Bauhaus slid fully formed from punk rock’s womb in late 1978. Over the course of four hot years, the 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 – thoroughly derivative of course – but marvellously so, especially for those who missed the gloomy poetics of Ziggy and Ian Curtis. And given the resurrection of the period in time-travelling crime caper, ‘Ashes To Ashes’, Bauhaus’s remergence couldn’t be any more timely that if the band had unzipped the time capsule and declared a completed Rubic’s Cube to customs with the immortal expression, ‘Now that’s magic!
“Go Away White” was recorded in 18 days at Zircon Skye in Ojai, with singer Peter Murphy, bassist Daniel 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.
Ostensibly a covers-band by any other name, it’s all in here: Joy Division, David Bowie, Devo, The Creatures, Antony, My Bloody Valentine and Kraftwerk – with Oscar Wilde playing master of ceremonies. With cracking cheekbones, obviously.
As the NME once stated, “Bauhaus are to Goth, what Radiohead are to Prog.” It’s all building blocks.
What else did they do? They put Northampton on the map, that’s what.