Go Away White
2008
RedEye
Produced by Bauhaus
Although known for being the godfathers (or gothfathers) of so-called “Goth Rock,” in the early 1980s, Britain’s Bauhaus were initially trying to be glam in the tradition of David Bowie and Marc Bolan. Of course, how they got from glam to dressing in black, rising from coffins on stage, and lurching through tracks like “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and “Stigmata Martyr” remains a mystery. Still, as long as one forgoes the drinking of human blood, musically, the band were quite inventive, although they were never more than a cult band. After four albums, they disbanded in 1983, singer Peter Murphy going on to a respectable solo career (“Cuts You Up” was a minor hit in 1989) and the other three members reformed as Love and Rockets, whom I liked better than Bauhaus. There were a couple of Bauhaus reunion tours in the 1990s, but I was not expecting a new album in 2008, a propos of nothing. Shockingly, it’s actually really good, easily on a par with (or perhaps even better than) their original albums. All the trademarks are there: Daniel Ash’s spiky guitar fills and feedback wails, David J’s nimble bass, Kevin Haskin’s inventive drumming, and of course Peter Murphy’s menacing baritone singing about god-knows-what. This one has been on the iPod since it came out last month. “Endless Summer of the Damned” indeed!
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