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Who killed Mr. Moonlight?
Peter Murphy embodies the most extravagant and theatrical aspect of the entire darkwave movement. It was perhaps in his wake that the devotees of the time started dressing in black, using makeup and teasing their hair, turning the genre into a stereotype in the eyes of the public. But the influence of the dark prince did not stop at a merely aesthetic level. He also gave a significant push to intensify what characterized the movement's thoughts, under certain aspects, with all the weight of lyrical depression and hermetically decadent poetry.
From the discography of Bauhaus (a name that recalls the famous German art school closed by the Nazis), this latest studio work "Burning From The Inside" is perhaps the least famous and appreciated work of the Northampton group, but not for this reason the least successful. The album is certainly the most instrumental and experimental they have created.
Murphy, in fact, due to health issues, participated much less in its recording compared to the previous albums, which had been constructed around his persona, and this allowed the other members more freedom of expression. Perhaps this is precisely why "Burning From The Inside" enjoyed and still enjoys less consideration compared to its predecessors.
Personally, however, I find this album more fascinating than the others, even if, obviously, less seminal. For a newly initiated explorer who has delved quite recently into the dark and dramatic depths of the gothic and dark genres, there is nothing better than letting oneself be carried away by the melancholy and grace of ballads like the haunting "King Volcano", with its ritual dance, the touching and penetrating "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight", in which Murphy's voice gently accompanies us towards oblivion, the psychedelic "Slice of Life", the long-awaited "Kingdom's Coming", and my favorite, "Hope", with its obsessive and hypnotic refrain.
To be clear, tracks like the opener "She's in Parties", with David Jay's bass pumped to the max, the rhythmic ride of "Antonin Artaud", or the nine minutes of sonic suffering of the title track, hold up well against the past, but, in my opinion, the most intense and successful moments of the work are to be found, as mentioned above, precisely in the slower and more melodic tracks.
At this point, we only have to answer the initial question. Well, it could only have been Peter Murphy to overshadow the moonlight, plunging us into the darkness of the deepest night.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 She's in Parties (05:44)
Learning lines in the rain
Special effects by Loonatik and Dinks
The graveyard scene
The golden years
She's in parties
It's in the can (twice)
Freeze frame screen kiss
Hot heads under silent wigs
Fall guys tumble on the cutting room floor
Look-a-likes fall on the cutting room door
She's in parties
It's in the can (twice)
Learning lines in the rain
Special effects by Loonatik and Dinks
Freeze frame, screen kiss, hot heads, lights and power
It's patently obvious
She's in parties
It's in the can (twice)
Hot lines under a rain of drum
Cigarette props in action
Dialogue dub, now heres the rub
She's acting her reaction
She's in parties
It's in the can
02 Antonin Artaud (04:09)
The young man held a gun to the head of God
Stick this holy cow
Put the audience in action
Let the slaughtered take a bow
The old man's words, white hot knives
Slicing through warm butter
The butter is the heart
The rancid peeling soul
Scratch pictures on asylum walls
Broken nails and matchsticks
hypodermic hypodermic hypodermic
RED FIX
One man's poison another man's meat
One man's agony another man's treat
Artaud lived with his neck paced firmly in the noose
Eyes black with pain,
Limbs in cramps contorted
The theatre and its double
The void and the aborted
THOSE INDIANS WANK ON HIS BONES (repeat)
04 King Volcano (03:31)
Overshadowed by her sister
Pretty girl would scream,
King Volcano gave me numbers
King Volcano is clean (twice)
Lonely people burn like candles
Only we are clean
Lonely people burn like candles
Only we are clean
06 Slice of Life (03:44)
Her gaze hit the side of mine
So I opened it out
To destroy what you thought was difference
So I lied to you once again
So I painted over you once again
So I die before you once again
'What's the difference'
Come clearly where the flavour is
Seen here in black and white
You've got two seconds baby boy
In burning light white light
'What's the difference'
Clear up what you are
Burn out these eyes
Rip up this place and scream
'I am your slice of life' (four times)
Shivering under lamposts
Shivering under glass
Your standing on charisma again
God knows it cannot last
'What's the difference'
Ice inside your body
Blood inside your soul
Yet still twelve faces stand around
Hugging your skinny bones
'What's the difference'
So clear up what you are
Burn out these eyes, rip up this place and scream
'I am your slice of life' (four times)
And the car opened him up to so much more
And the money is brighter with a wider smile
And the problem expands inside your head
'I am your slice of life'
07 Honeymoon Croon (02:55)
Honeymoon croon tonight
Sew my socks tonight
I say whose on the rare tonight
Lurking lipstick tickle fickle
Marylin's on
Send her by air mail, PAR AVION
Certificate X tacy in my head
Hire out Sybil Vane for my bed
Croon croon tonight
Honeymoon tonight
Sew my sock tonight - tonight
She insists on tying down
After the soldier sailor curfew
All alone in the cathedral bar
She preys in dockland
He asks to see her hidden side
She, the color of his money
Honeymoon croon tonight
Marylin fading fast better get straight
The catch from the sidewalk is in a state
The sound of footstep - mummy's here
I'll be a good boy I'll never fear
Better fix her drink tonight bed time's come
Must blot out this urge to use my gun
08 Kingdom's Coming (02:26)
Madness in the wind's got something to say
It ripped you apart
It will always be that way
It said kingdom's coming, causes chaos
Will cut to pieces
The film you saw today
It's your big bad secret
Your crown of thorns
09 Burning From the Inside (09:28)
Running without aim
Through the razor weeds
That only reach my knees
And when I'm lying in the grey sleep
I don't know how to walk the boards
I open my eyes, and look at the floor
And now I don't see you anymore
There is no choice, we make a point
To counteract a threatening hand
Close my hold
Let's be near
Let's be near the atmosphere
10 Hope (03:16)
Your mornings will be brighter Break the line Tear up rules Make the most of a million times no
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