocal.

ST VITUS DANCE (1980)
On the group’s last tour, this song was spliced together with a cover of Joy Division’s “Transmission” that pretty much mirrored the original. Had they simply played this quirky synth-laden cut from their debut, it would sincerely have been better.

IN FEAR OF FEAR (1981)
Dance-inspired rhythms and a seriously melodic bassline lead this song in a Joy Division-gone-pop manner. Also noteworthy is the inclusion of Danny Ash’s legendary sax playing – an instrument they used more for atmosphere and feel than melody, as you can tell. Surely inspired by Bowie’s use of the sax on ‘Diamond Dogs’, surely the inspiration for Porl Thompson’s use of the sax in The Cure.

CROWDS (1980)
Simply Murphy and a piano, this bitter rant against unreceptive and unruly audiences sounds less like the end of a relationship but more like the end of life itself. A fitting end to this mixtape, then.

Ergonburger Smith