Product Description

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.

Track Listing

1. Too Much 21st Century
2. Adrenalin
3. Undone
4. International Bulletproof Talent
5. Endless Summer Of the Damned
6. Saved
7. Mirror Remains
8. Black Stone Heart
9. The Dog's a Vapour
10. Zikir

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1400 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-04
• Number of discs: 1

Review
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 recognition for the newly eye-lined. --Billboard

Review
Don't freak, but the first thing that comes slithering out of the new Bauhaus record aren't ghoulish echoes from these goth godfather'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

Album Description
2008 studio album from the legendary goth rockers. Cooking Vinyl.

Customer Reviews

WOW!!
IT'S BAUHAUS SOUNDING LIKE SOLO P.MURPHY MATERIAL, LOVE & ROCKETS MATERIAL & A LITTLE ALAH BOWIE ALL MIXED TOGETHER !!!!!!

A sad reminder...
This is a classic example of going back to the place, but not the time. I love the earlier works of this band. The band had broken up before releasing the album, dousing hopes for another concert tour. Peter Murphy still writes ands sings eerie lyrics, as the rest of the band hobbles along to catch up. Maybe this is the reason for the original break up in 1983. He is just too good to be contained within this band.

This still has all of the facets of a style often imitated, yet never recreated. Bauhaus is legendary in the "gothic set". Now, as music seems to be dead, "Gothic" music seems to be more relevant. The best tracks are Adrenaline and Endless Summer of the Damned. Thanks guys for this final addition to my collection. I cannot wait to see Peter Murphy on tour this summer.

It compares well
Although I have been a Bauhaus fan since the first time I heard Bela Lugosi's Dead on KCMU Seattle back in the day, I didn't really get into collecting their catalogue.

I had opportunity to see the boys in black a couple years ago in our local rat-hole theater and THEY TORE IT UP! Since then I have been more active in collecting their recorded works- as finances allow. When I heard that they had a new album out I sought it out, and although it is not the Bauhaus of the 80s, it is still indeed Bauhaus!

Some of the cuts seem thin or unresolved. Undone is almost annoying- I didn't bother porting it to my iTunes library. However, other cuts manage to apologize and make good on your investment.
Black Stone hearts employs very un-goth whistling and hand claps, it made me snicker to imagine a bunch of toe tapping vampyres whistling and snapping their fingers.
Endless Summer of the Damned is a dance hit just begging for some DJ to snag and remix (dear sirrr, please remove the ill-advised backing vocals).
Mirror Remains returns us to the solemn thick Bauhaus atmosphere we all love to wrap ourselves in, and the vampyres regain their dignity.
The Dogs a Vapor is worth the price of admission with its moody prose & soaring and peeling guitar and rhythm bridge. I weep that we may never be able to enjoy this performed live- there is HUGE potential here.
Adrenalin screams and soars as a wonderful rocking drive-by.
Zikir is a nice dreamlike meandering of prose and droning atmosphere to drift away on as the closing cut, artistic yet brief enough to save it from possible monotony.

The live takes provide freshness. You can hear the living beings behind the un-dead. Murphy sometimes pushes notes too far and pays the price- wavers and coughing are left in place. Comments on open mikes are unedited. Imperfectly placed notes and clicks are like fingerprints on a water glass. You can hear the artists in this recording, not a sanitized producer's version.

Yes, Murphy is sometimes indulgent, but the man has achieved a messiah-like status. I imagine it is not easy to remain the humble artist he was in his 20s. As for the rest of the band, time has been their mentor. Like wine they have mellowed and developed those skills that made us enshrine them in our hearts. David J most notably has some really fine moments recorded on this album.
They are Bauhaus in their late 40s, with a quarter century of living under their belts since Bela broke out. They have married, had children, made dozens of records in aggregate and they have all matured as artists.

Go Away White will stand as a quickly jotted, yet perfectly thoughtful, goodbye note left by Bauhaus as they rushed out the studio door and back to their 21st century real-lives.

Although I wouldn't recommend this to a person seeking the essential Bauhaus experience, I would say that those that love Bauhaus with all their scabs and splinters should find something worthy in this recording to add to their collection.