Audio CD review:
Bauhaus - Crackle: The Best Of Bauhaus

Bauhaus - Crackle: The Best Of Bauhaus

Band: Bauhaus Title: Crackle: The Best Of Bauhaus Rating: Release Date: 07 July, 1998 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Double Dare 2: In the Flat Field 3: The Passion of Lovers 4: Bela Lugosi's Dead 5: The Sanity Assassin 6: She's in Parties 7: Silent Hedges 8: Hollow Hills 9: Mask 10: Kick in the Eye 11: Ziggy Stardust 12: Dark Entries 13: Terror Couple Kills Colonel 14: Spirit 15: Burning From the Inside 16: Crowds

Customer Reviews about "crowds"... I just wanted to write in and say that it's definitely a matter of opinion, because there are people who really like the vocals on this song - and I am one of them. An earlier review says this song is horrible, and that the vocals (in part? in whole?) make it so. I LOVE the vocals, because they are so over-the-top, ridiculously. . . awesome. Try to sing along and see if you can do it without cracking up. They are wonderful. I wonder how Peter Murphy was able to keep from laughing while singing them. Okay, maybe P. Murphy would be offended, if he knew I liked his vocals on this song *because* they are so absurd. For me, they create an effect that is probably counter to the mood he wanted to create. . . After all, the lyrics are certainly *not* happy. Not at all something you would laugh about. Now that I've mentioned them. . . The lyrics are another great aspect to the song. I've heard a story, that these lyrics were written in response to fans who thought the band was "selling out". The story seems to fit; whether it is true or not, I don't know. At any rate, Bauhaus is probably one of my top 50 favorite bands, and that is saying something for me, because I like a *real* lot of bands from lots of different genres. (It looks like my "screen name" on amazon has declared me a sleater-kinney fan, which is true, but honestly, I love many other bands and styles of music as well. ) . The Old School They don't try to hit you with sugary hooks and sing along lyrics nor do they attempt to hit you with rapid-fire thrash metal. Bauhaus is not a melodic band nor are they a metal band. They are an old school gloomy "Goth" band that the musical press once described as "a funeral dirge. " Goth rock (and especially early, old school goth) was characterized by having three qualities to it - a slightly punk edge, a sublime metal edge but also a heavy influence of "art" or "artistic" rock. This "art rock" influence, in addition to the other influences, made them less attractive to hardcore punks and metalheads. Goth is a heavy dose of art rock blended with punk and a dash of metal. Perhaps in parody of the art rock influence in goth, this band is called Bauhaus - German for "art house. " Their songs are splintered, fractal slabs of rock with sparse lyrics and harsh, even weird delivery (Peter Murphy one of rock's weirdest vocalists). This was never meant to go mainstream yet somehow it did, with a certain crowd. The secret, hidden appeal of this band seems to be their very abstractness in itself. It's an elusive, gloomy quality that makes this band last throughout the ages. Highlights include: Bela Lugosi is Dead - song about Bela Lugosi, the famous actor who played the original Hollywood incarnation of Dracula. The Sanity Assassin - energetic number about a mysterious, abstract character who makes people go crazy. Double Dare - one of their most aggressive tracks, showing the punk and metal elements actually overpowering the art stuff. Surplants the other collections as the place to start 4 newbies This version has a lot of trippy studio effects and what-not that make it much more essential than the live version on 1979-83 Vol. The original version of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" that appears here clinches it. 1. (although that one's cool too). CRACKLE is a cool collection, although I wouldn't call all of it great. Peter Murphy clearly has some vocal limitations, but he manages to sound good and appropriately creepy much of the time. Their version of "Ziggy Stardust" isn't much different than the original on its face, but they somehow manage to make it their own anyway. It's pretty cool. I'm less thrilled with the strange cross-breed of goth and disco that is "Kick in the Eye," and the B-side stuck on the end ("Crowds") is plain gross, with one of the worst vocals ever recorded. Not a perfect collection, and as another reviewer pointed out, some essentials are missing such as "Stigmata Martyr. " I agree the producers missed an opportunity to make a perfect Bauhaus collection. Certainly they've made enough great songs to fill one disk. Still, there's a lot of good stuff here and I would recommend this as a good starting place. Those new to Bauhaus really need to hear the original "Bela," and this collection will give them a good idea about whether or not they want to explore more of this band's dark music. . . You can see a complete list of all Bauhaus discography, or go back to the Bauhaus tabs