Rejection, Abduction, Addiction, Protection

Side 2 of a cassette, compiling Bauhaus singles, recorded sometime during the summer of 1990 and featuring The Godfathers on Side 1.

 

When I turned 14, I went into my local WH Smith, clutching my birthday money and came away with a clutch of vinyl. I think several were bargain bin 12" singles (Heaven 17 was definitely one) to use up the "loose change" from my main purchase, the glorious double vinyl Bauhaus compilation, 1979-1983, which had come out a few weeks before.

 

My brother had a couple of the latter albums on cassette - The Sky's Gone Out and Burning From The Inside - and I'd heard enough to know I wanted more, even though I knew that the band were no more. 

 

1979-1983 was a beautiful articfact: the classic Bauhaus icon in shiny gold leaf, black background on the front cover, white background on the back. Opening up the gatefold sleeve, there was a central shot of the band by (I think) Mitch Jenkins, as well as a limited edition, numbered 4-page glossy insert featuring individual close ups of each member by Antoine Giacomoni. The inner sleeves contained an illustrated discography of Bauhaus, as well as off-shoots Tones On Tail, Dali's Car, David J (solo and with Jazz Butcher), Love And Rockets and even The Sinister Ducks. It truly was a thing of beauty.

 

Less than a decade and a half later, I ended up flogging it to Replay Records as part of a huge vinyl cull. Needs must, and all that. I wasn't too sad about losing the item itself: the booklet, though not lost, had long since detached from the main album. The white areas of the cover and inner sleeve were mottled with spots of mould from living in a succession of damp bedsits in the 1990s. The vinyl itself was crackly from repeated plays and less than ideal storage conditions. So, in fairness, I got a fairly decent price for it.

 

I've since recovered the music via various CD compilations and my teenage love for the band was reignited. I was gutted to see Bauhaus go out in Round One of the Knock-Out Stage of the ICA World Cup (by one point!) over at The Vinyl Villain last week, so here's a consolatory compilation from 1990.

 

I essentially cherry-picked the singles from 1979-1983, presenting them in chronological order by release date, albeit with a few version variations. The compilation swapped the 1979 debut single, Bela Lugosi's Dead, for the live version from Press The Eject And Give Me The Tape. I didn't actually hear the original until I bought the 1998 compilation Crackle, so the 1982 live performance has remained the definitive version for me.

 

Kick In The Eye preceded The Passion Of Lovers as a single in 1981 but was re-mixed and re-issued on the Searching For Satori EP the following year. This is the version that was featured on 1979-1983.

Both Ziggy Stardust and Third Uncle were recorded for the David 'Kid' Jensen show on BBC Radio 1 on 1st July 1982 and broadcast on 22nd July 1982 and subsequently released as a single. The full length version of Third Uncle also opened penultimate album The Sky's Gone Out. The version on 1979-1983 was a single edit which appeared on the 7" single.

The 7" version of She's In Parties was also used for 1979-1983. There was an extended mix on the 12" single which is identical to the album version opening swansong Burning From The Inside. I had a copy of the 12" single and to stretch out the running time on the C90 cassette, I opted for this, doing a quick fade during the latter dub section when it looked like the tape was about to run out. I've recreated here for the sake of completeness.

I loved - and still love - the Bauhaus albums but looking at this selection, they were a pretty damn fine singles band too.

 

1) Bela Lugosi's Dead (Live @ The Old Vic, London, 24 February 1982)

2) Dark Entries (Single Version) (1980)

3) Terror Couple Kill Colonel (1) (Single Version) (1980)

4) Telegram Sam (Cover of T. Rex) (1980)

5) Kick In The Eye (Searching For Satori) (Single Version) (1982)

6) The Passion Of Lovers (Album Version) (1981)

7) Spirit (Single Version) (1982)

8) Ziggy Stardust (David Jensen Session/Single Version) (1982)

9) Third Uncle (David Jensen Session/Album Version) (1982)

10) Lagartija Nick (1983)

11) She's In Parties (Extended Mix/Album Version) (Early Fade By Khayem) (1983)

 

Rejection, Abduction, Addiction, Protection (45:40)