•
Rating: Sometimes they come back. Fifteen years after disbanding, it can happen that the fetish band of early '80s gothic rock reunites for a tour, aptly named the Resurrection Tour. They are called Bauhaus. We lost track of them in 1983 when they put an end to their common adventure. But in 1998, they got back together and recorded their concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York as documented in "Gotham," the city of Batman, of course, but also one of the whimsical nicknames for the city of New York.
As if time had not passed, the first three songs in the setlist are taken directly from their first album and in the same order: "Double Dare," "In The Flat Field," "A God In An Alcove." The songs are performed faithfully to the distant originals; after all, this group could not afford poetic licenses. The entire creative arc of the four from Northampton finds space in "Gotham." "The Passion of Lovers" takes us back to the second album, "Mask," while the third is represented by the most melancholic and poignant songs: "Hollow Hills," where Daniel Ash rubs the electric guitar strings with a violin bow, "Silent Hedges," introduced by the mournful arpeggio of a 12-string, "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything," and finally "Spirit," the song where they declare their love for their audience (with the refrain we love our audience repeated ad libitum). Fourth album, the last, represented by the inevitable "She's In Parties."
If in this record there are a couple of the covers that made Bauhaus famous, "Telegram Sam" by T.Rex and "Ziggy Stardust" by Bowie, there is also a tribute to a younger band, from the generation immediately following the post-punk one of which Bauhaus was the spearhead: and here comes Peter Murphy singing the solemn chant of "Severance" by Dead Can Dance, a track so heartfelt that it is present here in two versions, one recorded live and one in the studio.
Fifteen years earlier, the same Peter Murphy had declared: "There is a fifth member of Bauhaus, which is a sort of spiritual entity. When it is not there, on stage, we cruelly miss it. When it is, the concert is imbued with genuine magic. Playing is indeed searching for this magic."
Thus, in "Gotham," we find something of the great inspirations that this group has been able to evoke.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Double Dare (06:20)
I dare you, to be real
To touch a flickering flame
The pangs of dark delight
Don't cower in night fright
Don't back away just yet
From destinations set
I dare you to be proud
To dare to shout aloud
For convictions that you feel
Like sound from bells to peal
I dare you to speak of your despise
For bureaucracy, hypocracy- all liars
I dare
I dare
I dare- you- you
02 In the Flat Field (04:08)
A gut pull drag on me
Into the casm gaping we
Mirrors multy reflecting this
Between spunk stained sheet
And odourous whim
Calme eye-flick-shudder within
Assist me to walk away in sin
Where is the string that Theseus laid
Find me out this labyrinth place.
I do get bored, I get bored
In the flat field.
I get bored, I do get bored
In the flat field
Yin and yang lumber punch
Go taste a tart, then eat my lunch
And force my slender thin and lean
In this solemn place of fill wetting dreams
Of black matted lace of pregnant cows
As life maps out onto my brow
The card is lowered in index turn
Into my filing cabinet hemispheres spurn.
I do get bored, I get bored
In the flat field.
I get bored, I do get bored
In the flat field
Let me catch the slit of light
For a maidens sake
On a maiden flight
In the flat field I do get bored
Replace with Piccadilly whores
In my yearn for some cerebral fix
Transfer me to that solid plain
Hammer me into blazen pain
Moulding shapes no shame to waste
Moulding shapes no shame to waste
And drag me there with deafening haste.
03 God in an Alcove (04:25)
Go and look for the dejected
Once proud idol remembered in stone aloud
Then on coins his face was mirrored
Take a look it soon hath slithered
To a fractured marble slab, renunciation clad
His nourishment extract from his subjects, subjects
That mass production profile
He's a God in an alcove
Once he spread the rain
So they dreamt in vain
Once he spread the wheat
Had made some garlands for his feet
Until the lily poet of our times
Horizoned on the line
Love became the in theme then
Opposing fakers thrice by ten
Don't perceive his empty plea
That redundant effigy
He's a God in an alcove
Take in view his empty stool
What's left is satin cool
Clawing adornment for his crimes
They saw they had to draw the line
So they sent him far away
So they sent him far away
To a little alcove
To a little alcove
All alone
He's a God, a God
Now I am silly
Now I am silly
Silly, silly, silly, silly
Silly
04 In Fear of Fear (03:35)
You fear the lesson
And fear to walk
And fear to pass on
Your fear to talk
The teacher was feared
Your parents too
Then you became
The fear of you
Fear
Look to yourself
Climb over the wall
And see behind
That you're not so small
Then you won't blame fear
When competing's too much
As you fall on your back
As you fail to touch
Fear
And I say to you
When your fear is strong
When you fear your life
Then your fear is wrong
Set free your past
So shredding the skin
Then you won't fear
The fear of sin
Fear
05 Hollow Hills (06:29)
ancient earthwork, fort and barrow
discreetly hide their secret abodes
the most fearful hide deep inside
and venture not there opon yuletide
