Bauhaus: Go Away White
Friday, 29 Feb 2008 13:45
Bauhaus: Go Away White - a fitting end to a towering career.
Cooking Vinyl, March 3rd.
In a nutshell...
Energetic but posthumous goth-rock ravings.
What's it all about?
Recorded in just 18 days, the band played together in one room and used their first takes as final cuts. The rockers have announced that this is their final offering as they have already broken apart and this record revisits why they are one of the most influential post-punk bands, despite a gap of more than 20 years between their last album and Go Away White.
Who's it by?
Bauhaus have been an enormously influential band, credited by some with birthing the goth-rock genre. The four lads from Northampton are probably best known for tracks like Bela Lugosi's Dead and a startling cover of Ziggy Stardust but they disbanded in 1983. Modern music fans are more likely to have heard bands they have influenced than Bauhaus themselves and acts as varied as Nine Inch Nails and Franz Ferdinand evolved from their legacy.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys?
Non-existent. Perhaps had they toured this album, a surge of new admirers would have launched them into the mainstream. However, with even some hardcore fans unaware of this release, a glut of awards seems unlikely at best.
What the others say
"Bauhaus are to goth what Radiohead are to prog." -NME
"It's effortless - an embodiment of why there's still people interested in what Bauhaus have to say. Simple, dark and dramatic." - GigWise
So is it any good?
Go Away White will be a welcome album for old Bauhaus fans and would probably have gained them a new legion of followers had they not disbanded before it was even released. It is their fifth album but it does not just rehash their old tricks, it blends its punk-goth energy with slightly more pop-friendly choruses. If the album was not their swansong, they could probably have inspired yet another generation to don too much eyeliner, drink Newcastle Brown and embrace gothic rock.
It is a great album. Their use of first takes gives each tune a passion and energy missing from so much music today. The track International Bullet Proof Talent has a vitality and urgency which marks it out as the single they would have released had they still been talking, while Adrenaline offers up the moodier misery the band do so well.
Go Away White has everything from punkish screamings to apathetic gothic wailings and radio-friendly rock. It has the power to satisfy both the original fans and a younger audience. They are still dark, still weird and can still rock so it is a shame that they have stopped.
8/10
Felicity King-Evans
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