Buy Burning from the Inside Import at ARC CD's at great discount music store prices. If
you can not get enough of our incredible selection click the
Previous or Next buttons provided below to see more. Thank you for shopping at
ARC CD's, your discount music store!
What one gets out of this, Bauhaus's final album, largely depends on where one is coming from. If you've listened to this first album, Mask, or the Sky's Gone Out, you're probably going to be in for a shock. Peter Murphy's influence was declining in the band, and unlike earlier albums, some songs aren't sung by him.The quality that distinguishes this from other Bauhaus works is its obsession with its own "exoticness" of goth, (She's in Parties) and its own melancholia. On earlier albums, Bauhaus was content to just be itself, without trying too hard. Even the album cover looks a bit contrived compared to the originality of the previous artwork. Compare it to the spectacular cover of the first album.Bauhaus here starts to sound pretentious (Slice of Life), more than innovative. On earlier songs, like Double Dare, Bela Lugosi's Dead, Mask, Departure, and Exquisite Corpse, the emphasis was on the innovative use of feedback, instrumentation, echo, and literary style lyrics, all in the service of making a definite statement, from which an atmosphere would emerge of its own accord.While there are good moments on this record (King Volcano, Antonin Artaud), the focus is on evoking an atmosphere alone, and it's too thin by itself with nothing to latch onto. Even the title track is built around a repeated small drum riff that sounds like a bland chorus. It just wasn't innovative anymore. If you add in the fact of the overwhelming melancholy and nostalgia (Who Killed Mr. Moonlight) the effect totally disappears. Whereas older Bauhaus albums reflected a rage and singularity of purpose in exploring the depths of darkness, this album is mired in melancholia, and tends towards simplistic depressive nihilism. Hence the rise of Love and Rockets. To be fair, Murphy didn't kick out of this mire either until "Love Hysteria."Listen, but keep the older records around more, unless you're a Bauhaus fanatic.
People sometimes criticize this album for its misses, and yes there are a couple. However the strengths greatly outweigh them. Others also are annoyed that the circumstances surrounding the band's breakup are clearly evident in the music and give it an air of inconsistency. Maybe, but it also makes the album an interesting and essential historical artifact for fans. The remnants of Murphy's sometimes jarring performance art style (this is most clear on "Antonin Artaud" - as it should be if you know anything about the subject) stand in opposition to the nervy yet upbeat Love & Rockets pop of other tracks; "Slice of Life" would have been great on an early L&R record. "King Volcano" is a Goth-folk dirge that strangely is oft played in clubs; perhaps you've heard it and wondered why it was played in a club and why it's so mystifyingly popular. "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight" is a nostalgic tune that feels like it comes straight off of 7th Dream of Teenage Heaven; it contains the enigmatic lyric, "Extracting wasps from stings in flight". Despite the obvious divergence of paths within the bands, they managed one song where the pith of Bauhaus all comes together. That song is the nearly perfect "She's in Parties", a dark, jaded look into the life and mind of a coddled starlet; I could argue that this is the best song they ever made.Looking back at this album after many years, it should be remembered as a quality collection of songs, some brilliant, and a chronicle of the disintegration of a towering band.
This is their best and darkest album. The title track is brilliant, along with 'She's in Parties'. That said, the entire album is gloomy and wonderful. I've heard it said that this is Bauhaus' most commercial album. I don't think so. If anything, it's them at their most uncommercial and 'Goth', if you will. As good as 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' was, the songs on this album are far superior. Unfortunately, this album is woefully overlooked because of the splintering of the group and the supposed inconsistency of styles. I disagree. This is a classic-right up there with The Cure's 'Pornography', the Banhees' 'Juju', and Joy Division's 'Closer'.
I can`t fathom what was going thru the band`s minds while recording this or in the process of making this. I`m sure there was tension, drugs and yada yada. Pure speculation. I do know that individual talents really came out. Daniel Ash to be the most significant. Perhaps it was planned that way? All predjudice and expectations aside, I thought is was an unintential masterpiece. The lyrics were fantastic and thought provoking. The music was great. Vocals different than what we were used to but also good. I don`t see the fuss. She`s In Parties dragged on longer than it should have but may have been the best song.
i know this says 5 stars in it..i am editing the review again...i cant seem to delete the 5 stars and make it 3(damn thing) still a good album..dark..introspective...great tracks..king Volkano is a king burning from the inside is a monster and she s in parties is the ghost!!!
This is my favorite record by the old school gothic band, Bauhaus. Lots of people will disagree with me, those people being in the "purist" camp. It has been told many times over how this is an album of splinters worked together into a larger picture (clever album art). The band was fragmenting at that point and as such the lead vocalist (Peter Murphy) had a much smaller part on this one. However, I feel that is a GOOD thing.
The vocals of Peter Murphy are certainly an acquired taste. They sound like a haunted cartoon voice, like a spectral, punk rock version of Daffy Duck. I personally wish that guitarist Daniel Ash had done the vocals for more of their songs - he just sounds more like a genuine goth rocker. Such is the case with the final album, having Ash and co. taking the lead while Murphy took a backseat in the production.
The truly nice thing is that even when Murphy appears his vocals have gone through a noticeable improvement. Instead of the Daffy Duck impression (okay so Honeymoon Croon he's quacking away but otherwise) he actually sounds menacing and gothic for once. On Antonin Artaud he shatters walls with a repeating scream. On the album's title track he truly sounds somber and tormented. It's a nice change.
Today, the legacy lives on. Nine Inch Nails owes a huge debt to the artful chaos of old school gothic bands like this. Trent Reznor has repeatedly acknowledged his influences as being Bauhaus, This Mortal Coil and, armed with his kitchen sink production, Prince. Give this album a try and take a journey back to the old days when punk rockers, goth rockers, new wavers and metalheads all were contending for supremecy.
A transformation cut short...., October 31, 2001
Bauhaus' Last but Still Ingenius, February 13, 2004
Bauhaus' Best Album, November 24, 2005