for invasion of their hollow hills
that music hold, and oberon fill
is surely recommended not
for fear of death, in fear of rot
hollow hills
hollow hills
hollow hills
hollow hills
baleful sunds and wild voices ignored
ill luck, disaster, the one reward
violated sanctity of supermen's hills
so sad, love lies there still, so sad- so sad
hollow hills, hollow hills
witches too, and goblin too and speckled sills
lament, repent, oh mortal you
so sad, so sade (fade out)
06 Kick in the Eye (03:48)
And he spoke of pastures green
I was never told why
Each journey lasts an age
And my throat feels dry
It must be the lesson
Hidden deep inside
It must be the lesson
So roll the tide
So I began the crossing
My throat burned dry
Searching for Satori
The kick in the eye
I am the end of reproduction
Given no direction
Every care is taken
In my rejection
Kick in the eye (x4)
Every care is taken
With my rejection
And my abduction
To my addiction
Every care is taken
With my protection
And my abduction
From my addiction
Kick in the eye (x4)
07 Terror Couple Kill Colonel (03:58)
Terror couple kill colonel
Terror couple kill colonel
His eyes were heavy
He carried a card
One couple question
The other discharged
Terror couple kill colonel
in his West German home
Three shots from three feet
Dragged himself to the phone
Terror couple kill colonel
Terror couple kill colonel
And as he lay there
Playing games with his pain
He felt his choice of jobs
Was such a mistake
He could have been a doctor
In a soft easy chair
In stead he chose three stars
A territorial affair
Terror couple kill colonel
Terror couple kill colonel
In his West German home
In his West German home
In his West German home
08 Silent Hedges (03:49)
Following the silent hedges
needing some other kind of madness
looking into purple eyes
sadness at the corners
works of art with a minimum of steels
pure sensations
a beautiful downgrade
going to hell again
going to hell again
So confidence speaks from a thousand fools
thoughts of civilizations
burning the brillant paradise soaked dreams
mindlessly hails to the electric cloak
what happens when the intoxication of success has evaportated?
following the silent hedges
following the silent hedges
going to hell again
pure sensation
the beautiful downgrade
going to hell again
going to hell again
again (x5)
10 Boys (04:04)
We tried to fly
Is it so high
We don't think so
We don't think so
Are we looked at
Are we set back?
Can we fake him
Emulate him?
Time is breaking
Changing faking
Grind us up now
Not too hard now
Features so fine
Rouge and eyeline
Things I fancy
Just like Nancy Young
Fashions alter
Often falter
Crypso's out now
No more fights now
Make-up's taking
Lots of shaving
On my eyelash
Be sure it don't clash
Slim-line trousers
Facial powders
flooding my mind
Be sure there's no lines
Eye me up now
pamper me now
Please don't pass by
Or I shall cry out
11 She's in Parties (05:54)
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
12 The Passion of Lovers (03:36)
She had nut painted arms
That were hers to keep
And in her fear
She sought cracked pleasures
The passion of lovers is for death said she
Licked her lips
And turned to feather
And as I watched from underneath
I came aware of all that she keep
The little foxes so safe and sound
They were not dead
They'd gone to ground
Chorus:
The passion of lovers is for death said she
The passion of lovers is for death
(chorus)
She breaks her heart
Just a little too much
And her jokes attract the lucky bad type
As she dips and wails
And slips her banshee smile
She gets the better of the bigger to the letter
(chorus 3x)
The passion of lovers is for death said she
13 Dark Entries (03:56)
Caressing bent up to the jug again
With sheaths and pills
Invading all those stills
In a hovel of a bed
I will scream in vain
Oh please, miss lane
Leave me with some pain
Went walking through this city's neon lights
In fear of disguising my warping seathing
Pressure lines and graceless heirs
Intangible of price
Trying so hard to find what was right
I came upon your room it stuck into my head
We leapt into the bed degrading even lice
You took delight in taking down
All my shielded pride
Until exposed became my darker side
Puckering up and down some avenue of sin
Too cheap to ride they're worth a try
If only for the old times, cold times
Don't go waving your pretentious love
He's soliciting on his tan brown brogues (Dark Entries,......)
Girating through some lonesome devils row (Dark Entries,......)
Pinpointing well meaning upper class prey (Dark Entries,......)
Of walking money checks possessing holes (Dark Entries,......)
He often sleekly offers his services (Dark Entries,......)
Exploitation of his finer years (Dark Entries,......)
Work with loosely woven fabrics (Dark Entries,......)
Of lonely office clerks (Dark Entries,......)
Any lay suffices his dollar green eye (Dark Entries,......)
I came upon your room it stuck into my head
We leapt into the bed degrading even lice
You took delight in taking down
All my shielded pride
Until exposed became my darker side
Puckering up and down some avenue of sin
Too cheap to ride they're worth a try
If only for the old times, cold times
Don't go waving your pretentious love
Dark Entries
Dark Entries
Dark Entries
Dark Entries
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By gigi sabani
After thirty years, Bauhaus are still the best of their genre.
I was incredibly moved by this slow and atmospheric piece.
