Peter Murphy
Should the World Fail to Fall Apart

THE REVIEW

First solo album in a career that had already reached significant milestones, "Should the World Fail to Fall Apart" was released in 1986 and is equally tempted by the allure of disengagement as well as the call of the past. He is Peter Murphy, the dark and deep voice of Bauhaus, who, together with his bandmates, had left four remarkable albums in the early '80s, contributing to defining the identity of that decade. But after the group disbanded and the brief experience (one album) with Mick Karn of Japan in the Dali's Car project, the shadowy frontman returns, this time alone, for a new beginning.

It's time to turn the page, without wallowing in the inconclusive mush of memories, and this album offers ample testimony to the attempt undertaken: ten tracks, a very varied palette of sounds, no specific attitude of sound exploration or stylistic innovation pursued at any cost. Thus, with "Canvas Beauty," the beginning of the album is calm and reflective, just as the tone of "Confessions" will be intimate, starting from the title. But the sharp and incisive rhythm of "The Light Pours Out Of Me" and the almost funky sounds of bass and guitar in the title track contradict the listener's assumption of stylistic unity in the work, which indeed cannot be satisfied: each track is a story in itself, mandolin and harmonica did not belong to the dark arsenal, yet we hear them here, albeit in brief inserts, along with many other refined sounds that make this work an example of pseudo-pop more than post-punk.

Despite the cover of "Final Solution" by Pere Ubu, a specter haunts the tracks of the album, and it is that of the white duke David Bowie, one of Peter Murphy's generational myths, whom he, however, does not fully try to resemble. Despite the album's sonic eclecticism, indeed its dominant feature, the added value lies in Murphy's voice itself, which has lost none of its magnetism and allure since the beginnings.

Those who loved Bauhaus will find here less aggression and virulence than in the past but will instead find the call of a voice to which it is difficult not to surrender.