Bauhaus - Burning From The Inside

Burning From The Inside (1983) is widely regarded as a polished, experimental masterpiece and a high point in Bauhaus's discography, despite being recorded amidst internal tensions and Peter Murphy's illness. The album features a diverse soundscape, blending gothic rock with Tones on Tails-style experimentation, cabaret, and acoustic tracks. Key tracks include the hit "She's in Parties," the experimental "Antonin Artaud," and the melancholic "Hope". 

This absolute barnstormer of an album is going to be the last posted here for a while...I'm going to be concentrating on my original blog "Themes From Great Cities". So to celebrate this I'll be mixing new posts and re-ups just as I've been doing between the two (Here and There) blogs, but all in one place. 

Over And The Fuck Out

Now a quick review and, we're outta here.

On Burning From the Inside, Bauhaus were beginning to fall apart as a group, but still managed to make great music in the process. This was largely recorded without lead singer Peter Murphy, who was very ill at the time, with David J and Daniel Ash doing vocals instead, thus making the album sound at times more like a Love and Rockets or Tones on Tail. The band was already moving closer to the more diverse sounds of those groups, and this also has a considerably lighter sound than earlier albums. Despite not being as dense, fast, or menacing as earlier work, it is still rather dark and Gothic, with lots of haunting acoustic guitar in places, such as on Kingdom's Coming and Slice of Life. Who Killed Mr Moonlight is a largely piano based ballad, that is excellent. There's even a happy, acoustic song in Hope, which further hints at the future sound of Love and Rockets. That said, not everything hear is markedly different from earlier material. Honeymoon Croon and Burning from the Inside would fit rather nicely on any of their albums, and some of these songs actually were written early in their career, evidenced by a demo tape from 1979. Also worth mentioning is the opener and single She's in Parties, a brooding masterpiece. Overall, I think Goths would probably be slightly disappointed with this album, but everyone else will probably find it easier to get into. I don't listen to this or The Sky's Gone Out nearly as often as their first two albums, but that's probably just because I heard those first, as Burning From the Inside is every bit as good, far more accessible, and also shows a lot of growth and maturation for the group. A fine place to start, though certainly not representative.

Ripped to MP3

A1 - She's in Parties

A2 - Antonin Artaud

A3 - Wasp

A4 - King Volcano

A5 - Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?

B1 - Slice of Life

B2 - Honeymoon Croon

B3 - Kingdom's Coming

B4 - Burning From the Inside

B5 - Hope