Poseurs at their magnificent best- By: xarquid, 10 Apr 2001 The final studio album by Bauhaus is a rather fractured piece with lead singer, Peter Murphy, laid low with viral pneumonia for most of its recording. The band played on & recorded a number of songs without him, some of which rate among the finest Bauhaus have ever produced. The best of these is "Slice of Life" written & sung by guitarist Daniel Ash. After a promising start the album flops towards the end. Opening with the magnificent single "She's in Parties" the band take us through a range of styles, from the haunting acoustic mantra of "King Volcano" to David Jay's "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?" a slow piano piece. My personal favourite is "Honeymoon Croon" a reworking of a song Bauhaus first in wrote 1979. Derided by the music press of the day for their posing & pretensions & for being David Bowie copyists, this album doesn't escape that criticism, although it is their best work. The chords of "Kingdom Coming" are straight out of "Space Oddity". The self-explanatory "Antonin Artaud" gives us a lecture about the Theatre & its Double & "Honeymoon Croon" draws on Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" for reference. The weak ending to this album is saved by the bonus tracks available on the CD. "Lagartija Nick" is a wonderful dose of pure Bauhausian energy. Peter Murphy's alien-esque voice is at its best on "Departure", a return to the theme previously explored on "The Man With The X-Ray Eyes", from the album "Mask", inspired by the 1963 Roger Corman film, about acquiring a power that proves to be a curse. The CD ends with the excellent "Sanity Assassin" which was to remain a limited edition single for fanclub members until the Bauhaus backlog was reissued. Thankfully this CD gives us a chance to enjoy this ode to paranoia. Overalll this is the best produced, sleekest work that the band came up with. The absence of Peter Murphy on some tracks alllowed the other members to take the band's sound into other directions & this listener's thoughts on the album are one of regret: that Bauhaus did not stay together for a bit longer to follow up this great album. Hailed as the Godfathers of Goth, this album owes more to the glam & new romantic genres. The likes of Suede would die in an effort to come up with something this accomplished.
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