Bauhaus - Twelves (1983)
A recent comment from Craig Cobalt prompted me to dig out a couple of Bauhaus albums that i'd put together from their non-album b-sides. There was enough material for two 40 minute albums and I was trying to decide how to sequence them - two discs in chronological order, split in half? - when it occurred to me that two of my very favourite tracks of theirs - 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' and 'Rose Garden Funeral Of Sores' - were on 12" singles, so I checked out some of their other 12"ers and found there were enough good songs on them to add to those two and make a great album. I've been a fan of the band since day one, and bought their Axis single 'Dark Entries' when it came out - later to become one of their rarest discs after the label changed it's name to 4AD and re-issued the single. I snapped up 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' as soon as I'd heard it on John Peel, and still think it stands up even today as one of the best ever indie singles. Their cover of John Cale's 'Rose Garden Funeral Of Sores' is a tour de force, and was the start of a penchant for covering eclectic songs like 'Telegram Sam', 'Ziggy Stardust', 'Third Uncle', 'Waiting For The Man', and 'Spirit In The Sky'. The b-sides of the 7" singles will be used for a later complementary post, so that both albums span the same time period of 1979 to 1983. The songs on this post are from the 'Bela Lugosi's Dead', 'Telegram Sam', 'Searching For Sartori', 'Ziggy Stardust' and 'She's In Parties' 12" singles.
Track listing
01 Bela Lugosi's Dead02 Boys03 Untitled (Dark Entries)04 Rose Garden Funeral Of Sores05 Crowds06 Kick In The Eye (Searching For Satori)07 In Fear Of Dub08 Harry09 Earwax10 Waiting For The Man (Live)11 Departure12 Here's The Dub
Somehow "Rose Garden" has escaped my notice so I'm looking forward to listening to your mix. Though they had enough to fill 2 short albums I nixed cover songs and a few tunes that frankly irritated me! :) Narrowed it down to these picks for the strongest single album sequence:
ReplyDeleteSide A
1) Bela Lugosi's Dead
2) Crowds
3) Lagarija Nick
4) Watch that Granddad Go
5) Poison Pen
Side B
1) Dark Entries
2) Scopes
3) Terror Couple Kill Colonel
4) Boys
5) The Sanity Assassin
6) Departure
Even though 'Rose Garden...' is a cover, their take on it is just so 'Bauhaus' that you'd never know. I've never sought out the John Cale original as I felt that it could never be anything other than a disappointment after loving this version for so long. Hope you like it.
DeleteExcellent Bauhaus albums. I went to Npton Tech where they used to hang out the weirdoes but it was not until later that I saw them live, Friars of course all mono lighting rig... I also spent some time with a local band recording at Beck Studios which I think was once used by Bauhaus.
ReplyDelete